Moving My Pictures - Mike M

[caroloyl]

Hi Mike

I finally decided I really need to have My Pictures living on my desktop,
but before TweakUI will do the deed it pops up this scary warning:

"Carelessly changing a special folder may render your system unusable.
For example, don't set two special folders equal to each other, or set a
special folder equal to a system folder like the Fonts folder.
Continue changing special folders?"

If I move the My Pictures folder to the desktop it will then reside: inside
the Desktop folder, which is inside the Windows folder, which is inside the
C: folder; instead of where it is now: inside the My Documents folder which
is inside the C: folder.

Will making my proposed move have the effect of setting it "equal" to any
other system folder?? I must admit I haven't a clue what this means!

--moving My Pictures to the desktop where it would be subject to
ravaging by System Restore

Whilst storing files in a location other than My Documents (and a few
other places including Temp and TIF) does mean that System Restore will
monitor the contents of the folder remember that SR has no interest in any
graphics or media files such as those with jpg, bmp, tif, gif or png
extensions. If you want to know which file extensions are monitored by SR
then have a look at the <EXTENSIONS> <Include> section of the file
filelist.xml located at C:Windows\System\Restore (you can open it using
notepad). You will find that SR has no interest is the vast majority of
user data files and can, if necessary, be easily modified to exclude any
specific file type that a user needs to exclude. Details available of how
to so do if required.

During the one SysRes I've done since I reinstalled Me on 8/8 (to purge a
Powertoy I installed that messed up in spite of an assurance promising
Me compatibility), I watched shortcuts disappear off my desktop and some
I'd deleted reappear. After the reboot I opened the desktop folder where
I'd stashed freshly downloaded new versions of some favorite programs and
discovered them missing. So SR routed out some of my personal files, thus
my original concern about SR and moving My Pictures to the desktop. At the
bottom of SR's "filelist.xml" in the category named <include> I find two of
my image file extensions--PSP, TUB;--as well as EOT, TTF, and LNK. Can I
use Notepad to edit that file and remove these "includes"?

Even if so, I intend to schedule SmartSync Pro to backup certain folders at
my nightly shutdown--and My Pictures will definitely be one of them!

Thanks SO muchly for your help :-)

carol

[Mike M]

Two objects being the same would be if, for example you chose to make the
My Documents object "C:\Data" and the My Pictures object also "C:\Data".
Having My Pictures point to C:\Windows\Desktop\Pictures is not a problem
if the Desktop is C:\Windows\Desktop. This is no different to the default
of My Pictures being within My Documents (C:\My Documents and C:\My
Documents\My Pictures). If you then wanted to exclude the Desktop and any
folders placed there from System Restore that would take another five
minutes and require a second to get the details of how to do this post
although this isn't really necessary since system restore has no interest
in your data files such as photographs and graphics..
Does he? I wasn't aware that you were having an issue let alone Dan. You
asked about moving My Pictures out of My Documents on 17 August and I
explained what you had to do. You then digressed and talked about the
limitations of your graphics software and its open dialogue.
--
Mike Maltby

Post by caroloyl
Hi Mike
I finally decided I really need to have My Pictures living on my
desktop, but before TweakUI will do the deed it pops up this scary
"Carelessly changing a special folder may render your system unusable.
For example, don't set two special folders equal to each other, or
set a special folder equal to a system folder like the Fonts folder.
Continue changing special folders?"
inside the Desktop folder, which is inside the Windows folder, which
is inside the C: folder; instead of where it is now: inside the My
Documents folder which is inside the C: folder.
Will making my proposed move have the effect of setting it "equal" to
any other system folder?? I must admit I haven't a clue what this
means!

[Dapper Dan]

No issue with me. I think it was the explanation of what file associations
are protected by SR.

