Powertoys: FancyZones settings are lost after version upgrade

[sandersaares]

ℹ Computer information

• PowerToys version: 0.25.0
• PowerToy Utility: what?
• Running PowerToys as Admin: yes
• Windows build number: [run "winver"] 19042.572

📝 Provide detailed reproduction steps (if any)

1. See "A new version of PowerToys is available" popup.
2. Select to install now.

✔️ Expected result

I get a new version and nothing breaks among existing features/config.

❌ Actual result

FancyZones settings are all reset to defaults(?). In particular:

1. wrong layout - Priority Grid - on all monitors
2. zone borders got re-enabled

Previously I used Priority Grid + 2-way vertical split (depending on monitor), with no borders.

[andrea-capigiri]

Same issue for me. After power on, configurations are gone. In every monitors, every times! Do you use only external monitors like me?

[sandersaares]

I have 1 laptop screen (disabled) and 3 external monitors.

This only happens for me after version upgrade - restarting does not destroy settings.

[M0lyk]

Same problem here, yesterday and today : "priority grid" selected by default on my 2 screens. Powertoys v0.24, W10 20H2 19042.610

[slisystem]

Same here. v0.25.0 in Admin-mode on Win 10 Home 20H2. Triple Monitor Setup on a Desktop PC. My settings are being reset to priority grid on every monitor after every restart, which makes PowerToys unusable for me at the moment. Pretty much as @andrea-capigiri stated.

[andrea-capigiri]

Can someone test using this procedure?

• Apply custom grid layout
• Exit PowerToys right clicking on tray icon
• Restart your PC

[M0lyk]

Can someone test using this procedure?

• Apply custom grid layout
• Exit PowerToys right clicking on tray icon
• Restart your PC

That seems to fix the problem here 👍

• I had previously upgraded to v0.25
• PowerToys ran in administrator mode
• I applied the change and restarted. On reboot I had the custom grid layout, no surprises. I put back my own zones, and after re-launching PowerToys my grids remain applied.

[enricogior]

Let's investigate one problem per issue.
This issue is for the settings been reset after upgrading to 0.25 not for settings get reset after every reboot.
For that one please add you comments to https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/7790.

PowerToys doesn't reset any settings after an upgrade, but we found a bug that was causing some layouts to be saved with incorrect values that could lead to further problems, so when such layouts are detected, they are reset.
That should only happen once, it's unfortunate but necessary.
That should not happen if the previous layout was a template and not a custom layout.

To help debugging the issue, it would be necessary to do the following steps:

• uninstall the current version 0.25.0
• delete %localappdata%\Microsoft\PowerToys\FancyZones
• install 0.23.2 https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/releases/download/v0.23.2/PowerToysSetup-0.23.2-x64.exe
• configure the zones for each monitor
• copy the folder %localappdata%\Microsoft\PowerToys\FancyZones to the desktop and zip it to zones-before.zip
• check for updates in the General Settings and upgrade to 0.25
• verify that the zones have been reset
• copy the folder %localappdata%\Microsoft\PowerToys\FancyZones to the desktop and zip it to zones-after.zip
• reply to this issue attaching the two zip folders

[msftbot[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has been marked as requiring author feedback but has not had any activity for 5 days. It will be closed if no further activity occurs within 5 days of this comment.

[rajenki]

Not the author, but I'm seeing the same issue where the settings are lost after each update. Attached are my before/after ZIP files.
zones-after.zip
zones-before.zip

[enricogior]

@rajenki
what Windows version are you using?

[rajenki]

@rajenki
what Windows version are you using?

Version 20H2 (OS Build 19042.572)

[enricogior]

@rajenki
~this issue is for layout reset after an upgrade, in your case you are experiencing the problem tracked in #7790
Can you please do the test I've described in https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/7790#issuecomment-726005073
Thanks~
I thought you were seeing the problem after every reboot.

[msftbot[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has been marked as requiring author feedback but has not had any activity for 5 days. It will be closed if no further activity occurs within 5 days of this comment.

[msftbot[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has been marked as requiring author feedback but has not had any activity for 5 days. It will be closed if no further activity occurs within 5 days of this comment.

[enricogior]

@sandersaares
did you have the same problem when updating to 0.27?

[rajenki]

Not @sandersaares, but I can confirm that updating to v0.27.0 just now did not reset my FancyZones layouts!

[enricogior]

@rajenki
thanks for the follow up.