The last couple of updates to Opera have wiped out my profile. Luckily, I had backups, but this has happened multiple times now.
Anyone else having this issue?
New: Kanri (Oct 9, '24), Platform 29.5.3 (Jun 27, '24)
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Are you getting any alerts as you upgrade or run it? Are you shutting it down each time you use it before you eject or shutdown Windows (which crashes it)? The Opera Portable updater and launcher have multiple additional checks and should alert you when you do this.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Not getting any messages... doing update via main Portable Apps Platform thingy... Always shut down nicely, normally don't have issues unless I do the update, then it kills my profile. Luckily had a backup. This has happened several times now, originally thought it was just a glitch, but now looks like a pattern.
Have you done anything else special with Opera? Set it as your default browser? Set it to start with Windows? Set any symbolic links within it?
It should be technically impossible to lose a profile, at least in theory. It's moved to OperaPortable\App\Opera\profile while running and then back to OperaPortable\Data\profile on exit. Both locations are preserved by the installer. In the event that it's crashed/forced closed and then upgraded before repairing, it will even preserve both locations and alert you to that edge case.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Ok, it looks like there was some "debris" in the OperaPortable\App\Opera\profile folder, that once I removed it, it successfully updated without deleting my profile. Weird.
Thanks for the help!
Could you tell me what specifically was in there so I can reproduce it and manually check for it and handle it in code? I'd hate for it to happen to others. Glad it's working for you now
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Sorry, I don't recall specifically... all I can remember was that there was a OperaPortable\App\Opera\profile\data folder with a few files in it... and of course I failed to take a screenshot...
I deleted the data folder and then everything worked fine.
Have you ever run opera.exe or the launcher exe directly or set Opera as your default Windows browser? That can cause dueling profiles.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I have not set it as default, but I may have run the EXE directly... Sorry I'm not more help...
I deleted the profile folder:
D:\PortableApps\PortableApps\OperaPortable\App\DefaultData\profile
D:\PortableApps\PortableApps\OperaPortable\App\Opera\profile
Retain the original profile:
D:\PortableApps\PortableApps\OperaPortable\Data\profile
And Opera start without errors!
Thanks for the help
Opera is my second browser so no backups but nothing of value lost.
I updated to 41 @ 11:30 or so yesterday via the platform prompting me in the normal way.
I used it as normal after the update but (and I think this may be important) just the once before closing Opera (the system was on overnight).
When I started it this morning blank profile.
So it looks like first use after update still had the profile, second and subsequent profile zapped.
No sign of the working profile in either the Data or App dirs and no left overs in the App dir, just a clean profile in Data/profile/data
P.S. is the profile meant to be in Data/profile/data rather than Data/profile like Chrome ?
Wm
Did you see any message at all when starting? If not, at this point, the only thing I can think that can cause this is Opera itself. If OperaPortable.exe detects a profile in App\Opera\profile and Data\profile, it will flat out refuse to run and show an error. If it detects a profile within App\Opera\profile and not in Data\profile, it will move it back, alert you, then exit. If the move back fails, it will alert you, then refuse to start.
Are you sure you're letting it fully close before closing it? Keep in mind that, like Chrome, Opera.exe will remain running for some time after you close the UI.
Opera keeps its profile within a data directory in the profile folder. Opera itself does this in contrast to other browsers.
As a side note, I have tried everything I can to try to recreate the above and cannot. Including doing upgrades via Opera itself, upgrades via the platform, purposely crashing OperaPortable.exe, purposely making a duplicate profile in the move location, etc.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
wouldn't the experienced behaviour be explained by Opera creating a profile for itself in some (not well defined) circumstances ?
is there a simple way for me to go back to an earlier version so I can ck this locally ? I wasn't making backups of Opera before today and generally don't backup up the App dir when making remote backups
Wm
it has been bugging me how I managed to run Opera after updating yesterday and only discovered the problem today.
I think the answer is that yesterday I ticked the box to run after update whereas today I didn't
Wm
I released a revision with a 5th check for possible profile collisions due to Opera's internal handling. This is the last thing I can check for. If it happens after this point, it's something internal to Opera that I may not be able to catch.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
a dup profile was found stored in \OperaPortable\App\Opera\profile
however Opera definitely wasn't running and was shut down properly because I went out and left a backup running before the update.
Only possible unusual thing here is that I have Shockwave Flash player as an Add-On
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\pepflashplayer32_23_0_0_185.dll
could that affect things?
Wm
What was the precise message?
1. A duplicate profile was found stored in $EXEDIR\App\Opera\profile when attempting to start Opera Portable. This can be due to a failure to close Opera Portable the last time it was used or accidentally running Opera directly by setting it as your default browser. Please ensure that no profile is stored in that location and that the profile you would like to use is within $EXEDIR\Data\profile before continuing.