Dan

Post by Mike M
Two objects being the same would be if, for example you chose to make the
My Documents object "C:\Data" and the My Pictures object also "C:\Data".
Having My Pictures point to C:\Windows\Desktop\Pictures is not a problem
if the Desktop is C:\Windows\Desktop. This is no different to the default
of My Pictures being within My Documents (C:\My Documents and C:\My
Documents\My Pictures). If you then wanted to exclude the Desktop and any
folders placed there from System Restore that would take another five
minutes and require a second to get the details of how to do this post
although this isn't really necessary since system restore has no interest
in your data files such as photographs and graphics..
Does he? I wasn't aware that you were having an issue let alone Dan. You
asked about moving My Pictures out of My Documents on 17 August and I
explained what you had to do. You then digressed and talked about the
limitations of your graphics software and its open dialogue.
--
Mike Maltby

Post by caroloyl
Hi Mike
I finally decided I really need to have My Pictures living on my
desktop, but before TweakUI will do the deed it pops up this scary
"Carelessly changing a special folder may render your system unusable.
For example, don't set two special folders equal to each other, or
set a special folder equal to a system folder like the Fonts folder.
Continue changing special folders?"
inside the Desktop folder, which is inside the Windows folder, which
is inside the C: folder; instead of where it is now: inside the My
Documents folder which is inside the C: folder.
Will making my proposed move have the effect of setting it "equal" to
any other system folder?? I must admit I haven't a clue what this
means!

[Mike M]

Thanks Dan,

I didn't recall seeing any post from you mentioning any problem with the
location of the My Pictures object. I hope you've now managed to sort out
your problems with SpyBot.

Cheers,

Mike M

Post by Dapper Dan
No issue with me. I think it was the explanation of what file
associations are protected by SR.

[caroloyl]

Hi Mike

Thanks for the folder "equality" clarification--I'm thinking the Tweak
writers just assumed the gal-on-the-street would understand.

From his recent post about troubles installing the Spybot update it seemed
Dapper Dan and I were both concerned with which file extensions
SystemRestore purges and/or replaces. The "also" part of my first post in
this thread was intended to point to the last paragraph I wrote in it

Post by caroloyl
During the one SysRes I've done since I reinstalled Me on 8/8 (to purge a
Powertoy I installed that messed up in spite of an assurance promising
Me compatibility), I watched shortcuts disappear off my desktop and some
I'd deleted reappear. After the reboot I opened the desktop folder where
I'd stashed freshly downloaded new versions of some favorite programs and
discovered them missing. So SR routed out some of my personal files, thus
my original concern about SR and moving My Pictures to the desktop. At
the bottom of SR's "filelist.xml" in the category named <include> I find
two of my image file extensions--PSP, TUB;--as well as EOT, TTF, and LNK.
Can I use Notepad to edit that file and remove these "includes"?

In your reply to Dan (September 04, 2007 2:31 PM) you said:

Subject: Re: System Restore

Post by caroloyl
System restore does not archive and has no interest in data files wherever
located unless one happens to have a file extension in the Extension
Include list which is unusual if not extremely rare.
If you want to know which file extensions are monitored by SR
then have a look at the <EXTENSIONS> <Include> section of the file
filelist.xml located at C:Windows\System\Restore (you can open it using
notepad). You will find that SR has no interest is the vast majority of
user data files and can, if necessary, be easily modified to exclude any
specific file type that a user needs to exclude. Details available of how
to so do if required.

PSP and TUB are both Paint Shop Pro image file formats (which I transfer to
My Pictures after a short sojourn in my desktop Downloads folder), TTF and
EOT are font file extensions, and LNK--well it's a link. Why would SR
remove or replace any of these?--I certainly don't want it to.

Can I edit these extensions out of SR's <EXTENSIONS><Include> list using
Notepad? Can I add My Pictures and my personal desktop Downloads folder
to SR's <DIRECTORIES><Exclude> list? ("Documents and Settings" is already
excluded--but My Pictures won't be if I move it to the desktop.) Will the
EXE files in my Downloads folder still be removed (EXE is in the
<EXTENSIONS><Include> list) if I put the Downloads folder in the
<DIRECTORIES><Exclude> list?

