Missing links in Favorites

[Mees Dekker]

When opening the dashboard, it says that there are links to a non-existing application (i.e. PS CS5 etc). This is new since 2023.4.2. It also states to which application the link refers.

But how to find which favorite, in order to correct or remove the favorite?

As far as I know, I never made (on purpose) any link to these applications. See screenshot.

[thrinn]

I see the same. These seem really old "Favorite" entries - note that the path for IrfanView points to ...\IMatch5\... 
In fact it has been IMatch6 for quite a time.



I run a diagnostics, but got no errors or warnings there.

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Checking Favorites:
Completed.
I checked all of my favorite sets, but none has a link to any of the applications mentioned in the dashboard.
Apparently the dashboard finds some hidden favorites which the diagnosis does not detect.

[thrinn]

Interesting enough, you can find the "ghost" favorite in the Command Palette. But I only have the option to "Execute" it (which fails, of course), but not to delete it.

[Jingo]

Same issue for me... old version of Photoshop 2019 which comes up in the Command Palette but isn't found elsewhere as far as I can see.  Also, the error message runs outside the Actions panel box..

[Mario]

The diagnosis currently does not check if the "target" of an Application favorite is resolvable.
Because Windows sometimes blocks infinitely when this happens and I did not want to take changes in the diagnosis core.

I wonder where these favorites are hidden.
Did you enable all favorite sets you have created for the Favorites Panel?

The dashboard just iterates over all existing Favorite Sets in the database and checks them. Whether or not these sets are visible in the Favorites Panel or currently hidden.

Looking at the code, IMatch adds the fav-link-invalid code to the AppHealth (a central "thing" that monitors IMatch and watches for and records various problems) when it tries to "resolve" an Application Favorite to get the icon of the corresponding application to display purposes. But that would mean that the Favorite is visible somewhere or loaded in a Set...

[ubacher]

Have the same problem!

[thrinn]

By switching back and forth between 3 different databases (TEST DBs mostly) I discovered that the Actions list was getting longer and longer, duplicating the existing messages over and over. And then, suddenly, IMatch crashed. After that, I was not able to open any of my databases - IMatch always opened with the Dashboard panel active, showed the "A new IMatch version has just been installed" dialog and crashed when I clicked on OK or Cancel.

I then deleted the the browser/cache folder and started IMatch with the "Reset workspace" option. Then I was able to open my database again. I can also switch to the Dashboard panel, getting the same Actions referring to Favorites pointing to non-existing applications.

I will upload the Dump file later on. Do you prefer when I open a new bug report for this crash? Or do you want to move this topic to the Bugs section?

I checked all Favorite sets - no link to Irfanview anywhere. Also, no F3 shortcuts assigned. No idea where to look.

[jch2103]

Fortunately, not an issue for me w/ 2023.4.2. Unfortunately, my situation doesn't appear to provide any help to those w/ the problem.

[Jingo]

Hmm.. I turned on Debug Logging, Closed IMatch, deleted the old log files, restarted IMatch and poof... the dashboard error is gone.  Does the error only appear once and then isn't checked again?  If so, then perhaps this has been an old issue that we don't notice because it only shows once?

[ubacher]

.4.4
I now get warnings about missing links from ancient favorites. Somehow IM does not check if a favorite
is still in existence.

[Mario]

.4.4
I now get warnings about missing links from ancient favorites. Somehow IM does not check if a favorite
is still in existence.

I have not changed anything between the 4.2 and 4.4 regarding favorites. If you mean that by 4.4 in your post.

This all sounds to me as if some users have deleted favorite sets (?) but these sets have not been deleted from the database but also don't show in the Favorite Set selector dialog in the Favorite Panel for some reason...not sure how this can happen.

IMatch now uses a in-memory cache to cache application icons for improved performance and especially for situations where applications are stored on a network server. The cache is filled in a separate thread.
This improves performance and prevents locks from Windows stalling IMatch while fetching icons.

Basically IMatch loads all favorite sets and for all favorites of type "application" or "StoreApp" it queries Windows to load the icon of the associated app. If Windows returns an error, the "fav-link-invalid" item is added to AppHealth (and later shown in the Dashboard), else the icon is stored in memory for use in the Favorite Panel and the File Window toolbar/ribbon.

For affected users: can you please search the log file for this text: Failed to load shell link and post the entire line in a reply when you find this?


I will add more logging (in debug logging mode) to this so we can see which favorite sets and favorites cause this for the next release.

For users affected by this, please switch IMatch to debug logging when the next release is out and search for CIMFavIconCache to find the corresponding log file entries.

[thrinn]

For affected users: can you please search the log file for this text: Failed to load shell link and post the entire line in a reply when you find this?

