"documents and settings" junction? disappeared

[zdoe]

i've been on 7-64 now for some 3 months. i used to see "documents and settings" -folder, including "all users" on my explorer tree.

from what i understand, this was a junction/shortcut to c:\users\

this morning, however, the whole documents and settings folder is no longer appearing, and with it a bunch of shortcuts that were in the start menu of all users are missing.

this leaves me with a creepy feeling that a lot of other program settings could be now gone.

what could cause this?

how to restore the junction? - i assume that many legacy programs will not work correctly without \documents and settings on the system.

 

[Mike Connor]

You should first check that malware is not affecting your system.

Download this;

Download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 1.50.1 - FileHippo.com

and run a FULL scan, after updating the database. If it finds anything post the log here.

This may help you to restore folders;

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/69334-public-folders-restore.html

There are other tutorials in that section for restoring defaults.

Regards....Mike Connor

 

[zdoe]

thanks for the pointers. i had just yesterday run "spybot search & destroy," that didn't find anything.

is malwarebytes anti-malware better than that?

i do have \users\public there & seemingly functional - it's the \documents and settings\ -junction that's gone.

the tail of the public folders - restore -tutorial suggests doing a repair install. last i tried that option was not, to my distress, available. don't remember the exact error message, i think it had to do with version numbers installed/on the dvd. then i was checking it out just in case, so i just walked away.

no i WOULD probably need it, right? or, is there a way of restoring just the docs&sets junction with some registry magic?

 

[Mike Connor]

thanks for the pointers. i had just yesterday run "spybot search & destroy," that didn't find anything.

is malwarebytes anti-malware better than that?

i do have \users\public there & seemingly functional - it's the \documents and settings\ -junction that's gone.

the tail of the public folders - restore -tutorial suggests doing a repair install. last i tried that option was not, to my distress, available. don't remember the exact error message, i think it had to do with version numbers installed/on the dvd. then i was checking it out just in case, so i just walked away.

no i WOULD probably need it, right? or, is there a way of restoring just the docs&sets junction with some registry magic?

"Better" is largely subjective.

I prefer malwarebytes and superantispyware;

SUPERAntiSpyware.com | Remove Malware | Remove Spyware - AntiMalware, AntiSpyware, AntiAdware!

They each may find something the other misses.

I would run both in suspicious circumstances, and anything which causes junctions or other folders to go missing is a suspicious circumstance.

Yes, a repair install or even just a system restore ( if you have it enabled) are alternatives, but run the malware checks first.

Regards....Mike Connor

 

[davehc]

Excuse me if this sounds a little basic, but I must ask!!
You have not, by chance, altered the Tools - Folder Options - View in Windows explorer? (hide protected operating system files)

 

[zdoe]

running the malwarebytes quick scan now. nothing found so far.

meanwhile, i found the shorcuts folder that had gone AWOL at:
c:\programdata\microsoft\windows\start menu

but not sure what ELSE has gone AWOL.

 

[Mike Connor]

running the malwarebytes quick scan now. nothing found so far.

meanwhile, i found the shorcuts folder that had gone AWOL at:
c:\programdata\microsoft\windows\start menu

but not sure what ELSE has gone AWOL.

You need to run a FULL scan, a quick scan is not sufficient!

Also, if you have not altered something yourself, then something else has.

Let's wait and see what the scan says............

Regards....Mike Connor

 

[zdoe]

malwarebytes quick scan results are a dozen false positives pertaining to xunlei thunder p2p client, and the fact that windows security center is disabled.

also reran spybot - zilz.

will run a full malwarebytes scan next.

daveHC - this occurred to me as well, but is not the case. and i first noticed this when a hotkey shortcut to a folder in \documents and settings\all users\ was no longer working.

the other thing that i DID do yesterday is run puran defrag with "optimize system." wondering if that could be the culprit as i don't see what else could.

meanwhile - where ARE the junctions stored in 7-64? i do have a registry backup that i could use if they're in the registry?

 

[Mike Connor]

malwarebytes quick scan results are a dozen false positives pertaining to xunlei thunder p2p client, and the fact that windows security center is disabled.

also reran spybot - zilz.

will run a full malwarebytes scan next.

daveHC - this occurred to me as well, but is not the case. and i first noticed this when a hotkey shortcut to a folder in \documents and settings\all users\ was no longer working.

the other thing that i DID do yesterday is run puran defrag with "optimize system." wondering if that could be the culprit as i don't see what else could.

I have had several cases where Puran defrag killed a system. If you have no malware, and you have done nothing else, then that is most likely the cause.

You MAY be able to recover by running a standard Windows defragmentation. This can take a long time, and may not work. But I would try that first.

