P: Catalogue using old Windows XP folder names

[drtonyb]

While investigating another Lr bug, I removed my old Lightroom Classic CC 7 Preferences.agprefs file so that Lr Classic 9.1 would create a new one.

I have noticed the following entry in the newly created file:

AgImport_backupDownloadFolder = "C:\\Users\\Tony\\Pictures\\Lightroom\\Download Backups",

After doing an import of some images and closing Lr, this setting changed to:

AgImport_backupDownloadFolder = "C:\\Documents and Settings\\Tony\\My Documents\\My Pictures\\Lightroom\\Download Backups",

This is now using the old Windows XP folder names ("Documents and Settings", "My Documents" and "My Pictures"), and yes, I know there are hidden links in Windows 7,8,10 to handle these old names for backwards compatibility.

Later, Lr created another entry in Preferences:

AgMRUPopupList_importBackupDownloadFolder = "s = {\
\"C:\\\\Documents and Settings\\\\Tony\\\\My Documents\\\\My Pictures\\\\Lightroom\\\\Download Backups\",\
}\
",

which is obviously related to the AgImport_backupDownloadFolder entry.

In 2020 why is Lr Classic 9.1 doing this?

The initial setting for the folder path was correct. This led me to think Lr was updating it from the catalogue. Further investigation has found that this is the case. It is an entry in the Adobe_variablesTable table and there is another entry with the name SynchronizeFolder_backupDownloadFolder that also has this same folder path using old XP folder names.

In the newly created test catalogue, I found the entry for AgImportDialog_backupDownloadFolder had a value C:\Users\Tony\Pictures\Lightroom\Download Backups, but the entry for SynchronizeFolder_backupDownloadFolder was initialised with the value C:\Documents and Settings\Tony\My Documents\My Pictures\Lightroom\Download Backups

I can understand that an old folder path might be "inherited" when upgrading from an older catalogue. I would have thought the newly created catalogue would always use the Windows 7,8,10 folder names in folder paths, but it doesn't.

I would also have thought that the migration of catalogues from older Lr versions to Lr 7,8,9 would have updated these records to use the current Windows folder names.

I wonder how many other old XP styled folder paths are in the catalogue?

I also wonder what these entries are for? The folder path they refer to doesn't exist on my system!

You might say it isn't a real problem since the OS handles it, but it shouldn't be there in 2020.

Tony

[Mayuri_Jain]

Hi Anthony,

I tried to  replicate the issue but the issue is not reproducible at our end. Below are the steps that I tried to replicate.
1. Create a new catalog.
2. Delete Lightroom Classic CC 7 Preferences.agprefs
3. Import some images and relaunch LR
4. Check Lightroom Classic CC 7 Preferences.agprefs

The value of "AgImport_backupDownloadFolder" is correct in both cases. Even the entry in Adobe_variables tables are correct.

Could you provide the following info in order to investigate this issue further?
- Have you used your catalog earlier in Windows XP?
-Is this issue happening with new catalog or particular catalog.
- Have you migrated this catalog from any previous LR version?

Also is it possible to share Lightroom Classic CC 7 Preferences.agprefs and catalog with us via dropbox link?

Thanks
Mayuri 

[drtonyb]

Hi Mayuri,

I need to make this very clear.

The problem with old Windows XP styled file paths in the Lightroom Classic CC 7 Preferences.agprefs file came from the Lightroom Catalog database.

So the issue is not with the Preferences file, but with the catalog. Specifically, entries in the Adobe_variablesTable. In my tests, a new catalog is being initialised with at least two Windows XP styled folder paths.

Here are my steps to reproduce:

1. Launch Lr 9.2 Classic and create a new catalog.

2. Import one image.

3. Close Lr, with a setting to do a catalog backup.

4. Then examine the catalog (I used SQLiteStudio)

Here is a screen shot:



Notice AgImportDialog_backupDownloadFolder has the value:

C:\Documents and Settings\Tony\My Documents\My Pictures\Lightroom\Download Backups

SynchronizeFolder_backupDownloadFolder also has this same value.

The AgImportDialog_backupDownloadFolder entry is created after at least one image has been imported.

The SynchronizeFolder_backupDownloadFolder entry is created after a catalog backup is executed.

Once created in the catalog, AgImportDialog_backupDownloadFolder is copied into the Lightroom Classic CC 7 Preferences.agprefs file as entries for

AgImport_backupDownloadFolder
AgMRUPopupList_importBackupDownloadFolder

I hope that is clear and helps track down the problem.

Tony