Customized User Profile Issue - Metro Apps not working

PC Pilot

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Hi everyone, would sure welcome some assistance in troubleshooting this issue......

Installed 64 Bit Windows 8 Pro as a clean install having previously been using Windows 7 (user profiles customized to my liking as per tutorial guidance on SevenForums and detailed below).

My setup is as follows: 4 HDD's each with 2 - 4 partitions, 2 X 2TB running SATA III via U3S6 controller card (one of which contains the "C" (System) drive the other being a Media - E: and Gaming Drive - F: Two further 750GB SATA II drives complete the picture as Data Drives. In Windows 7 the Primary partitions of each were assigned C (System - 2 TB No 1) D (Data - 750 GB No 1) (i.e. User Documents/Files/Folders) and E (Media Library - 2 TB No 2) (i.e. User Photo, Music, Videos etc.).

The "User" profile structure was further refined as:

Main Profile - Contained in "Neil" a Folder off the Root of "D" (i.e. "D:\Neil") - The "media" Sub Folders of this profile (e.g. My Music, My Photos) being assigned as Folders to the Root of "E" (e.g. E:\Photos"). The remaining folders (e.g. Favourites, Documents etc. as Sub Folders of "D:\Neil\Filing Cabinet" (e.g. D:\Neil\Filing Cabinet\Web Favourites)

All other Profiles - Contained in "standard" Sub Folders of "D:\Users (e.g. "D:\Users\Emma") using standard sub folder assignments.


This has worked like a charm since setting up 64 Bit Windows 7 Ultimate upon it's launch and naturally was implemented on the Windows 8 Pro

In doing so, studied this forum ahead of undertaking the install so to facilitate good setup practice. In the event I followed Kari's tutorial "How to Relocate User Profiles to another Partition or Disk in Windows 8" (as I had done previously with similar tutorials in Windows 7) which worked like a charm. The primary user profile is an administrator account setup as a "Local" account with individual profile folder locations being re-named/re-assigned using the location tab and the appropriate registry keys as per the earlier "SevenForums" tutorials.

Sorry if this info seems a tad long winded.....just wanted to give the experts a complete picture:)

Now to the issue......everything works like a charm as before except the Metro Apps which will not work, nor can I access the app store downloads (signing in from the store using my MS account fails reporting "Something Happened and this app couldn't be installed").

I have setup an entirely separate profile (D:\Users\Xxxx) using my MS Account (as administrator) to login and also a "Test" Local Account (also as administrator) (D:\Users\Test). Both function as intended, metro apps work so does the store (signing in from the store in the case of the "local" account).:confused:

As an educated guess :think: I would imagine that either registry key(s) require modifying to accommodate the "non standard profile location" in respect of the Metro Interface OR perhaps a 'permissions' issue OR even a missing link(s) of some kind????

Any thoughts would be much appreciated

Many thanks,

PC Pilot
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Self Build
    CPU
    I7 920
    Motherboard
    Asus P6T7 WS SuperComputer with U3S6 Controller Card
    Memory
    6GB Corsair Dominator (3 X 2G) PC3 15000 DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus GTX 560 Ti DirectCU II - ENGTX560 Ti DCII2DI1GD5
I'm not sure, that registry keys will do the trick. AFAIK it's a security issue. Apps are storing some data in user profile - and this requires access rights to trusted level low. Moving user profiles doesn't grants this trusted level to the target folder.

Maybe there is also some other limit in sandboxing, that checks whether all App internal data storage locations belongs to the same partition like the sandbox container - but I'm not sure (haven't investigated this, because I don't have a need for that).

Maybe my remarks give you a hint to search in the right direction -maybe I'm completely wrong with my assumptions.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 7/Win 8/Android x86/iOS/OS X
Hi gborn........thank you for taking time to reply:)

I am interested in your suggestion of security being involved here with an access rights issue perhaps causing my problem. In the course of my further research I have already followed the thread accompanying the tutorial by Kari which I used to assign the User profiles to the separate partition as part of the clean install. A number of posters made reference to creating a directory junction (mklink /j) from an administrator command prompt perhaps this was aimed at correcting the access rights from the default location??

