Where are video project files hidden in Windows Photo video editor? - windows

I discovered that Windows Photo has a pretty good basic video editor hidden in it.
My wife used it to edit a family video. Then she wanted to save the project (clips and project file, not just the final product) to USB drive.
Photo only gives you one option: Save to OneDrive. The claim is that other OneDrive devices running Photo will then be able to see the Project.
However, careful inspection of OneDrive yields no file with the title of the project and nothing that obviously looks like a video editing project file.
Does anybody know how they pulled this off and where they have hidden the project information? It can't be buried in the Registry, because that wouldn't transfer through OneDrive.

Every video clip used to create a new video, no matter what the source, is first copied to my C: SSD drive into my 'Pictures' folder.
I found the program created a new folder called 'Video Projects' in my Pictures folder.
The program does not delete these videos copied to my C: SSD drive when the program is through with them.
I must go in and manually delete the working copies of videos the program makes.
C:\Users\Your_User_Name\Pictures\Video Projects

There were two reasons I was looking into this.
1) For a video project, set the duration for all the photos in a storyboard to something other than the default. (Why isn't this built in?) and;
2) On another project, reset the duration that I'd set on a bunch of photos so it could auto sync with music.
So, I looked into this a bit, and for reference the data is stored in an Sqlite database called MediaDb.v1.sqlite located by default here (replace YOURUSERNAME) C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.Photos_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState
You can load the database using an Sqlite reader like DB Browser however you can't update it because it contains an unrecognised database collation (column character set) called NoCaseUnicode which you can about more here
There are others who are reporting similar problems trying to access this file.

I just finished a short project. I noticed an option to make a backup (click the three dots in the top right corner). That created a .vdp file. The file is 35 MB. The total size of the pictures and audio track is 30.1 MB, so it looks like it puts everything into this one .vdp file. The idea, as I understand it, is that you can take this .vdp file with you and import it into the video editor on a different computer (or same computer with new hard drive) and resume working on your video from there.
Of course relying on a proprietary file, in my opinion, is not great. You're trusting that Microsoft will continue to support the file format in the future. And as we've seen, over time, Microsoft has a habit of dropping support for popular applications that they bundle with Windows. Make sure you hang on to those original photos/videos!

My saved videos were located in c/Pictures/wallpapers/Video Projects

Related

Changing default program for a file type (workaround)

I would like to specify that images of a certain type (for example, .png) open by default in a program I've written when the file is contained in a certain directory. I've seen by searching (Change Default Program for a specific folder) that this is not possible on Windows 7 or 8.
I am saving these images in this directory myself, so I have some leeway with how I name the files. For example, I could change the filename a bit... perhaps to be example.myprog.png or something similar. Is there a way to set it up so files that match this filename pattern get opened, while other .pngs (in other directories) still open in the default viewer?
I don't really want to name these PNG images example.myprog (i.e., fully change the extension), because when the user is browsing the directory in Windows Explorer, I would like the thumbnail images to still show up. Also, users will be eventually transferring these images to their own machines, where they'll want to use standard image viewers to look at them.
If this is not possible, does anyone have another suggestion for how to tackle this problem?
As you are mentioning that files should be opened in a program that you have written, try to change the code of your program to read files from the specific folder. So, by opening your program from anywhere in your pc, you should be able to open files from specified folder.

Opening a CHM file produces: "navigation to the webpage was canceled"

