3 hours ago, andy1252 said:

Hi Adam,

I just tried Win Explorer and it was ok to change the encryption status on a sample folder.

A couple of things that may or may not be relevant. First, I'm talking about changing the encryption status of the folder I've previously copied (not moved) from my community folder to my separate addons folder tree, not making any changes within the actual community folder itself. When I then use the addons linker to place the symlink into the community folder, it doesn't seem to matter that the link refers to a non-encrypted folder.

Second, in answer to your question, I'm using the MS Store version. But when I installed it I first specified an alternate drive to the default C drive for installation of any new apps. So my installation is on my H drive, with the longest g*dawful link name you've ever seen in the C drive, and an equally insane folder structure on my H drive. I obviously miised the prompt that gave me the option of specifying a sane folder name at install time and I ain't going back and reinstalling it now!

Hope that helps

Thanks for the extra info! I downloaded a trial (Pro version) of DOpus to do some tests. It has a handy function for changing the attributes - but no luck - I still get an error.

However - I tried encrypting a file (form within DOpus) and then decrypting it. That worked ... so .. more investigating. When I encrypted it, I got a Windows notification about Certificates - and checking the properties, I see it added a user and a recovery certificate:

However - when I view the properties of my copied/moved items, I see this:

ie. No user and/or associated certificate. This is also what I see on my friend's PC.

I'm not sure where we go from here!

I've now finished recreating my Community folder and am getting the full benefit of the Linker, but I'm still intrigued by my original problem and am hoping a solution may help others in the future.

9 hours ago, Bad_T said:

@sal9000 @andy1252

guys, maybe before losing too much time with my tool, you should try the new one that just got released yesterday (search for 'msfs addons collector' at flightsim to).

Such modesty!!! Having only just recreated my Community folder with the Linker I can say that it does all I need really well - and I'm really grateful.

My main aim was to restrict the choices of liveries to relevant areas of the world. I don't have AI (or multiplayer) enabled, but static aircraft get populated by whatever you have active in the Community folder, so I get NZ aircraft in NZ, EU aircraft in the UK/Europe etc. etc. This works really well.

I've yet to test whether my loading times have changed, but it's not really an issue for me.

Though there are minor tweaks I'd like to see in the Linker, it's core functionality is 100% spot on (for me) and it's *very* easy to use.

 

 

2 hours ago, Adamski_NZ said:

Though there are minor tweaks I'd like to see in the Linker, it's core functionality is 100% spot on (for me) and it's *very* easy to use.

Thanks for your comment, if you need some tweaks feel free to let me know here or via private message. I can't make promises because sometimes it's just beyond what i'm able to do, but if it's doable t usually i try to implement requests even if it's only for a personalized little version only delivered to NZ 😁

13 hours ago, Adamski_NZ said:

No user and/or associated certificate. This is also what I see on my friend's PC.

I'm not sure where we go from here!

Hi Adam,

I went to compare screens with yours, and on my Dopus screens (1) I don't seem to have the "details" option available. A bit puzzled by this, I looked back at your post again and saw the bit about Windows and certificates, and I've never had any contact with that as far as I can remember - what I mean is I don't remember doing anything to set any such things up. In fact I can't really say I've been aware of certificates before.

Anyway, I googled (2) and then looked at my own certificates (3) and it seems I have one for the purposes of using the EFS. From the look of it I would guess I got it on 21/09 last year but I can't think of anything unusual I would have been doing around then - certainly not installing Windows or MSFS or messing around with my userid.

So, I don't know if this is relevant to your situation, and if it is I can't offer any further advice as I've no idea how I got my certificate. But it might be a starting point for further ivestigation if you need it.

Many thanks for posting these. When I query certmgr, I get an identical screen to your [3]. However - when I view the properties of anything in my [regular/not linked] Community folder (as in [1], I get the Encryption box ticked - and with nothing showing in the Details tab.

If you have any "regular" files (ie. not sym-linked) in your Community folder, would you be able to post a shot of the properties tab - and if anything shows in the Details tab?

TIA!

On 1/21/2021 at 5:36 PM, Bad_T said:

oooops good luck ! 😱😱

it was a double livery . Same livery different folder names.