Naturally I have followed these steps (and verified the new shortcuts have been created by the system) creating a directory junction between the default profile location (as set by Kari's tutorial and from which I customized the location as I had earlier in Windows 7) of D:\Users\Neil with D:\Neil.....As a precaution I also created a junction between the standard system default C:\Users\Neil and D:\Neil though I suspect this was not necessary.....

The issue remains unresolved:(

As I understand it the modern apps (metro) use 'sandboxing' to aid security with (any of?) 10 declarations reported in the manifest of each app as to which (of the following) OS capabilities they need to call upon.....
internetClient
internetClientServer
privateNetworkClientServer
documentsLibrary
picturesLibrary
videosLibrary
musicLibrary
enterpriseAuthentication
sharedUserCertificates
removableStorage

.........my understanding of this function is extremely limited but my research suggests that the access rights are contained in each app's AppData folder. Is this the same 'AppData' folder found by default at (in my case) D:\User\Neil\AppData?? If so, why doesn't the directory junction created linking to D:\Neil (and thus D:\Neil\AppData) facilitate access as if it were the default location? :confused:

For all,

This issue was posted here as it emerged as part of my install & setup process. On reflection, I am unsure whether I have posted this on the most appropriate forum (moderators advice welcome!) as I note there are forums for User Accounts and Family Safety and also Customization. It is probably appropriate to also add the post to Kari's tutorial as it does relate to this...at least in part...

Many thanks again,

PC Pilot
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Self Build
    CPU
    I7 920
    Motherboard
    Asus P6T7 WS SuperComputer with U3S6 Controller Card
    Memory
    6GB Corsair Dominator (3 X 2G) PC3 15000 DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus GTX 560 Ti DirectCU II - ENGTX560 Ti DCII2DI1GD5
Hi gborn........

I am interested in your suggestion of security being involved here with an access rights issue perhaps causing my problem.
PC Pilot

I'm not sure, whether I'm pointing in the right direction. I've had just a short view of one of my books I've written - then did a short search. I did like to point you to this English article:

What is the Windows Integrity Mechanism?

It's dedicated to WIn Vista, but described the new security and access mechanism, introduced since vista. The buzz word is integrity control. As noted in my 1st post, I'm not sure, whether my idea is right - but it would be my first direction, where I would begun to dig.

Also you should try to get your fingers on Windows ADK and try to search whether there is something like Windows SIM (for unattended install). I've experimented a bit in Win 7 with Windows SIM - there are options to locates some folders during unattended install on a separate volume - but it's to long ago to remember the restrictions.

Maybe it will be the right clue to you for further investigations - I will exit now from discussions, because I've had to many other "under investigation" topics about Win 8, that will consume my attention ;-).
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 7/Win 8/Android x86/iOS/OS X
Hi again gborn,

Hi gborn........

I am interested in your suggestion of security being involved here with an access rights issue perhaps causing my problem.
PC Pilot

I'm not sure, whether I'm pointing in the right direction. I've had just a short view of one of my books I've written - then did a short search. I did like to point you to this English article:

What is the Windows Integrity Mechanism?

It's dedicated to WIn Vista, but described the new security and access mechanism, introduced since vista. The buzz word is integrity control. As noted in my 1st post, I'm not sure, whether my idea is right - but it would be my first direction, where I would begun to dig.

Also you should try to get your fingers on Windows ADK and try to search whether there is something like Windows SIM (for unattended install). I've experimented a bit in Win 7 with Windows SIM - there are options to locates some folders during unattended install on a separate volume - but it's to long ago to remember the restrictions.

Maybe it will be the right clue to you for further investigations - I will exit now from discussions, because I've had to many other "under investigation" topics about Win 8, that will consume my attention ;-).

I am not sure I fully understand the aspect of permissions you are referring to here and I have so far been unable to access much of the data on ADK as unfortunately, download is currently restricted to developers....

I understand your time constraints and really do appreciate your efforts in guiding me toward a resolution of the issue.

Many Thanks

PC Pilot
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Self Build
    CPU
    I7 920
    Motherboard
    Asus P6T7 WS SuperComputer with U3S6 Controller Card
    Memory
    6GB Corsair Dominator (3 X 2G) PC3 15000 DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus GTX 560 Ti DirectCU II - ENGTX560 Ti DCII2DI1GD5
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