Wizard loop - every time i start my pc

[shypike]

The installer creates shortcuts only once.
They don't change spontaneously, at least not through actions of SABnzbd.
Fancy virus scanner?

[Coeluh]

At this point, some settings are saved, but some are not. It really bugs me. Are you going to change the way things are saved? Because, this time I have to reconfigure some things at each start.

Virusscanner: AVG, not very fancy imho

[shypike]

There's some unique situation on your systems.
Either something is junk the INI file or your configuration triggers a problem in SABnzbd.
The first case is out of my influence and if that is the cause, there's nothing I can do.
In the second case it's still a huge challenge.
Obviously the occurence is a very rare thing, otherwise the forum would be overflowing with complaints.
One question that hasn't been is asked is: how do you stop SABnzbd?
Incorrect termination could in theory damage the INI file.
Not very likely because it's written to disk in an early stage or after a config change.
But, you never know.

[Coeluh]

There's some unique situation on your systems.
Either something is junk the INI file or your configuration triggers a problem in SABnzbd.
The first case is out of my influence and if that is the cause, there's nothing I can do.
In the second case it's still a huge challenge.
Obviously the occurence is a very rare thing, otherwise the forum would be overflowing with complaints.
One question that hasn't been is asked is: how do you stop SABnzbd?
Incorrect termination could in theory damage the INI file.
Not very likely because it's written to disk in an early stage or after a config change.
But, you never know.

SABnzbd is almost only stopped when I shut down my PC. I have some 'force shutdown' settings, so maybe my pc isn't threating it right... I'll try to monitor the behaviour more closely

[shypike]

I'm working on 0.6.10.
Maybe I can add the renaming of the existing ini file to ini.bak.
Then you have 1) a backup and 2) timestamps that may give some more info.

[zifnab]

hi.
I do have the same issue too.
using 0.6.9 (win32) on a win7 x64 system.
I have been using sabnzbd for a long time, and I always update to latest versions as they get released.
the issue seemed to appear since a few versions for me (definitely the 0.6.x branch).
my system didn't change.
nothing eats up the .ini on my system.

for the 1st time I noticed a warning yesterday, that I never saw before, and that might help on this matter.
I didn't save it, but, looking through the sabnzb.log file, I think I traced it back:

Code: Select all

2011-10-12 11:03:08,250::INFO::[downloader:194] Resuming
2011-10-12 11:03:08,295::ERROR::[config:749] Cannot create temp file for C:\Users\zifnab\AppData\Local\sabnzbd\sabnzbd.ini.tmp
2011-10-12 11:03:08,295::INFO::[__init__:289] All processes started
2011-10-12 11:03:08,296::INFO::[sabnzbd:330] Web dir is C:\Program Files (x86)\SABnzbd\interfaces\Plush
2011-10-12 11:03:08,335::ERROR::[config:749] Cannot create temp file for C:\Users\zifnab\AppData\Local\sabnzbd\sabnzbd.ini
2011-10-12 11:03:08,335::INFO::[sabnzbd:453] _yenc module... found!

by the way, I only use this "zifnab" account on my system, since day 1: sabnzbd installed with it, and sabnzbd running with it (no multi accounts switch).
when I saw this warning, sabnzbd was running ok (incl. its settings), I checked the "C:\Users\zifnab\AppData\Local\sabnzbd\" folder.
actually, there WAS a sabnzbd.ini.tmp but NO (more) sabnzbd.ini (looking at the size, the .ini.tmp seem to be a rename of the old sabnzbd.ini. I can tell as I make a backup of my .ini since it really happen quite often now, after a reboot, restarting with the wizard...).
after a restart of the system, I got the wizard. looking at the folder: NO .ini but still a .ini.tmp with a very different size from my backup now.

my log dates back from february 2010.
searching through it, the 1st "Cannot create temp file" messages started late august this year, with version 0.6.8
In 0.6.8, I even had sabnzbd retrying as mad to create the .ini file

