Favorites Lost when Resetting IE8 Settings
We're a Windows 7 (w/o SP1) shop with IE8. Two users reported that then they 'reset' IE8 they lost their favorites. When I say I 'reset' I'm referring to this process:
Tools > Internet Options > Advanced > Reset > With or Without 'Delete Personal Settings' checked
According to Microsoft, "Resetting Internet Explorer to its default settings does not delete your favorites, feeds, Web Slices, and a few other personalized settings." But I witnessed the issue this morning and have successfully reproduced
it. At least one other person outside of our organization has experienced this 'anomaly'.
Troubleshooting Steps Performed:
I created a template Favorites folder structure which included a few folders (one of which was empty) a few links at the root level, a few links in the sub folders and some favorites in the Favorites Bar folder.
I logged into a machine as a normal, non-IT, user that was imaged recently with our image
Copied the Favorites folder structure locally via robocopy Confirmed the existence of files in C:\Users\%username%\Favorites (or %userprofile%\Favorites if you will)
Opened IE to confirm they were there then closed it Control Panel > Internet Options > Advanced > Reset > Did not check the Box
Restarted IE & Favorites were missing* Checked %userprofile%\Favorites and confirmed they were missing* Rebuilt the Favorites from the template Opened IE > Tools > Internet Options > Advanced > Reset > Did not check the Box
Clicked OK at the prompt staying IE had to be restarted Restarted IE & Favorites were missing*
The * denotes something interesting:
The Favorites that were in the root (which is where get created by default) were gone.
The subfolders I created, with their respective favorites, were gone. !!BUT: The stock 'Favorites Bar' and 'Links for United States' folders, including the favorites I created manually within, remained!!
I've got two big questions, although they're related:
Is it possible to configure IE to wipe Favorites when doing a reset? Is it possible to configure a GPO that would?
References:
Reset Internet Explorer 8 settings
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Reset-Internet-Explorer-settings
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Reset-Internet-Explorer-8-settings
"How can i reset internet explorer 8 to default? and will I lose my favorites if I do?How would I save these?"
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie8-windows_other/how-can-i-reset-internet-explorer-8-to-default-and/1a6e9e49-2f7e-4b65-9553-7f85db09baaa
"An IE reset deletes all favorites?"
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/ieitprocurrentver/thread/108d240c-2032-448c-9385-f2bcefb3f332
May 27th, 2011 8:20am
Hi,
According to your description, I suggest to contact IE forum for further help:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/ieitprocurrentver/threads
The reason why we recommend posting appropriately is you will get the most qualified pool of respondents, and other partners who
read the forums regularly can either share their knowledge or learn from your interaction with us. Thank you for your understanding.
Regards,
Leo
Huang
Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.
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May 30th, 2011 11:17pm
Thanks - good idea.
I've moved recreated it here:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/ieitprocurrentver/thread/0fde97dd-d0f7-4b9b-89f5-e31f797abae3
If you need to, feel free to delete this one.
May 31st, 2011 9:48am