Reinstalled NT8 due to OneDrive issues, uninstalled it and it won't go away.

[demarcog]

Hi I had an issue with OneDrive causing a problem that required me to rebuild NT8 after an fresd install from the non-OneDrive install link .I had to copy over manually every component and it was time consuming understandable. Previously I uninstalled OneDrive and set the settings for storage to only use my Local PC for storage as per the link that explains the non OneDrive installation.

I just exported an Add On and it ended I don't actually know if Microsoft is using what we would call in Linux a soft link for the original OneDrive directories to the actually "real" directory on my PC or if OneDrive is still being used. (see attached)

In any event I installed what I thought was the non OneDrive version of NT8 i.

Is there any way of removing any reference from NT for doing things like exports etc?

I'm not quite over getting burnt by OneDrive (once (thank you Microsoft) and would really like to insure it doesn't happen again.

Is there any recommendation or otherwise a way in Windows 10 to remove any and all references to OneDrive.

At the very least it is very confusing even for people familiar with operating systems and it is at least incompatible with , and breaks NT8.

Thank you,

Glen

[NinjaTrader_JustinD]

Hello demarcog,

Thank you for using NinjaTrader.


One way we may check if your NinjaTrader installation is still being affected by OneDrive is by doing the following:

• Restart NinjaTrader 8, and then close it again after a minute
• Go to the Documents/NinjaTrader 8/trace folder on your computer
• Open the most recent Trace file in a text reader such as the Notepad
• Look at both the 'InstallDir' and 'UserDataDir' lines near the top of the Trace File - there should be no OneDrive within the mapping. Example: InstallDir='C:\Program Files (x86)\NinjaTrader 8\' and UserDataDir='C:\Users\JDeMarco\Documents\NinjaTrad er 8\'

If OneDrive is still listed in either of those File Paths, your computer may still be remapping Documents through OneDrive. To ensure that OneDrive truly doesn't affect any files on your computer, including NinjaTrader's, you may wish to reach out to Microsoft directly (or any other Windows-certified technician) to have your computer remapped to no longer involve OneDrive.


As always, let me know if you have any additional questions.

[demarcog]

Justin,

How are you my friend, appreciate all the help and thank your for the tip. Look at the attached that S*B OneDrive is alive and well and hasn't even been dinged by uninstalling it and mapping my settings storage to my local PC. Unbelievable.

You say contact MS and I appreciate the advice.

But it's not like opening an item with Ninja support where someone actually makes contact , looks at the problem, works it and resolves it.

I will give it a shot and let you know. I may do some googling first. Last time i tried getting help with a Windows issue I got a technician with an unintelligible Indian accent that seemd only interested in getting my credit card number for several hundred dollars.

I'm curious the link I used to reinstall yesterday was specific to attempting to remove OneDrive from the process. Do you know what was changed in the setup script parameters to avoid OneDrive and curious how after the fact is seems that it's reared it's ugly head.

As a Vendor of a major product with thousands of users and expending all these resources on trying to work around the clear incompatibility can you guys reach out to your MS rep and get them involved. Tell them because of the OneDrive issues you are considering rewriting the application in Java to be OS independent, and run Linux or any device with a Java Virtual Machine like y android phone .

I'll let you know and thanks for the response.

[NinjaTrader_JustinD]

Hello demarcog,

Thank you for your update.


What is your name and the name of the company or vendor organization you work for?

Since this is personal information, please send it to our Platform Support Inbox at PlatformSupport[AT]NinjaTrader[DOT]Com with a link to this Forum Post. We would like to take a closer look at this error with you as a vendor.

Thank you in advance.

[demarcog]

Justin,

I'm sorry I miscommunicated that badly. When I said "As a vendor with thousands of users" I meant Ninja. I thought you guys would have more pull with MS and it's a real incompatibility problem. I'm running the most plain vanilla Windows 10, updated regularly and only run NT on it

I could not uninstall, install, repair or initialize NT and spent the whole day reinstalling the base product, copying over all the components, resolving a slew of compiler issues on the new version and only with the real time assistance of several generous support staff is an expensive accident that will undoubtedly keep happening. Plus Windows did not seem to care the OneDrive was "uninstalled" MS obviously integrated much of the functionality into base windows.

