I have a problem with Favorites and the USERPROFILE system variable, please help

[Juan I. Cahis]

Dear friends:

I have a problem with "Favorites" and the USERPROFILE system variable.

First, I noticed that IE and all the Ms Explorer windows lost the
option to display the Favorites. If I clicked the "Favorites" Menu,
only the "Add to Favorites" and "Organize Favorites" appeared, but if
I clicked any of these two options, they didn't do anything.

But the "Favorites" folder was alive and well, if I went to the
"C:\Documents and Settings\<my account>\Favorites", all my Favorites
were there, and they could be seen without any problem, either from
the explorer or from the CMD.EXE shell. I checked the security
permissions of the Favorites folder and all were OK.

The next step was to do the following command from a CMD.EXE shell:
"SET %USERPROFILE%\Favorites", without the quotes. And the result was
OK, it was "C:\Document and Settings\<my account>\Favorites". So,
CMD.EXE could access the correct value of USERPROFILE, but my
Favorites didn't appeared again in the Explorer Menu.

Finally, I went to the registry at
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders], and I replaced the original value
"%USERPROFILE%\Favorites" by "C:\Document and Settings\<my
account>\Favorites", again without the quotes, and Shazam!!!!, my
Favorites appeared again in the explorer menu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, apparently, the problem is that the USERPROFILE system variable
can be seen without any problem from the CMD.EXE shell but not from
the Explorer Shell. How to fix that? How dangerous could be this
situation? How could this happened?

Thanks
Juan I. Cahis
Santiago de Chile (South America)
Note: Please forgive me for my bad English, I am trying to improve it!

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Dear friends:

I have a problem with "Favorites" and the USERPROFILE system variable.

First, I noticed that IE and all the Ms Explorer windows lost the
option to display the Favorites. If I clicked the "Favorites" Menu,
only the "Add to Favorites" and "Organize Favorites" appeared, but if
I clicked any of these two options, they didn't do anything.

But the "Favorites" folder was alive and well, if I went to the
"C:\Documents and Settings\<my account>\Favorites", all my Favorites
were there, and they could be seen without any problem, either from
the explorer or from the CMD.EXE shell. I checked the security
permissions of the Favorites folder and all were OK.

The next step was to do the following command from a CMD.EXE shell:
"SET %USERPROFILE%\Favorites", without the quotes. And the result was
OK, it was "C:\Document and Settings\<my account>\Favorites". So,
CMD.EXE could access the correct value of USERPROFILE, but my
Favorites didn't appeared again in the Explorer Menu.

Finally, I went to the registry at
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders], and I replaced the original value
"%USERPROFILE%\Favorites" by "C:\Document and Settings\<my
account>\Favorites", again without the quotes, and Shazam!!!!, my
Favorites appeared again in the explorer menu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, apparently, the problem is that the USERPROFILE system variable
can be seen without any problem from the CMD.EXE shell but not from
the Explorer Shell. How to fix that? How dangerous could be this
situation? How could this happened?

Thanks
Juan I. Cahis
Santiago de Chile (South America)
Note: Please forgive me for my bad English, I am trying to improve it!
===============

There is some confusion here. The command you used -

SET %USERPROFILE%\Favorites

makes no sense; in fact there is no environmental variable
that relates to "Favorites" (unless you created one yourself).

If you want to see all environmental variables that start
with the word "User" then you type this at the Command Prompt:

set user {Enter}

 

[Juan I. Cahis]

Dear friends:

I have a problem with "Favorites" and the USERPROFILE system variable.

First, I noticed that IE and all the Ms Explorer windows lost the
option to display the Favorites. If I clicked the "Favorites" Menu,
only the "Add to Favorites" and "Organize Favorites" appeared, but if
I clicked any of these two options, they didn't do anything.

But the "Favorites" folder was alive and well, if I went to the
"C:\Documents and Settings\<my account>\Favorites", all my Favorites
were there, and they could be seen without any problem, either from
the explorer or from the CMD.EXE shell. I checked the security
permissions of the Favorites folder and all were OK.

The next step was to do the following command from a CMD.EXE shell:
"SET %USERPROFILE%\Favorites", without the quotes. And the result was
OK, it was "C:\Document and Settings\<my account>\Favorites". So,
CMD.EXE could access the correct value of USERPROFILE, but my
Favorites didn't appeared again in the Explorer Menu.