2. Your profile was found stored in $EXEDIR\App\Opera\profile when attempting to start Opera Portable. This can be due to a failure to close Opera Portable the last time it was used or accidentally running Opera directly by setting it as your default browser. Your profile has been moved back to $EXEDIR\Data\profile. Please start Opera Portable again to continue.
3. Your profile was found stored in $EXEDIR\App\Opera\profile when attempting to start Opera Portable. This can be due to a failure to close Opera Portable the last time it was used or accidentally running Opera directly by setting it as your default browser. The launcher was unable to move your profile back to $EXEDIR\Data\profile. Please ensure no other processes are locking any of the files and there are no errors on the drive Opera Portable is stored on before continuing.
4. Remnants of another profile were found stored in $EXEDIR\App\Opera\profile when attempting to start Opera Portable. The launcher was unable to remove these files. Please ensure no other processes are locking any of the files and there are no errors on the drive Opera Portable is stored on before continuing.
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the first one
I have never run it directly (I've not been using Opera long) and my profile in Data was as expected when I deleted (to recycle bin so I can get it back) the one that was in App
Wm
That's odd. That part of the code is unchanged. Did you happen to save the profile that appeared in App?
You can download Opera Portable 40.0.2308.81 still so you can test updates via the platform and Opera's own updater.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
did you see my "thinking aloud" above? I can't think of another way the OP could have had a working Opera if the cruft in App was there before ech update, can you? ergo, I think Opera might be doing it as part of the update.
I did save the profile that was in App by deleting to the recycle bin (I'm working on a hdd not a USB [1]) you'll need to tell me what to look for as I don't know blink innards as well as FF
[1] ... which is also why the Flash works, I suppose
test 1
1. ck no Opera processes running and no profile in App and install 40.0 over existing. OK
2. ck App directory to see if profile has appeared. NO
3. start Opera 40.0 from PA menu (always have w Opera as mentioned above).
picked up previous session OK, all looks good
Version: 40.0.2308.81 - An error occurred while checking for updates 41.0r2 Update as normal, no messages of note.
6. ck directories BINGO!
C:\Users\xx\PortableApps\OperaPortable\App\Opera\profile\data
exists *after* the update but *before* Opera 41.0r2 is run for the first time.
As mentioned above I'm no expert on blink but some quick checks show it is a new profile rather than a copy of my existing profile in Data
So there we have it. I'll leave things as is and wait for your response as to what to do next.
We know what is happening now which is a step forward
Wm
as you can see from the numbering of the points in the test someone ate part of my post, I can run it all again if the artefacts aren't clear.
significant missing bit is
C:\Users\xx\PortableApps\OperaPortable\App\Opera\profile\data
wasn't their before the upgrade but was afterwards
Wm
How did you update it? Via the platform or via Opera? The platform runs the normal app installer which can't write files to APPDATA (it doesn't have any code in it that can).
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
platform. apps / ck for updates
I am telling you what happened and suggesting that Opera makes the profile in App. if you're saying that isn't possible then all I can do is run through the process again recording what you think is relevant, I know what I observed
Edit1: I have just run through the process again, the update creates a profile in App/Opera.
Edit2: the App/Opera/profile is a "blank" one (e.g. nothing useful in LastSession) and can safely be deleted so there is a simple though not user friendly work around
Wm
Sorry, I thought it was storing a profile in the standard APPDATA location for local Opera, I didn't realize you were running Opera Portable locally. It was a packaging error in Rev 2. It's been fixed in Rev 3.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Rev 3 ate my profile
Give me a few minutes to see if I can work out what happened.
Test:
1. rewind to 40.0 and ck last session is being picked up
2. check no Opera processes (not gonna say this every time) and that App dir doesn't have rouge profile
3. Platform / Apps / Check for updates -> 41.0 Rev 3
Hmmmn, worked right that time. First time I tried Rev 3 I lost my settings, previous session tabs, etc.
I've spent enough time on this for now, let's see what happens next cycle.
Wm
Rev 3 fixes a packaging error that included a blank profile within App\Opera. This was my fault while testing the launcher and installer's error handling.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
For this evening's update I did extra backups and checked at each stage and it is fine.
Wm
Ok, another problem. Not sure what happened last week, but this morning when I tried to open it, it says that it was not shut down correctly and is going to do some cleanup. It takes forever, but eventually finishes. Then when I open it, all of my profile info is gone (had a backup, fortunately). It is version 41.0.2353.46. If I restore the \portableapps\OperaPortable\App\Opera\profile\data folder, then I get my profile back. I'm trying installing v3 to see what happens...
OperaPortable\App\Opera\profile
should only exist if Opera is actually running or crashed
If Opera is not running your profile is
\OperaPortable\Data\profile
Wm
Sorry, you are correct. I meant \OperaPortable\data\profile. Got a little out of control with the copy-paste...
Ok, updated to "v3", and it did not kill my profile.