Changing Destination Folder Causes Folder Wipe and Infinite Folders

[McBeanie]

Launcher Version: 213

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Java Version: Java 7 Update 15

Antivirus Program: Microsoft Security Essentials

Description of Problem:

I downloaded Technic Launcher, ran it, chose my Minecraft folder in my Documents Folder, it asked to restart, I accepted. It never came back up, my entire Minecraft folder, including subfolders and several modpacks and skins I created myself were wiped and replaced with a folder called Technic.

There were 1213 folders inside of the Technic folder, also called Technic.

Please fix this problem, I dread to think what would have happened if the custom directory had been my Documents folder.

Error Messages:

N/A

Error Log:

N/A

EDIT: A system restore (NOT A BACKUP) partially restored a few of the folders and their contents (the unimportant parts unfortunately) but did nothing to fix the infinite folders.

EDIT2: So, using an incredibly powerful program, I was able to remove the infinite folders. Through this program I also discovered that there were 1213 folders in all. Unfortunately, I'm skeptical of using the TechnicLauncher again after this ordeal, until it is confirmed as being no longer a problem.

[waffl3x]

I got the same thing, luckily I caught it early and only got 3 folders, I force closed java and manually replaced everything. It split up steam into 2 folders and duped a couple files, this is a major bug.

[wylker]

I have installed about 10 times and changed folders every time and not had this issue. I tried to reproduce it and could not.

[Cheap Shot]

Unfortunately but also fortunately this seems extremely rare so we haven't caught it before. We're sorry you got hit with it and thank you for posting a bug report. Any other information you think would be useful don't hesitate to provide. If you would be willing to work with us a little to pin down what specifically is the cause it would be very helpful to other users.

[McBeanie]

Glad to hear a response, I tried the same process on my old crappy laptop and there weren't any problems, so I'll just be transferring the install from there onto my gaming PC (which had the problem) in order to use the launcher. Anything I can do to help troubleshoot this I would be glad to provide.

[Olloth]

Wow. Yeah I am very sorry, this is a severe problem I'll get to work on it right away and keep everyone posted.

[Olloth]

I've taken some steps to try and prevent this sort of thing from happening again: https://github.com/TechnicPack/TechnicLauncher/commit/0c0247a0e1067b3d0cf65bb7a95bbefbf9f76d5a

If it happens again please report it immediately. I'm not entirely sure if I fixed it since I can't reproduce it, but I did disallow selecting a non-empty folder. That means if it were to happen again, you WOULDN'T be able to have your entire documents folder selected and thus it can only ever delete the files it uses itself.

I will be promoting this fix shortly and your launcher should update with the fix automatically.

I am absolutely sorry for any saves or relatively important minecraft files anyone may have lost.

[McBeanie]

Alright, decided to give the new launcher a go on the PC that originally had the problem, and it looks to have worked, thanks so much for the quick fix.

[Olloth]

Alright, decided to give the new launcher a go on the PC that originally had the problem, and it looks to have worked, thanks so much for the quick fix.

No problem, sorry for the trouble.

[Flextt]

I've taken some steps to try and prevent this sort of thing from happening again: https://github.com/TechnicPack/TechnicLauncher/commit/0c0247a0e1067b3d0cf65bb7a95bbefbf9f76d5a

If it happens again please report it immediately. I'm not entirely sure if I fixed it since I can't reproduce it, but I did disallow selecting a non-empty folder. That means if it were to happen again, you WOULDN'T be able to have your entire documents folder selected and thus it can only ever delete the files it uses itself.

I will be promoting this fix shortly and your launcher should update with the fix automatically.

I am absolutely sorry for any saves or relatively important minecraft files anyone may have lost.

Hey Olloth,

did you already release the fix into the launcher? This bug happened to me today. I wanted to parallely install an older build of Tekkit Lite in a subfolder of the Tekkit Lite build. It then freezed on pressing Save and created so many folders that Windows 7 is not able to delete them.

EDIT2: So, using an incredibly powerful program, I was able to remove the infinite folders. Through this program I also discovered that there were 1213 folders in all. Unfortunately, I'm skeptical of using the TechnicLauncher again after this ordeal, until it is confirmed as being no longer a problem.

Hey McBeanie, what was the name of the program?

EDIT: I have used Deep Remove (http://deepremove.codeplex.com/) to delete the folders. About 360 folders were created by the launcher. Significantly less than with McBeanie but still substantial.

[McBeanie]

I used DelinvFile, but glad to see you found something to delete the folders.

[TheDouser]

Ya these happen to me, but worse than that it deleted all my files and folders on the desktop as well -_-

[TheDouser]

I think you can recreate it if you change the destination of something like a mod pack then select and at the same time have the launcher crash right when you select. well at least that is what happen to me but idk how you will get it to crash at the same time.

[Olloth]

It looks like I fixed it for the technic launcher install location moving but not the modpack folder install location moving! Oops! I'm fixing it right now sorry about that. Hopefully this will be the last I see of this nasty bug. :(

[Olloth]

My fix appeared to work for when you change the install directory for the last few weeks, so now that I have implemented the same fix for individual pack install locations we should be safe.

I'm very sorry this happened. Please continue to report it if it somehow happens again in Builds #221 or later, which has just been promoted. Thank you for the information.

[Cheap Shot]

My fix appeared to work for when you change the install directory for the last few weeks, so now that I have implemented the same fix for individual pack install locations we should be safe.

I'm very sorry this happened. Please continue to report it if it somehow happens again in Builds #221 or later, which has just been promoted. Thank you for the information.

Now that you've traded trolling for serious bug fixing and intelligent posting it makes your avatar even funnier.