I am trying to open a .chm file.
I downloaded the source, extracted it, and double clicked on Waffle.chm and clicked "Open" but no matter what element in the chm file I click, I get the message:
Navigation to the webpage was canceled.
What you can try:
Retype the address.
What's going on here?
Summary
Microsoft Security Updates 896358 & 840315 block display of CHM file contents when opened from a network drive (or a UNC path). This is Windows' attempt to stop attack vectors for viruses/malware from infecting your computer and has blocked out the .chm file that draw data over the "InfoTech" protocol, which this chm file uses.
Microsoft's summary of the problem: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896054
Solutions
If you are using Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, windows has created a quick fix. Right click the chm file, and you will get the "yourfile.chm Properties" dialog box, at the bottom, a button called "Unblock" appears. Click Unblock and press OK, and try to open the chm file again, it works correctly. This option is not available for earlier versions of Windows before WindowsXP (SP3).
Solve the problem by moving your chm file OFF the network drive. You may be unaware you are using a network drive, double check now: Right click your .chm file, click properties and look at the "location" field. If it starts with two backslashes like this: \\epicserver\blah\, then you are using a networked drive. So to fix it, Copy the chm file, and paste it into a local drive, like C:\ or E:. Then try to reopen the chm file, windows does not freak out.
Last resort, if you can't copy/move the file off the networked drive. If you must open it where it sits, and you are using a lesser version of windows like XP, Vista, ME or other, you will have to manually tell Windows not to freak out over this .chm file. HHReg (HTML Help Registration Utility) Utility Automates this Task. Basically you download the HHReg utility, load your .chm file, press OK, and it will create the necessary registry keys to tell Windows not to block it. For more info: http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/fix-cannot-view-chm-files-network-xp-2003-vista/
Windows 8 or 10? --> Upgrade to Windows XP.
"unblocking" the file fixes the problem. Screenshot:
Win 8 x64:
just move it to another folder or rename your folder (in my case: my folder was "c#").
avoid to use symbol on folder name. name it with letter.
done.
In addition to Eric Leschinski's answer, and because this is stackoverflow, a programmatical solution:
Windows uses hidden file forks to mark content as "downloaded". Truncating these unblocks the file. The name of the stream used for CHM's is "Zone.Identifier". One can access streams by appending :streamname when opening the file. (keep backups the first time, in case your RTL messes that up!)
In Delphi it would look like this:
var f : file;
begin
writeln('unblocking ',s);
assignfile(f,'some.chm:Zone.Identifier');
rewrite(f,1);
truncate(f);
closefile(f);
end;
I'm told that on non forked filesystems (like FAT32) there are hidden files, but I haven't gotten to the bottom of that yet.
P.s. Delphi's DeleteFile() should also recognize forks.
The definitive solution is to allow the InfoTech protocol to work in the intranet zone.
Add the following value to the registry and the problem should be solved:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\1.x\ItssRestrictions]
"MaxAllowedZone"=dword:00000001
More info here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896054
Go to Start
Type regsvr32 hhctrl.ocx
You should get a success message like:
" DllRegisterServer in hhctrl.ocx succeeded "
Now try to open your CHM file again.
other way is to use different third party software. This link shows more third party software to view chm files...
I tried with SumatraPDF and it work fine.
I fixed this programmatically in my software, using C++ Builder.
Before I assign the CHM help file, Application->HelpFile = HelpFileName, I check to see if it contains the "Zone.Identifier" stream, and when it does, I simply remove it.
String ZIStream(HelpFileName + ":Zone.Identifier") ;
if (FileExists(ZIStream))
{ DeleteFile(ZIStream) ; }
There are apparently different levels of authentication. Most articles I read tell you to set the MaxAllowedZone to '1' which means that local machine zone and intranet zone are allowed but '4' allows access for 'all' zones.
For more info, read this article:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/892675
This is how my registry looks (I wasn't sure it would work with the wild cards but it seems to work for me):
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\1.x]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\1.x\ItssRestrictions]
"MaxAllowedZone"=dword:00000004
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\1.x\ItssRestrictions]
"UrlAllowList"="\\\\<network_path_root>;\\\\<network_path_root>\*;\\ies-inc.local;http://www.*;http://*;https://www.*;https://*;"
As an additional note, weirdly the "UrlAllowList" key was required to make this work on another PC but not my test one. It's probably not required at all but when I added it, it fixed the problem. The user may have not closed the original file or something like that. So just a consideration. I suggest try the least and test it, then add if needed. Once you confirm, you can deploy if needed. Good Luck!
Edit: P.S. Another method that worked was mapping the path to the network locally by using mklink /d (symbolic linking in Windows 7 or newer) but mapping a network drive letter (Z: for testing) did not work. Just food for thought and I did not have to 'Unblock' any files. Also the accepted 'Solution' did not resolve the issue for me.
Moving to local folder is the quickest solution, nothing else worked for me esp because I was not admin on my system (can't edit registery etc), which is a typical case in a work environment.
Create a folder in C:\help drive, lets call it help and copy the files there and open.
Do not copy to mydocuments or anywhere else, those locations are usually on network drive in office setup and will not work.

