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VS Studio "Inventing" Odd Filepaths

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Dad

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Mar 27, 2009, 11:38:49 AM3/27/09
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Hi,

VS is generating some odd filepaths of the form

%USERPROFILE%\Downloads\Documents\Downloads\Documents\Downloads\Documents\...

for settings files, source directory, macro files, and so on. I don't know
where they come from. I have never used filepaths remotely like this. I have
reset filepaths in Tools/Import-Export and corrected filepaths in Tools/Options.
After a few days, the filepaths get replaced again. The registry shows many
files like the above.

Further, about once a week, at startup and exit it complains that the filepath

C:\..path..\C:\..another path..\...\settings

cannot be accessed. Note the double inclusion of "C"

I removed and reinstalled VS without curing the problem.

Can someone suggest a solution? I posted this in the ..vstudio.general but
didn't get a response.

Thanks,
Gary

Pavel Minaev

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Mar 27, 2009, 7:04:21 PM3/27/09
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On Mar 27, 8:38 am, "Dad" <abbybr...@charter.net> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> VS is generating some odd filepaths of the form
>
>     %USERPROFILE%\Downloads\Documents\Downloads\Documents\Downloads\Documents\. ..
>
> for settings files, source directory, macro files, and so on.  I don't know
> where they come from.  I have never used filepaths remotely like this.  I have
> reset filepaths in Tools/Import-Export and corrected filepaths in Tools/Options.
> After a few days, the filepaths get replaced again.  The registry shows many
> files like the above.

Open command prompt and execute "echo %USERPROFILE%". You'll see what
it actually means then.

> Further, about once a week, at startup and exit it complains that the filepath
>
>     C:\..path..\C:\..another path..\...\settings
>
> cannot be accessed.  Note the double inclusion of "C"

At that point I would ask you to post the result of the exercise above
here. It may be that your environment variables are messed up (though
I'm pretty sure that it's the OS itself that's responsible for
USERPROFILE to be correct).

Dad

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Mar 28, 2009, 10:01:34 AM3/28/09
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>"Pavel Minaev" <int...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>news:76dc4b4b-4c57-4a94-b917->e05d1f...@p6g2000pre.googlegroups.com...

>> VS is generating some odd filepaths of the form
>>
>> %USERPROFILE%\Downloads\Documents\Downloads\Documents\Downloads\Documents\.
>> ..
>>
>> for settings files, source directory, macro files, and so on. I don't know

>> ...

>Open command prompt and execute "echo %USERPROFILE%". You'll see what
>it actually means then.

>> Further, about once a week, at startup and exit it complains that the
>> filepath
>>
>> C:\..path..\C:\..another path..\...\settings
>>
>> cannot be accessed. Note the double inclusion of "C"

>At that point I would ask you to post the result of the exercise above
>here. It may be that your environment variables are messed up (though
>I'm pretty sure that it's the OS itself that's responsible for
>USERPROFILE to be correct).

echo %USERPROFILE% yields an empty string.

IIRC NT4 listed such paths somewhere in Control Panel / System. I don't see
them here in VISTA.

Gary

Dad

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Mar 28, 2009, 11:50:16 AM3/28/09
to

"Dad" <abby...@charter.net> wrote in message
news:eFJV626r...@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

On my desktop echo %USERPROFILE% also yields an empty string. The desktop is
XP, the problem installation has Vista.

Gary


Pavel Minaev

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Mar 28, 2009, 2:46:35 PM3/28/09
to
On Mar 28, 7:01 am, "Dad" <abbybr...@charter.net> wrote:
> >"Pavel Minaev" <int...@gmail.com> wrote in message
> >news:76dc4b4b-4c57-4a94-b917->e05d1f3c2__BEGIN_MASK_n#9g02mG7!__...__END_MASK_i?a63jfAD$z...@p6g2000pre.googlegroups.com...

This is extremely strange, and points to a broken OS installation.
This variable should be set by the OS every time you long in; you can
change it manually with "set USERPROFILE=", but it should come back
once you relog. It is also something that was there pretty much since
the first version of NT, and it is still there in Win7. If you Google
for "USERPROFILE environment variable", you'll see plenty of mentions
and explanations.

Another possibility is that you have some application (malware?) run
on startup that resets that variable, or tries to set it incorrectly
and resets it by accident.

I wonder also, what about other stuff there? Try these on Vista:

echo %AllUsersProfile%
echo %AppData%
echo %LocalAppData%
echo %UserName%
echo %SystemRoot%

if all those also print empty strings when run in command prompt, then
you definitely have a problem.

Dad

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Mar 28, 2009, 4:03:13 PM3/28/09
to
My error!

echo %USERPROFILE%

yields

C:\Users\dad

Sorry. I was up half the night watching F1 qualifying from Australia. I was
confusing the response with the prompt.

Gary

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