Guess I need those details ;-) TIA

carol



______________________________________________

Post by caroloyl
Two objects being the same would be if, for example you chose to make the
My Documents object "C:\Data" and the My Pictures object also "C:\Data".
Having My Pictures point to C:\Windows\Desktop\Pictures is not a problem
if the Desktop is C:\Windows\Desktop. This is no different to the default
of My Pictures being within My Documents (C:\My Documents and C:\My
Documents\My Pictures). If you then wanted to exclude the Desktop and any
folders placed there from System Restore that would take another five
minutes and require a second to get the details of how to do this post
although this isn't really necessary since system restore has no interest
in your data files such as photographs and graphics..
Does he? I wasn't aware that you were having an issue let alone Dan. You
asked about moving My Pictures out of My Documents on 17 August and I
explained what you had to do. You then digressed and talked about the
limitations of your graphics software and its open dialogue.
--
Mike Maltby

Post by caroloyl
Hi Mike
I finally decided I really need to have My Pictures living on my
desktop, but before TweakUI will do the deed it pops up this scary
"Carelessly changing a special folder may render your system unusable.
For example, don't set two special folders equal to each other, or
set a special folder equal to a system folder like the Fonts folder.
Continue changing special folders?"
inside the Desktop folder, which is inside the Windows folder, which
is inside the C: folder; instead of where it is now: inside the My
Documents folder which is inside the C: folder.
Will making my proposed move have the effect of setting it "equal" to
any other system folder?? I must admit I haven't a clue what this
means!

[Mike M]

I'm pleased to read that you've taken the time to look at the contents of
the file filelist.xml.

LNK extensions are shortcuts and these are properly monitored by system
restore. as are TTF which are True Type Fonts and EOT which are Embedded
fonts since all these file types are part of the operating system and none
are "data" as such. If opening My Pictures to SR monitoring worries you
then don't move, use a shortcut. If you want to move the folder and don't
want SR to monitor the folder then either turn off system restore or ask
for details of how to modify the contents of filelist.xml which requires
more than just editing it with notepad.

It's unfortunate that both PSP and TUB are monitored file types, PSP is
used by many different applications, not just Paint Shop Pro and for some
SR protection is logical but I don't know why TUB files are being
monitored. I think that Paint Shop Pro was still a small freeware product
with a limited audience when Win Me and it's SR file types was developed
in 1999 although the same file list was then carried forward to XP in
2001. Nevertheless it is very easy to remove these file types from Win
Me's SR embrace as it is any other unwanted file type.

Post back starting a new thread and I'll try and explain what you need to
do to modify the state manager's behaviour.
--
Mike Maltby

Post by caroloyl
Hi Mike
Thanks for the folder "equality" clarification--I'm thinking the Tweak
writers just assumed the gal-on-the-street would understand.
From his recent post about troubles installing the Spybot update it
seemed Dapper Dan and I were both concerned with which file extensions
SystemRestore purges and/or replaces. The "also" part of my first
post in this thread was intended to point to the last paragraph I

Post by caroloyl
During the one SysRes I've done since I reinstalled Me on 8/8 (to
purge a Powertoy I installed that messed up in spite of an assurance
promising
Me compatibility), I watched shortcuts disappear off my desktop and
some I'd deleted reappear. After the reboot I opened the desktop
folder where I'd stashed freshly downloaded new versions of some
favorite programs and discovered them missing. So SR routed out
some of my personal files, thus my original concern about SR and
moving My Pictures to the desktop. At the bottom of SR's
"filelist.xml" in the category named <include> I find two of my
image file extensions--PSP, TUB;--as well as EOT, TTF, and LNK. Can
I use Notepad to edit that file and remove these "includes"?