App's one of two Documents Folder not Saving on Windows

I have a application in which there are two folders in app's document directory.
a. Thumbnail.
b. Recordings.
Contents of Recordings Directory: Recordings in .caf format, and naming of those records are like "Recording#[number]"+[datetime].
Few examples of names of the recorded file:
2012-04-26 06/11/50 +0000.caf
2012-04-26 06/11/37 +0000.caf
So the problem is, when i Sync my iPad on MAC using itunes, i can save both the folders, which are Thumbnails and Recordings. But when i Sync on Windows, Recordings folder doesn't save. Thumbnail folder is saved with no problem, but when i save Recordings folder, it doesn't appear, means it is not saving at all.
I tried one remedy, which is, change the names of the recorded files like: Recording1.caf
If i save my recorded files with such naming convention, Then the Recordings Folder is saving on Windows with no problem.
One more thing i like to mention here, when using recording names with datetime appended, sync on MAC, send it to windows, files play with quicktime with no problem. (It was very obvious, but didnt want to miss anything.)
What i wanted to ask here, why is it not saving on windows when names are with datetime. Is thats the problem, cant it be solved without changing the name. Because the previous users of this app have their recordings saved with datetime, i'll have to change all those names first when the user updates to the new build.

Find the relation between ".automaticDestinations-ms" and it's file?

Does anyone know (Because on microsoft forums nobody answered me), how can I find what app has which automaticDestinations-ms file in %appdata%\microsoft\windows\recent\automaticdestinations ?
That's the folder where Windows 7 stores its jump lists, and I want to know how to automatically/programmatic find the relation between each file and an application.
At least, even manual I didn't found any pattern, just to look after file extensions in the files, because some programs open files with the same extension (like images), so this method it's not OK for all programs.
Do you have any other idea? Maybe knowing the format of those files?
Thanks.
the GUIDs appear to persist.
I was trying to edit my control panel jumplist - I found where the "Realtek HD audio manager" control-panel-applet-title-string is (using resource hacker on "C:\Windows\System32\RTSnMg64.cpl"), and restored it's original title ("Dell Audio" - 'cause I'm OCD:) but the original pinned Realtek entry is stuck.
A quick filesearch for pinned took me to
C:\Users\Jonny\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned
but I really needed to be # C:\Users\Jonny\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations
If you use something like Nirsoft's Jumplist View you can see the entries etc. Sort by "application ID" column to see jumplists by application. You can even change the monitored folder (advanced options).
I'm going to have to delete and recreate my control panel jumplist (7e4dca80246863e3.automaticDestinations-ms).
TIP: If you're not sure which is which, try pinning a new jumplist-entry to an application. This will appear at the top (if sorted by "record time")
The best way to find out is to sort the files by date modified, then interact with your machine, eg open a file with Powerpoint, look and see what file moved to the top. That is probably the file for Powerpoint, which you can confirm by opening it and looking in it.
Then you could build a table of magic guids, and search for those in the registry to see if there is an obvious key connecting the guid to an application id.
Here is a list of 620 applications here with the corresponding App ID byEricZimmerman
https://github.com/EricZimmerman/JumpList/blob/master/JumpList/Resources/AppIDs.txt
eg 0a1d19afe5a80f80|FileZilla 2.2.32
last update 12 days ago

Changing the default behavior of where files are saved in windows

Kind of a Admin question - I know.
Here's the thing.
The OS has this deep, strange assumsion that a user wants all there pictures in one folder, all there doc files in another folder - etc. Saveing files based on file type - not the folder in which it was opened.
I, like many business/dev users have my drive devided into folders based on 'projects'.
All 'SmithProject' images goes in SmithProject, All JonesProject Images goes in JoneProject.
Why do I spend so much time fighting the OS when it wants to save all files into a folder based on file type? (No - windows - I don't want it in the pictures folder)
Is there not some simple way / setting to define how this works?
I figure, I loose 1-2 hours a week - just because i have to nav back to the same folder, again & again & again.
Any Pluggin?
Anything?
Thanks
Without changing special folders locations (My Documents, etc) it could be hard to achieve. Normally in app, when You call OpenFileDialog You can specify where to start (f.ex: always c:\, last opened folder, special folder) and there is no power in the universe to change this.

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