System update - not only lost currenttasks, but old tasks reappeared! Please help!

[mar80]

I hope any BitComet genius is able to solve this one; didn't find any directly related topic as I browsed the first pages in the general discussions section.

1) What version of BitComet are you using?

1.09

2) What type of Internet connection do you have (ADSL, etc.)?

10Mbit Broadband

3) Do you have a modem? Do you use a router? What model? Have you forwarded your port?

Use a modem, listening port 14636.

4) What version of Windows, Firewall and Antivirus do you use?

Use Windows Vista 32-bit, AVG Anti-virus, and SUPERAntiSpyware v4.30.1004. Windows firewall activated, but allows BC and port 14636.

So what happened was my system installed the Service Pack 2, and once I opened up BitComet after that, all of my current tasks, plus torrent archive was gone, and so far, I've found information in the forum, that it can happen. BUT, here's the strange thing; instead of not having my current torrents, or any torrents at all - all of a sudden year-old torrents show up as tasks, that I downloaded years ago and have deleted since. In my target directory, I still have the downloads as unfinished, but I haven't been able to find a the .bak list mentioned. I tried to open the .torrent file and start the download again, but after hashing, it said it was completely downloaded, which I know it isn't, plus the file still shows as "unfinished bittorrent file" in the directory.

Tried downloading a new torrent, shut BC and start it again; the torrent was gone, and the old tasks added again. Another thing that is strange is that I'm still logged in, my experience point, level and ranking is the same... does that mean we have a problem with some torrent list somewhere?

I should add that I have made upgrades before, and upon restarting BC, it's never been a problem, it's located the unfinished files and continued to dl/ul them. When I restart this weird version now, it gives me the same old downloads, even though I delete not only the tasks, but the file!

AAAAAAAAaaaarrgh! Frustrating, and thus appreciate all help I could receive...

Thanks!

[greywizard]

This is not as much related to BitComet as it is to Windows. After installing SP2 it must have reset/modified some of the UAC (User Account Control) settings or some system-wide, file system permissions.

Has the status of UAC changed from what it was before update?

What is the status of UAC now (enabled/disabled)?

As you can see in this FAQ topic, in Vista, under normal circumstances BC saves its tasklist under the Users\%userprofile%\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\BitComet folder, in the downloads.xml file.

Most probably, BC is loading an old downloads.xml from a different location than the one it did before.

So, here is what I would like you to do. Go to both, the folder I indicated above and to the C:\Program Files\BitComet folder. Copy any file which has a name starting with downloads (i.e. downloads.xml, downloads.xml.bak, downloads.temp) and put them in 2 separate folders, one for each location. Archivate those folders, and upload the archive here so we can take a look on them.

Also add into the archive a .txt file with a few names of the old torrents which appear in your current tasklist but were not in the one you had before upgrade (so that we can differentiate the old from the new list).

[mar80]

Hello again! Followed your instructions and made an archive, but I can't upload the zip files... I don't seem to have the authority to do that.

I found the right torrents in the user directory, and a .xml list. There, I also found a crash report. Regarding the UAC, I've reset it so it won't interfere anymore.

So, what's the step from here? How do I make BitComet retrieve the right list from the right directory? I tried temporarily to replace the 'wrong' download list with the old one I found by placing it in the program files/bitcomet folder, but as I restarted BitComet, the only change I saw was that my torrent archive was updated, but all tasks were empty...

Thanks for your help, and please advice on how to upload the archive file!

[greywizard]

You can email them to me at the address I've sent you in the PM.

L.E. I've uploaded your archive here, so that other members of the staff can download it, too.

[greywizard]

Regarding the UAC, I've reset it so it won't interfere anymore.

This particular piece of info doesn't help me very much. UAC's actual state is not as important as knowing the "history" of its state from before the upgrade until now. So, please provide an answer to these questions:

1. Has the status of UAC changed after update from what it was before update?
   
2. What was the status of UAC immediately after update (enabled/disabled)?
   
3. Furthermore, what is the status of UAC now (what do you mean by having "reset" it)?
   

Are you sure that the tasks you mentioned in the text file are right now appearing in the tasklist of BC? I'm asking this, because after checking both files, I find that 2 of the torrent names you gave appear in both files (Quarantine and Season 18) and the rest of three do not appear in any of the files. Please double-check that.