Finally, I went to the registry at
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders], and I replaced the original value
"%USERPROFILE%\Favorites" by "C:\Document and Settings\<my
account>\Favorites", again without the quotes, and Shazam!!!!, my
Favorites appeared again in the explorer menu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, apparently, the problem is that the USERPROFILE system variable
can be seen without any problem from the CMD.EXE shell but not from
the Explorer Shell. How to fix that? How dangerous could be this
situation? How could this happened?

Thanks
Juan I. Cahis
Santiago de Chile (South America)
Note: Please forgive me for my bad English, I am trying to improve it!
===============

There is some confusion here. The command you used -

SET %USERPROFILE%\Favorites

makes no sense; in fact there is no environmental variable
that relates to "Favorites" (unless you created one yourself).

If you want to see all environmental variables that start
with the word "User" then you type this at the Command Prompt:

set user {Enter}

Dear friend, you are right, I type it wrongly.

What I did there was to type the command "cd %USERPROFILE%\Favorites",
without the quotes, and the result was the full and correct Favorites
path.


Thanks
Juan I. Cahis
Santiago de Chile (South America)
Note: Please forgive me for my bad English, I am trying to improve it!

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Dear friends:

I have a problem with "Favorites" and the USERPROFILE system variable.

First, I noticed that IE and all the Ms Explorer windows lost the
option to display the Favorites. If I clicked the "Favorites" Menu,
only the "Add to Favorites" and "Organize Favorites" appeared, but if
I clicked any of these two options, they didn't do anything.

But the "Favorites" folder was alive and well, if I went to the
"C:\Documents and Settings\<my account>\Favorites", all my Favorites
were there, and they could be seen without any problem, either from
the explorer or from the CMD.EXE shell. I checked the security
permissions of the Favorites folder and all were OK.

The next step was to do the following command from a CMD.EXE shell:
"SET %USERPROFILE%\Favorites", without the quotes. And the result was
OK, it was "C:\Document and Settings\<my account>\Favorites". So,
CMD.EXE could access the correct value of USERPROFILE, but my
Favorites didn't appeared again in the Explorer Menu.

Finally, I went to the registry at
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders], and I replaced the original value
"%USERPROFILE%\Favorites" by "C:\Document and Settings\<my
account>\Favorites", again without the quotes, and Shazam!!!!, my
Favorites appeared again in the explorer menu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, apparently, the problem is that the USERPROFILE system variable
can be seen without any problem from the CMD.EXE shell but not from
the Explorer Shell. How to fix that? How dangerous could be this
situation? How could this happened?

Thanks
Juan I. Cahis
Santiago de Chile (South America)
Note: Please forgive me for my bad English, I am trying to improve it!
===============

There is some confusion here. The command you used -

SET %USERPROFILE%\Favorites

makes no sense; in fact there is no environmental variable
that relates to "Favorites" (unless you created one yourself).

If you want to see all environmental variables that start
with the word "User" then you type this at the Command Prompt:

set user {Enter}

Dear friend, you are right, I type it wrongly.

What I did there was to type the command "cd %USERPROFILE%\Favorites",
without the quotes, and the result was the full and correct Favorites
path.

Thanks

===========

Yes, this makes a lot more sense. Note that if you have a folder
or a file that has embedded spaces (e.g. "Documents and Settings\Juan")
then you should always put double quotes around it. The "CD"
command you used is probably the only command that works without
the double quotes . . .

About your original problem: The reason why Windows was unable
to resolve the %UserProfile% entry in the registry was most likely that
it is the wrong type. It must be a "REG_EXPAND_SZ" value, not
a "REG_SZ" value. Best to change it back to that type and restore
the original data.

 

[Juan I. Cahis]

Dear friends:

I have a problem with "Favorites" and the USERPROFILE system variable.

First, I noticed that IE and all the Ms Explorer windows lost the
option to display the Favorites. If I clicked the "Favorites" Menu,
only the "Add to Favorites" and "Organize Favorites" appeared, but if
I clicked any of these two options, they didn't do anything.

But the "Favorites" folder was alive and well, if I went to the
"C:\Documents and Settings\<my account>\Favorites", all my Favorites
were there, and they could be seen without any problem, either from
the explorer or from the CMD.EXE shell. I checked the security
permissions of the Favorites folder and all were OK.

The next step was to do the following command from a CMD.EXE shell:
"SET %USERPROFILE%\Favorites", without the quotes. And the result was
OK, it was "C:\Document and Settings\<my account>\Favorites". So,
CMD.EXE could access the correct value of USERPROFILE, but my
Favorites didn't appeared again in the Explorer Menu.