Sure, here we are:

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11.16 11:25:47+    0 [2E90] 01  W> Failed to load shell link C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\SaalDesignSoftware.lnk with error 80070002  'V:\develop\IMatch5\src\imlib\PTFileSystemLink.cpp(206)'
11.16 11:25:47+    0 [082C] 01  W> Failed to load shell link C:\Users\Thorsten\Desktop\Foto\Affinity Photo.lnk with error 80070002  'V:\develop\IMatch5\src\imlib\PTFileSystemLink.cpp(206)'
11.16 11:25:47+    0 [3914] 01  W> Failed to load shell link C:\Users\Thorsten\Desktop\Capture One 20.lnk with error 80070002  'V:\develop\IMatch5\src\imlib\PTFileSystemLink.cpp(206)'
11.16 11:25:47+    0 [175C] 00  M>  <  0 [6078ms #sl] CMainFrame::LoadDatabase
11.16 11:25:47+    0 [30D0] 50  M>  <  0 [16ms] PTFutureManager::ReleaseWorker
11.16 11:25:47+    0 [3068] 01  W> Failed to load shell link C:\Users\Thorsten\AppData\Roaming\photools.com\IMatch5\Adobe Reader .lnk with error 80070003  'V:\develop\IMatch5\src\imlib\PTFileSystemLink.cpp(206)'
11.16 11:25:47+    0 [11E8] 01  W> Failed to load shell link C:\Users\Thorsten\AppData\Roaming\photools.com\IMatch5\IrfanView.lnk with error 80070003  'V:\develop\IMatch5\src\imlib\PTFileSystemLink.cpp(206)'
11.16 11:25:47+    0 [095C] 01  W> Failed to load shell link C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Affinity Designer.lnk with error 80070002  'V:\develop\IMatch5\src\imlib\PTFileSystemLink.cpp(206)'


[Mees Dekker]

Here are my missing links:

V11.16 11:38:18+    0 [4F10] 01  W> Failed to load shell link C:\Users\Mees Dekker\AppData\Roaming\photools.com\IMatch5\Adobe Photoshop CS5.lnk with error 80070003  'V:\develop\IMatch5\src\imlib\PTFileSystemLink.cpp(206)'
11.16 11:38:18+    0 [13E4] 01  W> Failed to load shell link C:\Users\Mees Dekker\AppData\Roaming\photools.com\IMatch5\Windows Live Photo Gallery.lnk with error 80070003  'V:\develop\IMatch5\src\imlib\PTFileSystemLink.cpp(206)'
11.16 11:38:18+    0 [3FFC] 01  W> Failed to load shell link C:\Users\Mees Dekker\AppData\Roaming\photools.com\IMatch5\Microsoft Office 2010.lnk with error 80070003  'V:\develop\IMatch5\src\imlib\PTFileSystemLink.cpp(206)'
11.16 11:38:18+    0 [4BA8] 01  W> Failed to load shell link C:\Users\Mees Dekker\AppData\Roaming\photools.com\IMatch5\Adobe Acrobat 9.5.lnk with error 80070003  'V:\develop\IMatch5\src\imlib\PTFileSystemLink.cpp(206)'

[Mario]

These are the links used in Application favorites. IMatch tries to "resolve" them but Windows returns an error.
So IMatch is right in flagging these favorites.

I cannot tell more from these log entries, e.g. I don't know which Favorite Sets they come from or the name of the Favorite.
I have added more logging surrounding the shell resolve call. Maybe when we know the names of the Favorite Sets and favorites we learn more about this issue.

When I look at the code, it basically does this:

1. Load all favorite sets from the database.
2. For each favorite in each set, if it is an application or store app, try to load the icon and cache it.

This is done for all sets, whether or not they are currently activated in the Favorites Panel (on this level, there is no information about which favorite sets are enabled in Workspaces in the Fav Panel or File Window).

[Jingo]

My error suddenly appeared again after another shutdown/restart! I found the same entry in the error log..

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11.16 07:29:30+    0 [62C4] 01  W> Failed to load shell link C:\Users\fuego6\AppData\Roaming\photools.com\IMatch6\Adobe Photoshop CC 2019.lnk with error 80070002  'V:\develop\IMatch5\src\imlib\PTFileSystemLink.cpp(206)'

I wondered if the old favorite would reappear if the external link was re-established so....

• I created a new link with the same name in the imatch6 folder and did an IMatch restart.
• IMatch didn't show the favorite (though the warning message disappeared on the dashboard). 
• I created a new favorite using the newly created shortcut link and then deleted it and restarted IMatch
• I now have TWO warning messages... 

So, I wonder if there is something in the favorite code that isn't removing something in the database code and the dashboard is finding it?

[Mario]

Interesting. Another clue. Thanks for testing this. I'll look into it.

I've refreshed my memory regarding favorites and I think I now know what's going on!
When enumerating the favorites to show in one of the tabs in the Favorites Panel, the algorithm ignores favorites if the favorite is for a different computer or for a different user.  User is currently not used (always empty) but the computer name (machine id) is filled.

This of course also has to be considered when loading the favorites and doing the validation.
But I did not. Which is why IMatch reports problems with favorites you cannot see - because these favorites are for another computer.

Hah! I'll fix that for the next release (soon).

[thrinn]

But I did not. Which is why IMatch reports problems with favorites you cannot see - because these favorites are for another computer.

Ah, that makes sense. I got a new PC two or three years ago, and the invalid favorites might very well have been created on the old PC (taking into account the IMatch5 in the path).

[Jingo]

Eureka!!  Makes sense... I'm sure I used Photoshop 2019 many years ago on another windows install before upgrading.

Thx as always!!

[Mees Dekker]

Just downloaded and installed 2023.4.6

Dashboard OK now: no missing links any longer.