If all those tasks still appear, at present time, in the tasklist, then it is safe to assume that BC is loading its tasklist from another .xml file which we'll need to locate.

So, please make sure that hidden files and system files are set as visible, in Windows Folder Options, and then run a system-wide (all partitions) search for files named "downloads". If your search finds any more other files (downloads.xml, downloads.xml.bak or downloads.temp) besides the 2 you've sent me, make sure that you copy them and retain the path to the location where they were found.

Then share that info with us, here (and email them to me, along with info about the location where it/they were found).

Basically, we need to establish, unequivocally, from where and from which file BC loads, now, its tasklist. This is the first and most important step. I was hoping to find that out, by looking at the 2 files you sent me, but right now I'm a little confused as I explained above.

If you work with us on this, you might help solve this kind of problems for lots of other users, complaining about the same kind of problem. We weren't able to reproduce this kind of errors due to the fact that they are related to various Windows settings particular to one's setup.

Alternatively, if you play with Windows' and BC's setup and settings, you might, accidentally, fix it as others have done. But then you'll never know what caused it and the next time it happens, you'll find yourself back to base one.

[mar80]

I will definitely try to help to resolve this problem, no doubt.

The UAC:

- Prior to the system update, the UAC was disabled.

- After the system update, the UAC was enabled,

- Which I have now changed, so the current setting is disabled

I searched for hidden files named downloads, but only got few .xml, and only 1 .xml.bak, which I was created 11.19.2009, probably by me as I was fiddling around in BC. But you were right about the .xml lists; they look the same, although I got them from two different directories!!! The reason I wrote down the task names I did, was because I pulled them from the tasks as they are found in the torrents folder in BC, not from the actual .xml file.

I need to ask another question; since (under my user profile - appdata/local... etc) I can see the tasks in the torrent folder and the unfinished tasks have .xml copies, is there anyway I can create a new .xml list? Sort of re-create the one that was used prior to the system update?

Please also note, that one of the .xml lists is dated 2009-03-04, and that has to be the date of the list that BC is using at the moment. But I can't seem to find a newer version...

[greywizard]

I searched for hidden files named downloads, but only got few .xml...

Are there, among the results of the search, namely among the the .xml files, only the 2 files which you sent me, or is there any other downloads.xml file which was found in another location?

...they look the same, although I got them from two different directories...

Yes, but the size is different, so, obviously they are not identical.

The reason I wrote down the task names I did, was because I pulled them from the tasks as they are found in the torrents folder in BC, not from the actual .xml file.

Actually, I need you to pull them from the tasklist as you see it loaded by BitComet in the main Task View window. I'm assuming that BC is still loading that old tasklist about which you were complaining in your first post, isn't it? It is from here that I want you to pull a few tasks which were not present before the SP2 update.

That is, I need to be 100% percent sure that we're looking at the right files, before going further. And by comparing these tasks you'll pull from the main BC window, with the ones contained in the 2 files I'll be able to determine if the file from C:\Program Files is indeed the old one which is loaded by BC now. After that it's all a little bit clearer.

...since (under my user profile - appdata/local... etc) I can see the tasks in the torrent folder and the unfinished tasks have .xml copies, is there anyway I can create a new .xml list? Sort of re-create the one that was used prior to the system update?

The problem right now, is not that the .xml file is not existent, but that BC is loading the wrong file, from the wrong place. Once we can establish beyond any doubt which exact file BC is loading right now, we'll be able, hopefully, to mend its ways and have it reload the right file instead.

That's because according to the info we have from the developing team, under all circumstances BC should search and load/write the downloads.xml file from the Users\... folder irrespective of the status of UAC

(You should know that Vista and Win 7 enforce by means of UAC, that any application running without elevated privileges, which is trying to write and/or subsequently read configuration files in the C:\Program Files folder, gets transparently redirected by the OS in a per user location under the Users\...VirtualStore\Program Files folder. This happens without the assistance of the application, so, the application believes it wrote/read in the real Program Files folder. This mechanism is called data virtualization. But when UAC is disabled, data virtualization is disabled too, and all the applications which try to write in Program Files succeed to do so.)

That's why the programmers of BC devised a way by which, even with UAC disabled, BC should search and write/read the configuration files into the virtual folder under the Users\... location. To avoid multiple configuration files.

