Skip to main content

System folder contents on C becomes something different on backup.

Thread needs solution

Brief outline... discovered this by accident,
1. Vista... disk cleanup shows 0 (zero) files to delete in downloaded program files.
2. Clicked on "view files" by mistake... and find there is an item there, which I asked about on MS answers,
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistaperformance/threa…

That's how all this started.

Acronis...
If I open the backups... any going back a while, and look in "downloaded program files" the problem file referred to above shows as "desktop.ini" That applies if I make an image now with this "damaged" file on the C drive. There is no reference to desktop.ini in the folder on the C drive, make the backup and explore it and that it what it seems to become, restore from a backup and it's once again the "damaged" file referred to in the MS link.

Is this just some weird anomally... the PC in all respects runs perfectly... the date on this file is from when Vista was clean installed... and it's accessed daily.

0 Users found this helpful

The link you posted basically says that the (a) file problemsuch as this (file reported as damaged) requires running the disk scanner, which is probably a good idea in your case too. If there's a bogey file on your disk and you backup, then your backup image will contain the bogey. If you restore, you will restore the bogey. So first thing is to ensure the disk hasn't any errors. Then make your backup.

Desktop.ini is a win sys file that win creates automatically and one usually can't do anything to it manually without admin or system rights.

Thanks for replying... it is an odd issue anyway without the Acronis "thing"
I do run sfc /scannow occasionally and chk disk ... it's a bit weirder than that :)

The file Desktop.ini is what is in the Acronis backup file in the "downloaded program files" folder.
If I restore that backup the file becomes {E2883E8F-472F-4FB0-9522-AC9BF37916A7} and it's properties mention active X control and Adobe. Nothing about "Desktop.ini" at all. Under "versions" everything is listed "unknown".
If I make a backup and look in the same place (downloaded prog files" in the backup I find it's now called "Desktop.ini"

If you've run sfc and have no errors and have an old version of desktop.ini that you know is good then try this. Resore or copy the good desktop.ini file to some out of hte way place. Create a new text file and call in "desktop.ini" and edit your good desktop ini file and copy the contents into the new text file. Create a file-by-file backup that includes that text file. Now restore that new text file using ATI bootCD but with the settings set to restore to a diff directory and to overwrite existing files and choose the location of the bad desktop.ini on your system drive (usually C"\documents and settings\[username]). There's a few mft/metadata probs that sfc won't detect or fix and this method will force them to update for the new file and purge the mft of the contents for the old file.

Hi Scott,
Found a bit more out... although the desktop.ini is a total mystery to me.
The file in downloaded progs is to do with an active X, Adobe,
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936883
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936883

Quite why it should show as "desktop.ini" in the backup files is beyond me.

It's not really an Acronis issue... I was just really puzzled (the above) and trying to get a grip on what was going on... the more I research it the more common the problem seems to be.
Thanks for your trouble :)

The downloaded program files folder is where activeX component packages (used by Internet Explorer) go, though some may also place files in the system32 or other folders. With Windows Explorer you cannot see the actual files that are in the downloaded program files folder as they are superhidden (including its desktop.ini file). If you right click on one of activeX packages, click properties, you can see what site it came from and what files the package has installed. If one or other package shows as damaged, right click on it, click remove, it will remove the activeX package and the associated files, and then next time you visit the web site it will offer it again if needed.

The desktop.ini files appear in many Windows folders, but their contents differ from folder to folder (you can view in Notepad). They contain information such as the related folder icon for those folders that have a special one and other folder-specific information and registry pointers. So you can't generally copy a desktop.ini file from one folder to another.

Thanks...
yes the downloaded program files folder has only one file in it...the damaged one... that properties say is Adobe related. Your comments on files being "super hidden" makes sense and perhaps explains why the .ini shows under Acronis file but not when expanded and restored in the C drive.
I'm afraid deleting it isn't that easy :) there's no right click delete option on the file (and no security tab to take ownership). I thought of deleting the whole folder but Vista doesn't allow that either. Tried from cmd.exe using takeown f c file names etc but no go.
It's not causing a problem so is probably best just left alone... it's the puzzle of it and not likeing to be beaten by something lol

If yo have admin rights, you can set Explorer folder options to allow viewing system folders

Open Explorer window, select View tab, and on the list select show Hidden files and folders. Then when you open Explorer on the Windows\Downloaded Prfram Files, if you right click, then Remove should be one of your options.