Code: Select all

2011-08-22 23:00:22,305::ERROR::[config:751] Cannot create temp file for C:\Users\zifnab\AppData\Local\sabnzbd\sabnzbd.ini
2011-08-22 23:00:54,167::ERROR::[config:751] Cannot create temp file for C:\Users\zifnab\AppData\Local\sabnzbd\sabnzbd.ini
2011-08-22 23:00:55,312::ERROR::[config:751] Cannot create temp file for C:\Users\zifnab\AppData\Local\sabnzbd\sabnzbd.ini
2011-08-22 23:01:27,174::ERROR::[config:751] Cannot create temp file for C:\Users\zifnab\AppData\Local\sabnzbd\sabnzbd.ini
2011-08-22 23:01:28,318::ERROR::[config:751] Cannot create temp file for C:\Users\zifnab\AppData\Local\sabnzbd\sabnzbd.ini
2011-08-22 23:02:00,178::ERROR::[config:751] Cannot create temp file for C:\Users\zifnab\AppData\Local\sabnzbd\sabnzbd.ini
2011-08-22 23:02:01,325::ERROR::[config:751] Cannot create temp file for C:\Users\zifnab\AppData\Local\sabnzbd\sabnzbd.ini
2011-08-22 23:02:33,184::ERROR::[config:751] Cannot create temp file for C:\Users\zifnab\AppData\Local\sabnzbd\sabnzbd.ini
2011-08-22 23:02:34,329::ERROR::[config:751] Cannot create temp file for C:\Users\zifnab\AppData\Local\sabnzbd\sabnzbd.ini
2011-08-22 23:03:06,193::ERROR::[config:751] Cannot create temp file for C:\Users\zifnab\AppData\Local\sabnzbd\sabnzbd.ini

hope this help to track down & fix the issue!
thanks for your help!

[shypike]

Did you try once to make the INI file read-only (attrib +r) ?
A problem with Windows is that it allows renames of read-only files,
leading to problems later.
We're changing the mechanism in the next release.

[zifnab]

nope, I never put it read only.
I rechecked: it just has the "A" attribute set currently...
the backup ini file I copy over when the issue arise, is also "A" attrib only.

I'll try next release when it is ready and keep you posted if it ever happen again.

[zifnab]

Hi.
I tried 0.6.10
unfortunately, this new version does not fix this issue...

Code: Select all

ERROR:
Cannot create backup file for C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Local\sabnzbd\sabnzbd.ini

the folder mentionned above does have a sabnzbd.ini.tmp, but no other file (except subfolders: admin, cache & logs).
the .ini file was there when I upgraded to 0.6.10, and was there during 1st run of 0.6.10. There was also a sabnzbd.bak created by 0.6.10 that disappeared...

This folder can be written to: I do have my very own manually copied "backup sabnzbd.ini" file there.

[shypike]

The only explanation is that there is some weird access right problem affecting your profile.
Either that or an existing .bak or .tmp file has its Read/Only bit set.
Do you use some fancy anti-virus program?

[zifnab]

nope. I checked a few times already (and did so once again): no file has ever been read-only in this folder.
antivir: microsoft security essentials which is very unobstrusive, and doesn't do "behind the user's back" stuff (I mean, it doesn't take a single action without asking for the user consent).
it does not happen (settings lost) to any other app that I am aware of that stores its settings through a file in AppData\Local, and it seems like I am not the only user out there with this issue...

as I mentionned earlier in another post: win7 x64 here; the user session used to run sabnzbd is the only account created on computer (during install), which is admin if elevation would be requested (still, not required to write in AppData\Local).
updates to sabnzbd are done through the .exe installer.

ps: as I said, the .bak was created, and does not exist any longer. maybe this behavior can help to narrow down the issue. I guess you don't do many delete in the source code (or renames)...

[shypike]

Can you set logging to "Debug" level (Status page)?
Then the next time this fails, more info will be logged which may shed some more light on this.

[zifnab]

k, I'll do that and get back here with more info when I have some. thx

[zifnab]

ok.
here I have it (the debug log). it happened again.
here is en extract of the sabnzbd.log file, since it mentionned 0.6.10.
I enabled the debug level at some point.
http://justpaste.it/kgu
right now there is a sabnzbd.ini & a sabnzbd.ini.bak which are the very same size, but which are both unfortunately brand new (my settings are gone, and I am forced to go through the web wizard once more).
thanks for any help.

[shypike]

What did you do to the log file?
It contains lots of double entries with identical timestamps.