Obviously, in some odd circumstances that thing fails to happen, as in your case. It is those circumstances that we're trying to determine here.

The file under the Users directory is dated 19.11.2008 14:10, and that seems to be the file you were using before update (if you can confirm that you did the update after that time of the day) but I don't want to speculate until we clear out the other things I've asked you about, first.

So, to recapitulate, I'll need these:

1. Are there, among the results of the search, namely among the the found .xml files, only the 2 files which you sent me, or is there any other downloads.xml file which was found in another location? If yes, send them to me along with the path where you found it/them.
   
2. Give me some old tasks' names as they appear in the main BC window, so that I can sort out the .xml files.
   

[mar80]

Have sent the files to your email.

Posting some of the names from the main BC window:

Star.Wars.The.Clone.Wars.S01E14.Defenders.of.Peace.HDTV.XviD-FQM.avi

The.Office.S05E13.PROPER.HDTV.XviD-2HD.[VTV].avi

The.Simpsons.S20E04.PDTV.XviD-LOL.avi

Eden Lake KLAXXON.avi

However, I believe I've managed to create a new tasklist as I was experimenting with the tasklists a few days ago, so now the main BC window only loads:

V.2009.S01E03.HDTV.XviD-POW4.avi

[gavin.wang]

add the lost tasks from "Torrent archive". stop all tasks,and all check hash again.

you can back the tasks by operation above.

[greywizard]

Hi Martin,

Did you find any other "downloads" files (meaning: have you performed a search or just retrieved them from their folders)?

The good news is that BC seems to load the downloads.xml file from the Virtual Store now, as it should.

There are 2 things that you should check, though. Assuming UAC is still disabled and you haven't modified your files since you posted, make sure that you have under the Virtual Store folder a downloads.xml file which contains at least a task. Then make sure that the downloads.xml file in Program Files is empty, just like the one you sent me. With these in place and BC closed, turn UAC on. Does BC still load the file from Virtual Store now?

How about when you turn it back off? (in case you modified your files, for the sake of this test, just make sure that the one in the Virtual Store contains at least one task and create an empty one for the other folder).

The second thing (after determining which list BC always loads) is to check if you can add any tasks in your BitComet task list window and still find them there after restarting BC?

Seeing that the four tasks you posted above are found in both the old files that you have sent me the first time, I went ahead and pulled all the tasks from both files. Guess what? They are the same!

It beats me why there is a 3KB difference between them, nevertheless the tasks are all identical.

So, I've sent, you by email, a text file with all the tasks' names. Please tell me if it is the list you saw in the BC window, first thing after your SP2 update.

Also, just out of curiosity, was by any chance BitComet running in the system tray when you performed your SP2 update?

[mar80]

Hello again,

sorry for the lengthy absence!

To answer the questions in order:

- I did make an extensive search for "downloads" files, but only came up with the ones that I sent to you.

"There are 2 things that you should check, though. Assuming UAC is still disabled and you haven't modified your files since you posted, make sure that you have under the Virtual Store folder a downloads.xml file which contains at least a task. The make sure that the downloads.xml file in Program Files is empty, just like the one you sent me. With these in place and BC closed, turn UAC on. Does BC still load the file from Virtual Store now?

How about when you turn it back off? (in case you modified your files, for the sake of this test, just make sure that the one in the Virtual Store contains at least on task and create an empty one for the other folder)."

- I tried turning the UAC back on, but when I tried restarting my computer, I wasn't able to start it without going through a system recovery, so something is up with my computer, and I'd rather not do that again in fear of losing valuable information on the computer.

- I have started adding and downloading tasks again, and it now works the way it used to before the system update.

- The task list that you sent me was tasks that I had there before the system update. Remember, after the update upon BC start, there were no tasks at all!

- Lastly, unfortunately, I can't tell for sure if BC was on during the system update, but my guess would be that it wasn't, as I usually quit all programs before updates of this sort, but I am not 100% sure I'm afraid.

Thanks,

M

Edited December 29, 2009 by kluelos
Edited for clarity (see edit history)

[greywizard]

I'll conduct some more tests as soon as I can get my hands on a Vista machine, to slaughter.

In the meantime I hope you know that you can add your previous tasks by opening the .torrent files for the respective tasks, from the \Torrents folder. If your unfinished download files are still present at the old location, after performing a manual hash-check they will be back at the old percentage.