If you can't right click becasue the file is damaged, then I'd try making the fake desktop.ini file (make a text file with that name, back it up and then resotre it over the troublesome file. Then you should be able to right click it.

I have "show hidden files" enabled... thanks.
You have a delete option on the folder, but it won't let you :) even with trying to take ownership of it.
The last modified date is 30th Sept... and that's the date all Adobe stuff was installed.

The fact that there are absolutely no ill effects at all makes me a little reluctant to medle to much... although I have backups of course.

This makes me think all themore that it's an mft prob. SFC won't detect case diffs probs which can render files unusable and undeletable like yours. So sfc won't fix them. That's why I suggested overwriting with another file with the same name at the same place -- it will force an update to the MFT. Alternatively you can try uninstalling Adobe and reinstalling it, but for each operation it probably won't be able to access the file for deletion or replacement either as long as Windows is running.

As Scott has said, overwriting the file should work. In particularly stubborn cases when all else fails, you could delete the file while booted to a Live Linux CD like Knoppix.

Thanks again for all your help folks... easy one first, no right click delete option... it went way beyond that :)
Found yesterday that an OCR (Optical recognition program) I went to install... Abbey finereader wouldn't :( Strange messages such as unable to write registry keys etc. All very odd as this is a pretty pristine recent Vista install that has never been tweaked manually or with 3rd party stuff.

And this is the beauty of Acronis... I make images of the updated SP1/SP2/IE8 image so in the end have gone back to that and reinstalled my apps.
Not the most satisfactory outcome but it's fixed the issues. Why is it always Adobe and such like that seems to gives problems.
Now to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Final update on this... prepared for what might happen (so full backup) I downloaded Adobe Reader 9 and Adobe Flash. No problems... no strange "damaged file" etc on running disk cleanup.
Now... Adobe Reader puts a strange folder on the desktop (108mb size... called Adobe set up or something) and previously when I researched this, and asked, the general concensus was "delete it" it's done it's job and isnt needed. So I did... and the damaged file returns immediately. All the files that the desktop shortcut opens are still in C:\ prog files\Adobe but something must happen.

Anyway... problem solved... am trying Foxit instead :)

FYI: Very likely it is the Adobe download manager (that has an ActiveX component). Instead of deleting that folder, you should have been able to right click remove on its activeX component in downloaded program files.

You don't need to use their download manager when downloading Flash. On the download page, after unchecking the Google toolbar (unless you want it), and clicking on Agree and install now, in the page that opens, instead of letting it install the download manager, scroll to the bottom of the page where it says

Your download will start automatically.
If it does not start, click here to download

Click on that download link. That will download flashplayer directly without using their download mkanager and you can then install it manually from the downloaded file

Thanks JRosenfield... I have installed just flash player and nothing else. Everything seems to have bundled toolbars etc thesedays... even Foxit (ASK)... and that prompted me to try PDF viewer from tracker software (again after returning to clean disk image).
All seems OK...

thanks again for all your advice :)

Mooly wrote:
Thanks again for all your help folks... easy one first, no right click delete option... it went way beyond that :) Found yesterday that an free ocr (Optical recognition program) I went to install... Abbey finereader wouldn't :( Strange messages such as unable to write registry keys etc. All very odd as this is a pretty pristine recent Vista install that has never been tweaked manually or with 3rd party stuff. And this is the beauty of Acronis... I make images of the updated SP1/SP2/IE8 image so in the end have gone back to that and reinstalled my apps. Not the most satisfactory outcome but it's fixed the issues. Why is it always Adobe and such like that seems to gives problems. Now to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Thanks for your information, it also helps me.