Recent playlist will not save on W8/W8.1

[DJ_The_SP]

Ever since my migration to Windows 8.1 I have a problem that got me mind boggling and i just can not seem to solve.


I did a clean installation of Windows 8.1 a few months ago.
Then I installed all my apps and manually migrated settings of all the software i use (from a Windows 7 image) . I also did this for Winamp .
Everything works 100% since the installation, but when using Winamp the ' current' playlist which the program automatically creates sporadically will not save!
After opening a random number of times, the playlist disappeared spontaneously thus winamp was started with an empty playlist.
This means i can load my recursive playlist each time i start Winamp (very frustrating with 50K + mp3's).
I can not think of any software that is installed on my PC which could affect this situation (I don't use a separate antivir. Just Windows Defender).


What I've done so far:
- Uninstalled Winamp. Removed the settings folder. Reinstalled Winamp.
- No additional plugins / addons or whatever installed for winamp .
- Double checked and forced (unchecked) the read-only flag on the winamp user data folder (to make sure the playlist can be saved/written).
- Checked my winamp (program + user data) folders to see if there are any weird NTFS rights in there
- Tried the 'Take ownership' script posted on Windows 8 forums to take ownership of all my winamp folders.
- Disable the Winamp agent.
None of the above helped!

The settings folder is in the following location : C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Winamp\
The current playlist is (automatically) saved as : Winamp.m3u and Winamp.m3u8


Does anyone here have any idea how I can fix this problem?

[DrO]

maybe when you're starting Winamp it's somehow been told to start with an empty playlist i.e. something was done with the shortcut used to start it. alternatively it could be crashing on close, though without knowing the version you're using, if it's anything in the last year it should only save when it needs to and not always on close (to prevent against crash on close issues, etc).

so we really need to see an info report (from http://forums.winamp.com/showthread....161361#plugins attached to this thread) to check your Winamp install.

[DJ_The_SP]

Hey there,

Thanks for your quick response.
I made a report/logfile, please see the attachment.

[DrO]

ok, first thing to do is to apply the dll patches from http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?t=156839#known2 (particularly the in_mp3.dll). as there's nothing obviously wrong other than not having those patches and then try to replicate the issue.

[DJ_The_SP]

Thanks, i installed the fix you suggested.
I guess i will have to test for a few days to see if the problem still occurs.
Will keep you posted!

[DJ_The_SP]

Hmm, just opened my Winamp again and the playlist is yet again..empty.
Any other ideas?

[DrO]

is the Winamp playlist file in the Winamp settings folder definitely empty? (assuming you've not closed Winamp after loading it and finding the issue).

and what had you done when closing Winamp before this happened? i.e. did you shutdown / suspend Windows or were you aware of Winamp crashing, etc ?

also you don't have anything else running periodically which will go through and cleanup program settings folders like ccleaner?

[DJ_The_SP]

Originally Posted by DrO

also you don't have anything else running periodically which will go through and cleanup program settings folders like ccleaner?

Gah! I can't believe i didn't think of this before.
I have a scheduled task for Ccleaner running every other day...
Turns out 'Winamp' was selected as well. Who knew it would actually delete the 'recent' playlist!?!? That's rediculous.
Anyway, i unchecked the option and i think my problems will be gone now.
If not, i will let you know!

[DrO]

that's one of the many fun things that Ccleaner does to Winamp for whatever reason it thinks is a good idea and i should have thought of it earlier (though it had slipped my mind as i've not seen the issue for a while now so had thought they'd 'improved' what they do, but i guess not).

[MrSinatra]

maybe making them aware of it will correct the issue going forward:

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=40829

[Aminifu]

The change log for the latest version of CCleaner, v4.13.4693 (24 Apr 2014), says it has improved handling for Winamp.

Who wants to be the first to test it?

[Koopa]

I did, it hasn't deleted the playlists, though, all which it does now is deleting recent.dat which will produce a cleared history for users who may don't want it.

[Sabine Klare]

I have already downloaded the newest installer, but I didn't run it yet.

