Restarting Metatrader does not help to see updated expert list

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Simon Gniadkowski 2014.01.29 22:18 #1

aed71:

Hello,

I start facing an important issue since a couple of days. I'm using metatrader 4 Build 574.

I was regularly updating my robot adding new codes etc. Yesterday I realized that after I updated my code even with new filename I cannot see it in experts list after restarting metatrader. May be I did this 1000 times before and using metatrader mql4 since 9 months but now I cannot see the content of /expert directory inside metatrader under navigator / experts. What could be the problem? Why metatrader cannot see the experts in it's experts directory. I know that I should exit from metatrader and again run it. But it doesn't work anymore? Anyone facing the same problem?

What I did to solve the issue: I removed the metatrader, re-install it. Even I used registery cleaners afterwards and reinstall the metatrader but still the same issue.

Thanks

Did you click File > Open data folder ?

Do some reading about UAC and learn . . .

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gchrmt4 2014.01.29 22:22 #2

RaptorUK:
Do some reading about UAC and learn . . .

(This isn't UAC-related. Redirection of files into %localappdata%\VirtualStore is done automatically by the Windows operating system. The change to the data-folder location in the new version of MT4 is an explicit change to the software by MetaQuotes. The reasons for the change are related to UAC and protected files, but the mechanism and the locations are completely different.)

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Simon Gniadkowski 2014.01.29 22:26 #3

gchrmt4:

(This isn't UAC-related. Redirection of files into %localappdata%\VirtualStore is done automatically by the Windows operating system. The change to the data-folder location in the new version of MT4 is an explicit change to the software by MetaQuotes. The reasons for the change are related to UAC and protected files, but the mechanism and the locations are completely different.)

OK, I take your point . . .

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AED71 2014.01.29 22:43 #4

Hello RaptorUK,

Thanks for quick reply, may I kindly ask you to elaborate what you mean. When I got to File menu there is no "Open Offline" item that opens the history data. I really cannot understand the relation between experts.

And I also face one strange thing. Although I erased all folder of metatrader before, when I run metatrader I can see my old experts which I was using in previous metatrader installation. Shouldn't I need to see only the folder of /experts in the navigator expert list?

I also changed the UAC but nothing changed.

Please advise me, I'm very confused. Thanks.

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gchrmt4 2014.01.29 22:46 #5

RaptorUK:
OK, I take your point . . .

There's an interesting scenario which I can't be bothered to test... The new version of MT4 automatically migrates .ex4 files from experts, experts\indicators etc into the new location within MQL4\experts etc. But does it only look at <mt4>\experts, or does it also check for and migrate files which have been virtualized by the operating system?

I'm fairly sure that the O/S virtualization only applies to file reads and writes, not to file enumeration. For example, if MT4 does the search and migration simply by using FindFirstFile() and FindNextFile() on the experts directory, then I don't think that will pick up files in the VirtualStore. I think MT4 would need to explicitly check both the experts directory within the MT4 installation and also the corresponding VirtualStore directory.

I wonder if MetaQuotes have bothered to check this?

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Simon Gniadkowski 2014.01.29 22:47 #6

aed71:

Hello RaptorUK,

Thanks for quick reply, may I kindly ask you to elaborate what you mean. When I got to File menu there is no "Open Offline" item that opens the history data. I really cannot understand the relation between experts.

And I also face one strange thing. Although I erased all folder of metatrader before, when I run metatrader I can see my old experts which I was using in previous metatrader installation. Shouldn't I need to see only the folder of /experts in the navigator expert list?

I also changed the UAC but nothing changed.

Please advise me, I'm very confused. Thanks.

Please don't change UAC unless you know what and why you are doing it . . . I said read and learn, if you had read you would have seen 2 posts from me recently saying NOT to turn UAC off. I also said . . .

Did you click File > Open data folder ?

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gchrmt4 2014.01.29 22:50 #7

aed71:

And I also face one strange thing. Although I erased all folder of metatrader before, when I run metatrader I can see my old experts which I was using in previous metatrader installation. Shouldn't I need to see only the folder of /experts in the navigator expert list?

I also changed the UAC but nothing changed

The new version of MT4 stores EAs, indicators etc in a folder such as %appdata%\MetaQuotes\Terminal\xxxx\MQL4\experts. You can open this using the new "File / Open Data Folder" menu item.

Files are automatically transferred from the old locations such as experts into the new location, but removing an EA from the old location will not remove it from MT4's Navigator because it's now looking in a different place.

None of this has anything to do with the UAC settings on your computer, and it is not affected by the UAC settings.

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Ubzen 2014.01.29 22:57 #8

gchrmt4: None of this has anything to do with the UAC settings on your computer, and it is not affected by the UAC settings.

gchrmt4: (This isn't UAC-related. Redirection of files into %localappdata%\VirtualStore is done automatically by the Windows operating system. The change to the data-folder location in the new version of MT4 is an explicit change to the software by MetaQuotes. The reasons for the change are related to UAC and protected files, but the mechanism and the locations are completely different.)

When I turned my UAC off, mt4 starts saving Experts in the same way it does with Windows XP. Given what you've said above, could you please explain why?

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AED71 2014.01.29 22:59 #9

Hello,

Thanks for the tips. I can now put my new experts to the metatrader list. But this change even requires metatrader restart. So what's the reason for this change in metatrader. This makes things very complicated, it was better to reach it from directly /experts directory. Isn't it?

And also I could not understand although I delete all files of old metatrader how can I able to see my old expert lists? Why does metatrader save my experts in %appdata% folder before?

It is also strange that this issue has popped up a few days ago? I'm confused why only I'm facing this or at least I cannot find any complains on the net, thus I decided to put a comment here...

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gchrmt4 2014.01.29 23:02 #10

ubzen:
When I turned my UAC off, mt4 starts saving Experts in the same way it does with Windows XP. Given what you've said above, could you please explain why?

If you're right and you're testing this correctly with the new builds then, no, I can't explain why. The release notes for build 574 explicitly say that this change and migration happens for all installations, regardless of UAC settings.

I've seen new MT4 installations which, for some reason, use <mt4>\MQL4\experts even without /portable mode being invoked, but that's different to a continuing use of <mt4>\experts.