On 1/22/2021 at 5:54 AM, Bad_T said:

guys, maybe before loosing too much time with my tool, you should try the new one that just got released yesterday

I did.  I didn't like it.   It's a UI nightmare that tries to cram too many features into one place.  And it seems like it struggles with a library as large as mine (over 300GB of addons) which yours handles with ease.

Don't give up development just because something else popped up.  Not if you still have interest.  🙂    I don't have any plans to switch to that new one any time soon, unless it undergoes some major overhauls.

Edited January 24, 20215 yr by kaosfere

@andy1252 and @Adamski_NZ thanks for all those investigations, hopefully you'll find something would really help to understand exactly what's wrong with those files. 👍

@earthdog wow .. that was probably painful to loose all that time for a little double livery hehe 🙃

@kaosfere thanks for your comment, yeah it's probably not mature yet, so until people use mine i'll try to keep it up to date no worry (and support will always be available anyway). It^s just that if something better pops i wanted people to know, for me it would be more than fine but i dont want to enter some sort of race for features 😛

Edited January 24, 20215 yr by Bad_T

IMHO, the two applications are quite different and don't overlap much, features-wise. The "other" utility (Organizer) may be great for *checking/testing* addons, but only the Linker has all the selection and preset functions for enabling/disabling groups of addons. Being able to manage my bloated Community folder so easily is the primary reason why I'm delighted to use the Linker.

Now that I have successfully migrated all my addons (despite the encryption woes), I'm in a position to do some timing tests - to see if reducing the number of active addons has any real effect on loading times. However - even if I don't see any changes there, just the ability to keep my addons "tidy" makes the Linker indispensable.

8 hours ago, earthdog said:

it was a double livery . Same livery different folder names.

The other "gotcha" I've found is the other way around - when two entirely different liveries use the same folder name (in SimObjects).

12 minutes ago, Adamski_NZ said:

IMHO, the two applications are quite different and don't overlap much, features-wise. The "other" utility (Organizer) may be great for *checking/testing* addons, but only the Linker has all the selection and preset functions for enabling/disabling groups of addons. Being able to manage my bloated Community folder so easily is the primary reason why I'm delighted to use the Linker.

Now that I have successfully migrated all my addons (despite the encryption woes), I'm in a position to do some timing tests - to see if reducing the number of active addons has any real effect on loading times. However - even if I don't see any changes there, just the ability to keep my addons "tidy" makes the Linker indispensable.

Load up FSdreamteam KORD and Drzewiecki Chicago Landmarks. Having these NOT loaded is a no Brainer unless you are flying into KORD

Probably takes 1-2 minutes longer to load.

Regards

10 hours ago, Adamski_NZ said:

Many thanks for posting these. When I query certmgr, I get an identical screen to your [3]. However - when I view the properties of anything in my [regular/not linked] Community folder (as in [1], I get the Encryption box ticked - and with nothing showing in the Details tab.

If you have any "regular" files (ie. not sym-linked) in your Community folder, would you be able to post a shot of the properties tab - and if anything shows in the Details tab?

TIA!

Hi Adam, sorry, but I don't have any physical data in my community folder, everything's done via symlink. Next time I install anything that puts something in there I'll get a shot of it. I'm guessing just moving something in there manually wouldn't be particularly useful if it's anything to do with my own level of permission.

On 1/22/2021 at 11:54 AM, Bad_T said:

guys, maybe before loosing too much time with my tool, you should try the new one that just got released yesterday

Nope, just had another look at the description that comes with it and I'm not sure I want to even test it out. I've got over 450 Gb of addons all sorted the way I want them, and I don't want anybody else's algorithm messing around with them. Like I said, your linker does exactly what I need so I'll make sure I've got several backups of the download and just keep on using it, even if you decide to retire it. Not dissing the other guy, but it's not for me.

I loaded that other tool up - but (thankfully) never actually hit the "Fly" button. I'd had enough trouble with encryption (EFS) to not add more woes!

20 minutes ago, andy1252 said:

Hi Adam, sorry, but I don't have any physical data in my community folder, everything's done via symlink. Next time I install anything that puts something in there I'll get a shot of it. I'm guessing just moving something in there manually wouldn't be particularly useful if it's anything to do with my own level of permission.

Agreed - and thanks again. I suspect we're never going to resolve this EFS issue, but it was worth a try!