In my CCleaner I have excluded the Winamp Software Folder and the whole Roaming Folder in username > AppData anyway, because Winamp should never be touched by CCleaner. I did the same for my artist-software. CCleaner deletes only another playlist in username > AppData > Local > Temp, which has been created and changed by Mp3tag (I use it for each new MP3).

[Aminifu]

Thanx for being brave, Koopa.

CCleaner shouldn't delete "recent.dat" either, imo. Those wanting to clear their history log (partially or completely) can do so within Winamp.

Winamp now does a good job deleting the temp files it directly (and indirectly) makes, when it is shutdown. There really isn't anything left behind for CCleaner to clean up. CCleaner's general clean up philosophy doesn't fit Winamp, imo.

[MrSinatra]

wasn't there a temp file of some kind that winamp hadn't fixed/cleaned up? I remember in that thread the cause was figured out for most of them, but I thought one still got thru?

I think maybe CCleaner should still give the option to delete the playlists and recent.dat and so on, but give a warning via a pop up that by doing so, you will lose xyz. but it is probably better to not delete this stuff, and certainly not by default.

[DrO]

you're probably thinking of the temp file which Windows was generating when we were trying to determine information from CD drives (which still persists but i thought i'd put in something which will try to clean it up, but it wasn't something directly generated by us as i made sure where possible anything like that is correctly cleaned).

though why they're doing anything with the recent history is bizarre and there's really no need to do it. maybe there was a reason why when they added such support, but why only those files and none of the other idx/dat files? just doesn't quite make sense to me as everything which can be done to store things in the correct settings folder is done and messing with that is just wrong.

[Aminifu]

Originally Posted by DrO

though why they're doing anything with the recent history is bizarre and there's really no need to do it. maybe there was a reason why when they added such support, but why only those files and none of the other idx/dat files? just doesn't quite make sense to me as everything which can be done to store things in the correct settings folder is done and messing with that is just wrong.

It could be just because of the file name, i.e. "recent".

Some people (particularly those who share their computer) for personal or security concerns don't want logs of what files they have opened left behind. Apps like CCleaner let them delete this stuff from 1 place instead of having to go to each app to do so.

Additional cleanup rules can be added to CCleaner manually (so different Winamp associated rules could be added to fit a specific need) and "CCEnhancer" is an app specifically designed to add rules for apps that are not handled by default.

CCleaner can do much more than just delete abandoned temp files. It can cause serious damage to apps and the OS if not used carefully. I use it once a month or so to clean up stuff I know to be useless junk and logs I don't want to keep. It is possible to view what has been selected for deletion before it is deleted and thus prevent 'accidents'. But for many, the best prevention is to not use CCleaner and apps like it.

[Aminifu]

Originally Posted by DrO

you're probably thinking of the temp file which Windows was generating when we were trying to determine information from CD drives (which still persists but i thought i'd put in something which will try to clean it up, but it wasn't something directly generated by us as i made sure where possible anything like that is correctly cleaned).

What you added for the CD drives stuff worked for me. However, another issue came up related to that plug-in, so I no longer install it since I don't need to use Winamp to rip or burn CDs and it's not needed to just play CDs.

[MrSinatra]

Originally Posted by DrO

you're probably thinking of the temp file which Windows was generating when we were trying to determine information from CD drives (which still persists but i thought i'd put in something which will try to clean it up, but it wasn't something directly generated by us as i made sure where possible anything like that is correctly cleaned).

ok, so is there a way ccleaner can target such files?

Originally Posted by DrO

though why they're doing anything with the recent history is bizarre and there's really no need to do it. maybe there was a reason why when they added such support, but why only those files and none of the other idx/dat files? just doesn't quite make sense to me as everything which can be done to store things in the correct settings folder is done and messing with that is just wrong.

i'll tell them to look at this thread again, since its clear they are reading it.

anything else they could do? other suggestions for them?

[DJ_The_SP]

Originally Posted by Aminifu

The change log for the latest version of CCleaner, v4.13.4693 (24 Apr 2014), says it has improved handling for Winamp.

Who wants to be the first to test it?

I just ran the latest version of Ccleaner with the Winamp option enabled.
My playlist is still there now.
So the playlist part of it, is working now....