Finally, I went to the registry at
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders], and I replaced the original value
"%USERPROFILE%\Favorites" by "C:\Document and Settings\<my
account>\Favorites", again without the quotes, and Shazam!!!!, my
Favorites appeared again in the explorer menu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, apparently, the problem is that the USERPROFILE system variable
can be seen without any problem from the CMD.EXE shell but not from
the Explorer Shell. How to fix that? How dangerous could be this
situation? How could this happened?

Thanks
Juan I. Cahis
Santiago de Chile (South America)
Note: Please forgive me for my bad English, I am trying to improve it!
===============

There is some confusion here. The command you used -

SET %USERPROFILE%\Favorites

makes no sense; in fact there is no environmental variable
that relates to "Favorites" (unless you created one yourself).

If you want to see all environmental variables that start
with the word "User" then you type this at the Command Prompt:

set user {Enter}

Dear friend, you are right, I type it wrongly.

What I did there was to type the command "cd %USERPROFILE%\Favorites",
without the quotes, and the result was the full and correct Favorites
path.

Thanks

===========

Yes, this makes a lot more sense. Note that if you have a folder
or a file that has embedded spaces (e.g. "Documents and Settings\Juan")
then you should always put double quotes around it. The "CD"
command you used is probably the only command that works without
the double quotes . . .

About your original problem: The reason why Windows was unable
to resolve the %UserProfile% entry in the registry was most likely that
it is the wrong type. It must be a "REG_EXPAND_SZ" value, not
a "REG_SZ" value. Best to change it back to that type and restore
the original data.

Dear friend, you are a genius, that was the problem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And do you know how could the type of the registry variable changed?
Favorites and History had the wrong type, all the rest were OK.

Thanks
Juan I. Cahis
Santiago de Chile (South America)
Note: Please forgive me for my bad English, I am trying to improve it!

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Dear friends:

I have a problem with "Favorites" and the USERPROFILE system variable.

First, I noticed that IE and all the Ms Explorer windows lost the
option to display the Favorites. If I clicked the "Favorites" Menu,
only the "Add to Favorites" and "Organize Favorites" appeared, but if
I clicked any of these two options, they didn't do anything.

But the "Favorites" folder was alive and well, if I went to the
"C:\Documents and Settings\<my account>\Favorites", all my Favorites
were there, and they could be seen without any problem, either from
the explorer or from the CMD.EXE shell. I checked the security
permissions of the Favorites folder and all were OK.

The next step was to do the following command from a CMD.EXE shell:
"SET %USERPROFILE%\Favorites", without the quotes. And the result was
OK, it was "C:\Document and Settings\<my account>\Favorites". So,
CMD.EXE could access the correct value of USERPROFILE, but my
Favorites didn't appeared again in the Explorer Menu.

Finally, I went to the registry at
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders], and I replaced the original value
"%USERPROFILE%\Favorites" by "C:\Document and Settings\<my
account>\Favorites", again without the quotes, and Shazam!!!!, my
Favorites appeared again in the explorer menu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, apparently, the problem is that the USERPROFILE system variable
can be seen without any problem from the CMD.EXE shell but not from
the Explorer Shell. How to fix that? How dangerous could be this
situation? How could this happened?

Thanks
Juan I. Cahis
Santiago de Chile (South America)
Note: Please forgive me for my bad English, I am trying to improve it!
===============

There is some confusion here. The command you used -

SET %USERPROFILE%\Favorites

makes no sense; in fact there is no environmental variable
that relates to "Favorites" (unless you created one yourself).

If you want to see all environmental variables that start
with the word "User" then you type this at the Command Prompt:

set user {Enter}

Dear friend, you are right, I type it wrongly.

What I did there was to type the command "cd %USERPROFILE%\Favorites",
without the quotes, and the result was the full and correct Favorites
path.

Thanks

===========

Yes, this makes a lot more sense. Note that if you have a folder
or a file that has embedded spaces (e.g. "Documents and Settings\Juan")
then you should always put double quotes around it. The "CD"
command you used is probably the only command that works without
the double quotes . . .

About your original problem: The reason why Windows was unable
to resolve the %UserProfile% entry in the registry was most likely that
it is the wrong type. It must be a "REG_EXPAND_SZ" value, not
a "REG_SZ" value. Best to change it back to that type and restore
the original data.

Dear friend, you are a genius, that was the problem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And do you know how could the type of the registry variable changed?
Favorites and History had the wrong type, all the rest were OK.

Thanks
Juan I. Cahis

=============

Not a genius - just experience.

I cannot tell you what is responsible for this change. Malware?
A poorly designed program? It's your machine and you are much
more aware of its recent history than I am.