Win 8.1 forgot all of my settings

Aleque

New Member
Messages
29
Hi
I have Windows 8.1 with super admin rights. My problem happened so suddenly. When I turn on my pc, it stead of going all the way into Windows, my pc is stuck at an empty Metro Menu. I have Classic Shell installed. I tried to delete it but it didn't help.

All of my settings are forgotten: icon size, folder settings, quick launch and even hotkeys and general settings in most of my Adobe programs. It also forgot with what applications to open certain file types.

I tried setting up my folders and icons to "View Details" and apply the setting to all of my folders - but even that I can't do. It can't seem to remember anything. Every time I open My Pc, I have those huge clunky icons with the annoying browser window to the left with Skydrive...

What might have happened and how can I solve it?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer V3 571G
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3630QM 2.4GHz
    Memory
    8GB DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce GT 640M (2GB)
Hello Aleque,

Are you getting a "User Profile..." type error like below by chance? If not, then just ignore this part.
You might see if you may be able to use the tutorials below to reset all folder views back to default and to set a default folder view for all folders.


Hope this helps for now, :)
Shawn
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Hi and thanks for your reply. Sorry it took me while before responding.

I didn't have ".bak" at the end of my string in the first solution so I decided not to delete anything.
I have ran the *.bat file in your second link.

But besides that, the problem still persists. I get an empty metro menu on startup with "Start" written in the upper left corner and my user name "Administrator" in the upper right. When I open "My PC" or Desktop, the size of the icons is set to Tiles and every time I try to change it to a different view, it keeps forgetting it. However, the items INSIDE the C: drive CAN be changed and remembered (regarding the view settings)

It seems to me that my computer gets some temporary user settings from a default folder (C:\Users). I have "Default" and "Default.migrated" folders within C:\Users

Any suggestion is appreciated.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer V3 571G
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3630QM 2.4GHz
    Memory
    8GB DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce GT 640M (2GB)
As a test, create a new user account for yourself, and see if you have the same issue while signed in to it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
I activated Guest account and it had no problem remembering view-settings of My PC and Desktop.

EDIT: Another issue I forgot to mention. I have had assigned some keyboard-shortcuts for some of my folders on my Desktop and none of these have worked on my Admin account since this problem began.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer V3 571G
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3630QM 2.4GHz
    Memory
    8GB DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce GT 640M (2GB)
If you like, you might consider creating a new administrator account for you to use instead.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
How would you suggest doing it? I am not sure what step to do in what order.
And do you think I could just take a backup of content in C:\Users\Administrator and copy-paste it back into the new Administrator folder, once it is created to (hopefully) restore my old settings?

Thank you for your time :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer V3 571G
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3630QM 2.4GHz
    Memory
    8GB DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce GT 640M (2GB)
Is you account a Microsoft account or local account?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Local
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer V3 571G
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3630QM 2.4GHz
    Memory
    8GB DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce GT 640M (2GB)
In that case, your settings will not be carried over with a new local account. You'll need to set everything how you want again afterwards.

You could create a new local administrator account.

Sign in to it, copy anything (shortcuts, documents, etc..) that you wanted from the old account to the new account, and delete the old account when you have the new account checks out ok.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Thank you for the suggestion. I will try it out and report back with the results.

But what do you think could have happened that caused this problem in the first place?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer V3 571G
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3630QM 2.4GHz
    Memory
    8GB DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce GT 640M (2GB)
You're welcome.

It could have been caused by a number of reasons.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Weird. I can't even enter PC-Settings (Win+I). Nor can I add a new user in User Account Settings in Control Panel. Maybe my PC is infected...

EDIT: All of these problems are gone after I made a third account from my Guest account
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer V3 571G
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3630QM 2.4GHz
    Memory
    8GB DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce GT 640M (2GB)
You might consider doing a factory reset. :(
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
I just found out that I can't search for files either. Whenever I type something in the upper right corner, nothing happens. (EDIT: This only happens on my current Admin account)

Are you sure there isn't another way? It took me lots of time to adjust my PC so that new annoying features of Windows 8 were somewhat bearable.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer V3 571G
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3630QM 2.4GHz
    Memory
    8GB DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce GT 640M (2GB)
With that many issues, I don't see any other option. :(
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Do you have any advice for preventing this problem from happening again?

Windows 8 seems even worse than Vista was. Not enough that they removed all the good and useful features that have been in nearly every Windows version (like full color and font customization and Start Menu) but they also added tons of useless features instead like Metro Menu. I guess it is a normal part of greed: try to be good at everything instead of focusing one narrow area and excel in that.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer V3 571G
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3630QM 2.4GHz
    Memory
    8GB DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce GT 640M (2GB)
It was most likely caused by some action or program you installed.

I would recommend to create a restore point before doing anything that affects the system to be able undo it if it causes any of these issues again.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
I am still trying to fix this issue instead of just doing a clean format, which is too easy imo. I am very interested in finding out what caused this problem and whether I can fix it without reformatting.

Look at a weird thing I found: I tried figuring out why my Cubase settings were gone. It turns out that Cubase is currently looking for my saved Shortcuts and Setting profile in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steinberg\Cubase 5\Presets

Before the issue began, it was looking for the same files in C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Roaming\Steinberg\Cubase 5\Presets

I suspect that something has suddenly broken the link between Windows and the User settings location from which Windows has had its all settings, including the settings for Cubase, which might also explain why I can't change my View settings for My PC and Desktop whereas there is no problem in changing the very same settings for, say, c:/
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer V3 571G
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3630QM 2.4GHz
    Memory
    8GB DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce GT 640M (2GB)
I have been fiddling further with this issue. The secondary Guest account, that I had all this time, didn't have the same problems as my main Administrator account. However, I haven't been able to enter PC-Settings (Win+I menu) from it, because the button wasn't even there. So I decided to create a new Test account (from my Guest account because my Admin account for some reason can't create new users) and it turns out that this Test-account had no problems at all. All the aforementioned problems weren't there at all.

I have a few questions.

Is it possible for me to transfer all of the super-admin rights to this new ("test") account, transfer all of my old admin settings to this new account and delete my previous administrator account, which appears to be broken, without losing any current data (application settings & hotkeys, file associations, Windows color themes, and other custom made changes)?

Is it sufficient to transfer the entire content of C:\Users\Administrator to the new account for it to take a new role of my new main admin account?
And how does that work exactly - if I give super-admin-rights to my new account, will it automatically derive all of its settings from C:\Users\Administrator ?

And is it even smart to give full admin rights to my new main account ( net user administrator /active:yes )? The reason I ask is because that is what I did before, and now I have all these issues, that probably were caused by that.

Sorry too many questions in one reply. I am very eager to find a solution for this, rather than doing a clean format.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer V3 571G
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3630QM 2.4GHz
    Memory
    8GB DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce GT 640M (2GB)
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