[SOLVED] MMW forgetting settings

[x1TUFSS]

Hello everyone. Having some troubles here with MediaMonkey forgetting its settings. This has happened very, very occasionally for the past couple of years, but now it is an almost daily occurrence and it's driving me nuts.

I run version 4.1.11.1783 on Windows 10. I do not use registry cleaners or anything which could potentially alter the MediaMonkey registry keys. This problem only started happening frequently one or two updates ago. The program will forget most of its main settings, however things like toolbars, pane sizes and tabs etc remain intact, as does my AAC codec pack and Gold license key. Exasperated, I tried a Portable installation, only to find that the problem still occurs, and worse yet, every time it happens, my MediaMonkey.ini is completely wiped - the program seems to default to the AppData folder too, which is empty, so I also lose my music database (and have to point the program to the proper MM.DB file manually). Please help.

[Lowlander]

http://www.mediamonkey.com/support/inde ... eset--lost

[x1TUFSS]

I do not use registry cleaners or anything which could potentially alter the MediaMonkey registry keys.

I tried a Portable installation, only to find that the problem still occurs, and worse yet, every time it happens, my MediaMonkey.ini is completely wiped

[x1TUFSS]

Reverted to normal installation (from portable). This still happens once every 2-3 days.

[daved163]

Me too!
I have MM (gold) on XP, Win7 and Win10. Over the years I have had occasional issues with settings being lost but these have been rare, until I installed MM on Win10. There, settings are lost frequently (once a week or more). It seems to be the settings under Options and the GIU that get lost - things like close to tray and random shuffle. Usually, the license doesn't get lost although it has at least three times.
I have noticed a trend in the last decade or so. When programs stored their configuration in discrete files (e.g. .ini or a proprietary format) things were much more stable. With the introduction of using databases - notably mySQL or similar - to store things it has gone downhill. Generally, programs are slower to start up, sometimes slower to close down and noticeably more unstable, particularly with respect to configuration settings being lost. I am convinced that the problem revolves around the use of databases but I can't prove it. When you consider that the Windows registry is simply a database you could reasonably expect the technology to work reliably, but the registry is a proprietary format and what's more is duplicated (triplicated?) and has various redundancy and fail-safe mechanisms. MySQL doesn't. It is cheap and cheerful (free) which is why everyone uses it. My thought is that is does not have the necessary resilience for many tasks.
I have come to this conclusion because I have noticed the same failure (losing settings) in every program that uses MySQL, the most noticeable being web browsers which have managed to lose not just settings but favorites and cookies too.
I hope some competent person will run with this and investigate although I haven't much hope. Developers, like everyone else, are seduced by marketing flannel, cheap prices (free) and the promise of a fast development cycle.
While we're at it, MM still won't clear its minimized window when it starts up, despite this being reported years ago and several times since. Shame!

[daved163]

Addendum to my missive above.
The Win10 machine is an old one that I used to check out the OS upgrade. All it runs is MM and Firefox, which both start at boot time via the Start menu. It is also slow (can't remember the CPU speed but it's not fast).
My feeling is that the MySQL issues I talk about above surface when the host machine runs slowly or is very busy. My Win7 machine is a quad Xeon and is pretty nippy and doesn't often have a problem with losing settings, but when it does it is always when the machine is very busy doing something else, and I happened to close Firefox or whatever, or tried to restart the MySQL-based program immediately after closing it. (Big clue there, I think.)

[Guest]

MediaMonkey uses SQLite.

[daved163]

Same principle.

[Guest]

SQLite is not directly comparable to client/server SQL database engines such as MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, or SQL Server since SQLite is trying to solve a different problem.

Client/server SQL database engines strive to implement a shared repository of enterprise data. They emphasis scalability, concurrency, centralization, and control. SQLite strives to provide local data storage for individual applications and devices. SQLite emphasizes economy, efficiency, reliability, independence, and simplicity.

Source: https://www.sqlite.org/whentouse.html

[x1TUFSS]

So far it hasn't happened for about a week, but I'm sure that saying this will jinx me. It doesn't have anything to do with the SQLite database, as it's the MediaMonkey.ini which is wiped clean. Layout, portable device, uPnP/DLNA settings etc stay the same - it's just the stuff in the Options menu which is reverted to default.

[x1TUFSS]

An update on this one. I've found that waiting for a few minutes after Windows logon for a few minutes before starting MediaMonkey mitigates the problem. If MM is started immediately, or almost immediately (within 1-2 minutes), the risk of it forgetting settings is greatly exacerbated.

[Peke]

Are you sure that you do not have any on startup backup option that locks MMW settings file (mediamonkey.ini)?

Another possible cause could be with some on startup AV scan (but it is never confirmed).

[x1TUFSS]

I backup manually once a week as I would never leave a backup plugged into the computer long-term (in case of overvoltage, external drive failure, CryptoLocker etc) - so I think we can rule that one out.

I also don't run AV scans on startup.

[x1TUFSS]

This is still going on, it happens once a week on average. Also, I get a prompt for admin permissions for MediaMonkey COM Elevator, upon which UPNP/DLNA refuses to work until I log out and back in again - it either says "Access denied" or MMW crashes whenever I play tracks over UPNP.

[Lowlander]

Have you since updated to MediaMonkey 4.1.13?