Subject: Re: System Restore

Post by caroloyl
System restore does not archive and has no interest in data files
wherever located unless one happens to have a file extension in the
Extension Include list which is unusual if not extremely rare.
If you want to know which file extensions are monitored by SR
then have a look at the <EXTENSIONS> <Include> section of the file
filelist.xml located at C:Windows\System\Restore (you can open it
using notepad). You will find that SR has no interest is the vast
majority of user data files and can, if necessary, be easily
modified to exclude any specific file type that a user needs to
exclude. Details available of how to so do if required.

PSP and TUB are both Paint Shop Pro image file formats (which I
transfer to My Pictures after a short sojourn in my desktop Downloads
folder), TTF and EOT are font file extensions, and LNK--well it's a
link. Why would SR remove or replace any of these?--I certainly
don't want it to.
Can I edit these extensions out of SR's <EXTENSIONS><Include> list
using Notepad? Can I add My Pictures and my personal desktop
Downloads folder to SR's <DIRECTORIES><Exclude> list? ("Documents and
Settings" is already excluded--but My Pictures won't be if I move it
to the desktop.) Will the EXE files in my Downloads folder still be
removed (EXE is in the <EXTENSIONS><Include> list) if I put the
Downloads folder in the <DIRECTORIES><Exclude> list?
Guess I need those details ;-) TIA

[Mike M]

I've now found a previous post I've made on editing filelist.xml and have
edited and posted it below. I thought I was going to have to write it
again.

Two points to note before we move on. 1) FileList.xml is protected from
amendment by Win Me's System File Protection mechanism, and, b) Win Me's
state manager doesn't actually use FileList.xml but rather the files
vxdmon.dat and vxdmon.cfg which are located in the _RESTORE folder on the
drive containing the windows folder. These two control files are rebuilt
each time that system restore is enabled.

1) Make a copy of filelist.xml, say filelist.new.
2) Remove the entry to filelist.xml from the new file filelist.new (Line:
829).
3) Edit Filelist.xml to exclude any file extensions you no longer want
monitored such as PSP and TUB in the section <EXTENSIONS> <Include>
4) Any folders that you specifically wish to exclude from SR's embrace to
the section <DIRECTORIES> <Exclude> noting that the contents of any
sub-folder of an excluded folder will also be excluded unless explicitly
added to the section <DIRECTORIES> <Include>.
Note that %personaldocuments% is the My Documents object wherever located.
The other %folder% names are hopefully self-explanatory. Note also that
you cannot use the wildcard * in a folder/directory or file name however
it can be used for the drive, for example *:\Temp which excludes the
contents of the Temp folder in the root of any drive.
5) Temporarily disable system restore
6) Boot to DOS with a floppy.
At the A:\> prompt type, all on the same line,

REN C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RESTORE\FILELIST.XML FILELIST.OLD

and then click Enter, now type, again all on the same line,

REN C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RESTORE\FILELIST.NEW FILELIST.XML
5) Remove floppy and boot back in to Win Me
6) Re-enable system restore and immediately reboot.

Your new edited copy of filelist.xml should now have been parsed and built
in to the newly created system restore control files. This is something
that happens each time that system restore is re-enabled.

Note that once you have removed the reference to itself in FileList.xml
this means that filelist.xml can later be edited as required without SFP
butting in and rearing its ugly head and changes to FileList.xml
incorporated into the control files simply by resetting SR without the
need to rename files from DOS. Also, if you get the syntax wrong in
FileList.xml, statemgr.exe (or is it stmgr.exe - I forget which) will balk
when building vxdmon.dat on booting the system and quit and sulk until you
correct the error in FileList.xml.