I will call them I have a license for Windows and Office 365/OneDrive but need to find the account information.

Sorry for the miscommunication and I could never thank you all enough or truly express my gratitude for all the help.

glen

[brownbrenda]

Hi I had an issue with OneDrive causing a problem that required me to rebuild NT8 after an fresd install from the non-OneDrive install link .I had to copy over manually every component and it was time consuming understandable. Previously I uninstalled OneDrive and set the settings for storage to only use my Local PC for storage as per the link that explains the non OneDrive installation.

I just exported an Add On and it ended I don't actually know if Microsoft is using what we would call in Linux a soft link for the original OneDrive directories to the actually "real" directory on my PC or if OneDrive is still being used. (see attached)

In any event I installed what I thought was the non OneDrive version of NT8 i.

Is there any way of removing any reference from NT for doing things like exports etc?

I'm not quite over getting burnt by OneDrive (once (thank you Microsoft) and would really like to insure it doesn't happen again.

Is there any recommendation or otherwise a way in Windows 10 to remove any and all references to OneDrive.

At the very least it is very confusing even for people familiar with operating systems and it is at least incompatible with , and breaks NT8.

Thank you,

Glen

Any chance I can get help with this? I got this same issue. Disappointed that it is a known issue (several years later) and so far has been EXTREMELY difficult to get help with it from NinjaTrader support.

[backtester831]

Onedrive should be considered malware and uninstalled from all new computers as the very first thing

[QuantKey_Bruce]

Onedrive should be considered malware and uninstalled from all new computers as the very first thing

That's what I do. The official stance of NinjaTrader seems to be that NinjaTrader isn't incompatible with OneDrive except for some specific situations, but those specific situations are the DEFAULT on all new Windows installations, so basically, if you want to not have a life filled with pain, it's not a bad idea to turn off OneDrive before you install NinjaTrader so you don't spend most of your time on technical support.

[backtester831]

It's prob not only onedrive, but all filesync. e.g. I naively created a node project I was working on for coding strategies into a directory within google drive, and it worked at first so I built a whole bunch of stuff. But now can't npm install anything else because always have an error that I know is from google drive locking files

[QuantKey_Bruce]

Yes, NinjaTrader has said it's anything that modifies the files in the Documents -> NinjaTrader 8 folder or locks them or tries to sync them. None of those things are permissible while NT8 is running, yet that's what pretty much all cloud backup / sync systems do.

[NinjaTrader_Emily]

Any chance I can get help with this? I got this same issue. Disappointed that it is a known issue (several years later) and so far has been EXTREMELY difficult to get help with it from NinjaTrader support.

Hello brownbrenda,

Thank you for your note.

As others have stated, the underlying issue is not necessarily with NinjaTrader so it can be kind of a gray area when it comes to support. We support the NinjaTrader product and not OneDrive or other backup/sync/cloud programs. These programs have been known to interfere with NinjaTrader having proper access to necessary files, and it has been mentioned in installation guides in the past to ensure that NinjaTrader is added as an exception to these programs. If you are able to set a schedule for when a backup is run, it can be helpful to schedule it outside of hours when NinjaTrader is in use and only run the backup when NinjaTrader is shut down.

We have some steps to stop OneDrive from backing up your Documents folder, which is where the NinjaTrader 8 folder is located. To resolve this issue, please move your Documents folder to your local hard drive on your PC using the following instructions:

• Completely close NinjaTrader
• Hover your mouse over the OneDrive icon (the cloud) in the App Tray
• Right-click and select Settings
• Locate the 'Backup' tab
• Under the 'Documents' Folder, select 'Stop backup'

After stopping the backup, you will need to copy the NinjaTrader 8 folder from the original OneDrive Documents location onto the local PC.