Regards....Mike Connor

 

[Mike Connor]

meanwhile - where ARE the junctions stored in 7-64? i do have a registry backup that i could use if they're in the registry?

A registry or other backup will do you no good if the defragger has messed up the disc storage.

The only other thing that would work here, assuming that your drive is actually messed up, is an image restore. I doubt a repair install would work, but it might.

I would first make a backup of everything you need. Then run a standard windows defragmentation. With any luck that will fix the problem. If it doesn't, you can try a repair install. If that doesn't work, your only other option is a clean install.

Regards....Mike Connor

 

[zdoe]

not sure if it's the defragger wreaking havoc here, but could be, i guess.

most things DO work, so i don't (yet) want to use my image (which is 2 months old anyway).

with a bit of googling i found sysinternals junction - it enabled me to recreate the docs&sets junction:
C:\Users\john doe>junction "c:\Documents and Settings" "c:\users"

Junction v1.06 - Windows junction creator and reparse point viewer
Copyright (C) 2000-2010 Mark Russinovich
Sysinternals - Windows Sysinternals: Documentation, downloads and additional resources

Created: c:\Documents and Settings
Targetted at: c:\users

C:\Users\john doe>junction "c:\Documents and Settings\All Users" "c:\users\public"

Junction v1.06 - Windows junction creator and reparse point viewer
Copyright (C) 2000-2010 Mark Russinovich
Sysinternals - Windows Sysinternals: Documentation, downloads and additional resources

Created: c:\Documents and Settings\All Users
Targetted at: c:\users\public

and another one to \users\public for documents and settings\all users - for good measure. what OTHER junctions i might be missing in doing this?

to answer my own question - i currently suspect that the junctions are symlinks (to use the linux word) that reside in the NTFS file system itself. am i right or wrong?

 

[Mike Connor]

You are correct. That is most likely why your system is messed up. The defragger has probably scrambled the links.

As I wrote, try a normal Windows defrag. It might recover. I don't know of any other sensible way to do it.

Restoring various links manually is not likely to work, there are just too many problems with permissions etc.

Once you alter anything at all on a system default junction, you might as well do a clean install, because I guarantee you will never get that system running properly again.

In this case you don't even know what links have been affected, or how.

If you have already manually recreated junctions, then it is probably too late to do anything at all.

Even taking ownership of a default system junction, ( which all newbies try, and they all shoot themselves in the foot by so doing, as the system fails as a result), renders a system useless.

Regards....Mike Connor

 

[zdoe]

I have had several cases where Puran defrag killed a system. If you have no malware, and you have done nothing else, then that is most likely the cause. Regards....Mike Connor

i had NOT read your response carefully enough - then i'm now SURE that it's puran that killed me. pity - since pctools 15 years ago, it appears to be the only defragger that attempts to allow the user to use the fast part of the drive for everyday tasks on a drive that's filling up.

 

[zdoe]

yes i HAVE now recreated the junction points as in the earlier post. will try the win defragger as well for good measure - can't hurt.

clean install is not really an option - this software environment is so complex that to get back to where i (still) am would be a month of work, or more.

 

[Mike Connor]

yes i HAVE now recreated the junction points as in the earlier post. will try the win defragger as well for good measure - can't hurt.

clean install is not really an option - this software environment is so complex that to get back to where i (still) am would be a month of work, or more.

There are plenty of defraggers out there that will do all sorts of things, but the plain truth is that the built in defragger works perfectly well, respects "layout.ini" used by the built in optimiser, and wont damage the system.

Unless you have very special needs, and know exactly what you are doing, then there is no point in using any other defraggers, not least because it will make no noticeable difference to system performance.

You might find this interesting;

http://www.sevenforums.com/performa...y-long-shut-down-hibernate-4.html#post1357058

http://www.sevenforums.com/performa...y-long-shut-down-hibernate-4.html#post1358958

Two defraggers which will do what you want and have never caused me any problems, are the O&O defragger,

http://www.oo-software.com/free/en/ ( Although I mostly used the professional versions ).

and this one;

http://www.disktrix.com/

( This was the last freeware edition I believe; http://download.cnet.com/UltimateDefrag-Freeware-Edition/3000-2094_4-10582157.html I have not used it on Windows 7 ).

Which is extremely powerful and very very customisable. There are others as well, but I see no point in using any of them on my personal machines. I have never noticed any performance gains at all in normal use, so I simply don't bother with other defraggers any more. I have the windows defragger scheduled to run once a week.


Regards....Mike Connor

 

[zdoe]

trying ultimate defrag next. thanks for all the pointers.

 

[Mike Connor]

trying ultimate defrag next. thanks for all the pointers.

My pleasure. Hope you manage to get everything sorted out.

Regards....Mike Connor