A final note. It is essential to reset system restore (disable and then
enable) following any change to the contents of filelist.xml otherwise the
changes will not be incorporated into the control files used by the state
manager.
--
Mike Maltby

Post by Mike M
I'm pleased to read that you've taken the time to look at the
contents of the file filelist.xml.
LNK extensions are shortcuts and these are properly monitored by
system restore. as are TTF which are True Type Fonts and EOT which
are Embedded fonts since all these file types are part of the
operating system and none are "data" as such. If opening My Pictures
to SR monitoring worries you then don't move, use a shortcut. If you
want to move the folder and don't want SR to monitor the folder then
either turn off system restore or ask for details of how to modify
the contents of filelist.xml which requires more than just editing it
with notepad.
It's unfortunate that both PSP and TUB are monitored file types, PSP
is used by many different applications, not just Paint Shop Pro and
for some SR protection is logical but I don't know why TUB files are
being monitored. I think that Paint Shop Pro was still a small
freeware product with a limited audience when Win Me and it's SR file
types was developed in 1999 although the same file list was then
carried forward to XP in 2001. Nevertheless it is very easy to remove
these file types from Win Me's SR embrace as it is any other unwanted
file type.
Post back starting a new thread and I'll try and explain what you
need to do to modify the state manager's behaviour.

[caroloyl]

Hi Mike

Thank you SO much for providing me with this information. Your instructions
are saved in my "Windows Help" folder and I'm very glad my need didn't cause
you to have to rewrite them :-))) Sounds like a fun challenge--and you can
bet I'll be extremely careful making my changes.

I have one more quick question about SysRes: does using it remove or
replace files on other internal drives in addition to C: ? I find a
"_Restore" folder on my D: backup drive too and I sure don't want it messing
around in there =:-o

carol

Post by Mike M
I've now found a previous post I've made on editing filelist.xml and have
edited and posted it below. I thought I was going to have to write it
again.
Two points to note before we move on. 1) FileList.xml is protected from
amendment by Win Me's System File Protection mechanism, and, b) Win Me's
state manager doesn't actually use FileList.xml but rather the files
vxdmon.dat and vxdmon.cfg which are located in the _RESTORE folder on the
drive containing the windows folder. These two control files are rebuilt
each time that system restore is enabled.
1) Make a copy of filelist.xml, say filelist.new.
829).
3) Edit Filelist.xml to exclude any file extensions you no longer want
monitored such as PSP and TUB in the section <EXTENSIONS> <Include>
4) Any folders that you specifically wish to exclude from SR's embrace to
the section <DIRECTORIES> <Exclude> noting that the contents of any
sub-folder of an excluded folder will also be excluded unless explicitly
added to the section <DIRECTORIES> <Include>.
Note that %personaldocuments% is the My Documents object wherever located.
The other %folder% names are hopefully self-explanatory. Note also that
you cannot use the wildcard * in a folder/directory or file name however
it can be used for the drive, for example *:\Temp which excludes the
contents of the Temp folder in the root of any drive.
5) Temporarily disable system restore
6) Boot to DOS with a floppy.
At the A:\> prompt type, all on the same line,
REN C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RESTORE\FILELIST.XML FILELIST.OLD
and then click Enter, now type, again all on the same line,
REN C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RESTORE\FILELIST.NEW FILELIST.XML
5) Remove floppy and boot back in to Win Me
6) Re-enable system restore and immediately reboot.
Your new edited copy of filelist.xml should now have been parsed and built
in to the newly created system restore control files. This is something
that happens each time that system restore is re-enabled.
Note that once you have removed the reference to itself in FileList.xml
this means that filelist.xml can later be edited as required without SFP
butting in and rearing its ugly head and changes to FileList.xml
incorporated into the control files simply by resetting SR without the
need to rename files from DOS. Also, if you get the syntax wrong in
FileList.xml, statemgr.exe (or is it stmgr.exe - I forget which) will balk
when building vxdmon.dat on booting the system and quit and sulk until you
correct the error in FileList.xml.
A final note. It is essential to reset system restore (disable and then
enable) following any change to the contents of filelist.xml otherwise the
changes will not be incorporated into the control files used by the state
manager.
--
Mike Maltby