• Go to your Documents folder
• Locate the 'Where are my files' icon
• Right-click and select 'Open in new window'
• Locate the NinjaTrader 8 folder from within the OneDrive location
• Copy and paste the entire NinjaTrader 8 folder into the documents folder on your local hard drive

It is best to have one window open with the OneDrive documents location and one window open with the local PC documents location to achieve this.

Once you have moved all of the NinjaTrader 8 files over, you will need to do a 'soft reinstall of NinjaTrader Desktop.

• In the search field on your Windows taskbar, type Control Panel and select this app
• Select Programs > Programs and Features
• Locate NinjaTrader in the list, right-click, and select uninstall

Once these steps are completed, download and install NinjaTrader Desktop by logging in to your user dashboard with the following link:

https://account.ninjatrader.com

After you log in, please click the Download button in the bottom left corner and click the Download button on the Desktop Application Download page.

Please let us know if we may be of further assistance.

[arivery]

Hi Emily, I'm having the same issue here and your post it's actually the 1st part of the Ninja Trader reinstallation.
My question here is, how do you actually redirect the "NinjaTrader 8 folder" into a different path ?

Any help will be appreciated.

Thank you.

[bltdavid]

Hi Emily, I'm having the same issue here and your post it's actually the 1st part of the Ninja Trader reinstallation.
My question here is, how do you actually redirect the "NinjaTrader 8 folder" into a different path ?

You can't.

NinjaTrader does not allow this.

But the really aggravating thing is ...
NinjaTrader does not explain why they do not allow this.

The technical reasons for the 'why' question could probably
be over come, but any attempts to glean any real answer to
the 'why' question are usually met with silence, or the reasons
given are just plain inadequate.

Just my 2˘.

[NinjaTrader_ChelseaB]

Hello arivery,

Welcome to the NinjaTrader forums!

Unfortunately, it is not supported to change the location of the Documents\NinjaTrader 8\ settings folder.

There is an open feature request for this tracked with ID # SFT-4788.
I recommend that you submit a feature request using the new feature request form to add your vote to this request.

https://support.ninjatrader.com/s/feature-request

As far the why, it's really just a decision the development team made when first planning the NinjaTrader 6.5 application so that users would be able to find their template, log, scripts, etc without having to be an expert on navigating the windows file system. The alternative would be the user AppData folder which is hidden by default and difficult for users to find.
The folder needs to be the same location on every computer, so that our support teams are able to request files when necessary or provide other support.

[bltdavid]

As far the why, it's really just a decision the development team made when first planning the NinjaTrader 6.5 application so that users would be able to find their template, log, scripts, etc without having to be an expert on navigating the windows file system. The alternative would be the user AppData folder which is hidden by default and difficult for users to find.
The folder needs to be the same location on every computer, so that our support teams are able to request files when necessary or provide other support.

Thanks Chelsea, but that's more the history than anything else.

Even today, an alternative location is technically quite feasible
and still a viable option. All it takes is the will and commitment
to make it so, and that's the root cause of my aggravation, the
decision makers above you don't see the benefit and won't
authorize the path forward to make the code changes.

What code changes? Here is an easy approach,

• The installer asks for the preferred user folder location.
• Default is current location in use today.
• User provides new location, as desired.
• Value provided by user is created and populated by installer.
• Value provided by user is stored in Config.xml file.

Once NinjaTrader.exe starts, everything relies on this
stored user location value from the Config.xml file.

The likely outcome?
Novices will select the defaults during installation.
But advanced users might opt to change the location.

Since all of NinjaTrader.exe uses the stored user
folder location from Config.xml, overall I don't think
the customer support problems would be anywhere
near as bad as you imply.

And, wonder of wonders, OneDrive compatibility
problems can be made to go away in an easily
supportable procedure -- exit NT, move the user
folder to a new location, update Config.xml file to
reflect new location, restart NT -- and this could
be done via software, eg, the installer could easily
adopt the 'move user folder' task as a repair option
available after installation.

Just my 2˘.