Post by Mike M
I'm pleased to read that you've taken the time to look at the
contents of the file filelist.xml.
LNK extensions are shortcuts and these are properly monitored by
system restore. as are TTF which are True Type Fonts and EOT which
are Embedded fonts since all these file types are part of the
operating system and none are "data" as such. If opening My Pictures
to SR monitoring worries you then don't move, use a shortcut. If you
want to move the folder and don't want SR to monitor the folder then
either turn off system restore or ask for details of how to modify
the contents of filelist.xml which requires more than just editing it
with notepad.
It's unfortunate that both PSP and TUB are monitored file types, PSP
is used by many different applications, not just Paint Shop Pro and
for some SR protection is logical but I don't know why TUB files are
being monitored. I think that Paint Shop Pro was still a small
freeware product with a limited audience when Win Me and it's SR file
types was developed in 1999 although the same file list was then
carried forward to XP in 2001. Nevertheless it is very easy to remove
these file types from Win Me's SR embrace as it is any other unwanted
file type.
Post back starting a new thread and I'll try and explain what you
need to do to modify the state manager's behaviour.

[Mike M]

Carol,

Win Me's system restore unfortunately monitors all fixed (permanent)
drives and the only configuration is on or off and the amount of space
that can be allocated to the store. The instructions contained in my
previous post on how to add or exclude monitored folders and file types
(and also remove system file protection monitoring from certain files if
required) was the result of a fair bit of research and work following Win
Me's launch at which time little was known or documented about SR since at
the time it was a brand new feature. Since then XP (and now Vista) have
launched and SR has developed. For example in XP, SR can be
enabled/disabled on a drive by drive basis although it has to be running
on the drive containing Windows (usually C:\) to be able to run on another
drive. In other words, if you have 3 drives, C, D & E you can have SR
enabled on all 3, or C+D, C+E or C alone but not D+E of just D or E.

Another weakness of SR as implemented on Win Me is that whilst each drive
has a _RESTORE folder, only that on C:\ has the five sub-folders used by
the archive meaning that monitored files on say drive D get copied to the
archive on C. With XP each drive has its own archive which means that
files don't get moved between drives which can potentially slow down the
system if large files are being archived. Note, don't try to move or
delete the _RESTORE folder on other drives. It contains an important
file, srdiskid.dat, which contains just a single character which is the
allocated drive letter for the drive. If on booting the state manager
detects that the actual drive letter differs from that stored in
srdiskid.dat it resets system restore with the loss of all checkpoints
because it "thinks" the drive layout has altered in someway and the
archive is as a result compromised.

Win Me's SR should not monitor external or removable drives although this
has been known to happen occasionally but this is normally due to an odd
driver and isn't the norm.

One way to stop SR being interested for the most part in drives other than
C is to be organised and methodical and store all data on those drives in
an ordered way under say just a few top level folders. For example have
all of the files on your backup drive contained in a top level folder
called, for example, D:\Backups and then add D:\Backups to the directories
exclusion list in filelist.xml. This is how I ran Win Me when I was
running it on a system with multiple drives. You don't have to limit
yourself to just one excluded top level folder but I would suggest using a
few only rather than adding a long list of exclusions but now you know how
to do this how you use that information has to be up to you. <vbg>

Once again note that it is ESSENTIAL whenever you change filelist.xml to
cycle SR off and then back on again so as to rebuild the control files and
thus put in to effect the changes.

Very best of luck,
--
Mike Maltby

Post by caroloyl
Hi Mike
Thank you SO much for providing me with this information. Your
instructions are saved in my "Windows Help" folder and I'm very glad
my need didn't cause you to have to rewrite them :-))) Sounds like a
fun challenge--and you can bet I'll be extremely careful making my
changes.
I have one more quick question about SysRes: does using it remove or
replace files on other internal drives in addition to C: ? I find a
"_Restore" folder on my D: backup drive too and I sure don't want it
messing around in there =:-o