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    "Profile Error Occurred" - Message On Opera Startup

    Opera for Windows
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    • andrius-s
      andrius-s last edited by andrius-s

      About one week ago I have decided a radical experiment: to uninstall an Opera browser fully, to clear any traces from this program and then reinstall it from the scratch again. Unfortunately, now I can state, the problem is still present on the latest versions of Opera (currently I'm using 68.0.3618.63 on Windows 7 x64 i7 machine).
      The testing is quite annoying, because this problem occurs just in some occasions. I cannot find any reasons and clues about it. Sometimes even I don't get a "Profile Error Occurred/Your preferences files cannot be read. Some features may be unavailable and changes to settings won't be saved" message, but some configuration is nevertheless lost.
      In my case all the settings of the Opera browser are properly saved/restored, all open tabs are properly saved/restored as well, but I'm losing all login (active sessions) data and settings of the individual Web-Sites. It looks like clearing all Cookies, but I do confirm - the switch named as "Clear cookies and site data when you quit Opera" is always OFF in my program.

      Reply Quote 0
        burnout426 1 Reply Last reply
      • burnout426
        burnout426 Volunteer @andrius-s last edited by

        @andrius-s said in "Profile Error Occurred" - Message On Opera Startup:

        About one week ago I have decided a radical experiment: to uninstall an Opera browser fully, to clear any traces from this program and then reinstall it from the scratch again.

        By "clear any traces", you deleted/moved "C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Roaming\Opera Software" and "C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Opera Software" so that when you reinstall Opera, it recreates the folders and the "Opera Stable" folders in it?

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          andrius-s 1 Reply Last reply
        • andrius-s
          andrius-s @burnout426 last edited by andrius-s

          @burnout426
          Yes, the folder "C:\Users\myusername\AppData\Local\Opera Software\Opera Stable" has been newly recreated with the Cash subfolder in it. The rest of Opera settings are saved in the Folder "C:\Users\myusername\AppData\Roaming\Opera Software\Opera Stable".

          Reply Quote 1
            burnout426 1 Reply Last reply
          • burnout426
            burnout426 Volunteer @andrius-s last edited by

            @andrius-s said in "Profile Error Occurred" - Message On Opera Startup:

            The rest of Opera settings are saved in the Folder "C:\Users\myusername\AppData\Roaming\Opera Software\Opera Stable".

            Try renaming that folder as that's likely where the problem is.

            Reply Quote 0
              andrius-s 1 Reply Last reply
            • andrius-s
              andrius-s @burnout426 last edited by andrius-s

              @burnout426
              Already tested few minutes ago:

              1. Closed my Opera browser;
              2. Renamed the folder "C:\Users\myusername\AppData\Roaming\Opera Software\Opera Stable";
              3. Launched my Opera browser again;
              4. I found that Opera has re-created the folder "C:\Users\myusername\AppData\Roaming\Opera Software\Opera Stable".

              Now, I have to reconfigure my Opera browser from the scratch, because all the settings stayed in the renamed folder.
              During the next weeks I'll observe about presence of the discussed problem.

              Reply Quote 1
                burnout426 1 Reply Last reply
              • A Former User
                A Former User last edited by

                As the original poster to this thread I would suggest removing Opera completely as soon as you are able to do so and opt for another chromium based browser (not Google Chrome). Then you will not have this problem OR difficultys with updates OR have the opera browsing assistant. In the end I just gave up on Opera after using the browser for 15 years. Once you are able to make the change it will be one less annoyance

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                • burnout426
                  burnout426 Volunteer @andrius-s last edited by

                  @andrius-s said in "Profile Error Occurred" - Message On Opera Startup:

                  Now, I have to reconfigure my Opera browser from the scratch, because all the settings stayed in the renamed folder.

                  Since starting with a new profile didn't help, you can just delete the new profile and rename the old one back to get all your settings etc. back.

                  Reply Quote 0
                    andrius-s 1 Reply Last reply
                  • andrius-s
                    andrius-s @burnout426 last edited by

                    @burnout426
                    Ok, I'll move back to the old profile:
                    . . .
                    5. Closed my Opera browser again;
                    6. Deleted the new profile in the folder "C:\Users\myusername\AppData\Roaming\Opera Software\Opera Stable";
                    7. The old one profile renamed back to "C:\Users\myusername\AppData\Roaming\Opera Software\Opera Stable";
                    8. Launched my Opera browser again.

                    Reply Quote 1
                      1 Reply Last reply
                    • avmon
                      avmon last edited by

                      That's what happens to me sometimes when I open Opera for the first time right after starting Windows (also on Windows 7 x64). That message appears to me even though later settings and history remain but I lose all the sessions opened on the websites.

                      I have had to create a backup copy of the "Cookies" and "Web Data" files located in
                      ...\AppData\Roaming\Opera Software\Opera Stable
                      and overwrite the current ones with them when that error occurs so I don't have to log in again at all websites.

                      Reply Quote 1
                        andrius-s 1 Reply Last reply
                      • andrius-s
                        andrius-s @avmon last edited by

                        @avmon
                        Yes, I do confirm, that most of my issues have been observed after fresh starting Windows. My computer is like a server on 24/5 and it is shut down during the weekends only. Thus, I'm observing such issues after fresh starting Windows.
                        @avmon Are You familiar with information of wich particular file(s) stores all the sessions opened on the websites? Or You simply restore full the the folder "...\AppData\Roaming\Opera Software\Opera Stable" from Your backup???

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                          avmon 1 Reply Last reply
                        • avmon
                          avmon @andrius-s last edited by

                          @andrius-s I just backup and restore "Cookies" and "Web Data" files (without extension) located in that folder. It may only needed one of those two, but I'm not sure.

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                            andrius-s 1 Reply Last reply
                          • andrius-s
                            andrius-s @avmon last edited by

                            The latest issue has been confirmed today on Opera v68.0.3618.104.
                            Since I'll have a good profile, I will follow the advice @avmon - I'll backup the files "Cookies" and "Web Data" (without extension).

                            Reply Quote 1
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                            • tapedi2471
                              tapedi2471 last edited by

                              What OS are you guys on? I get this error at ~1% of launches on Windows 7 x64. It has been going on forever, but it would only fail to read settings until recent months. Now it also wipes cookies.

                              I suspect it's caused by a failed call to CryptUnprotectData() in crypt32.dll. With --enable-logging I see ERROR:os_crypt_win.cc(92)] Failed to decrypt: The parameter is incorrect. (0x57) every launch, but I think there were multiple such lines on a problematic launch. The cookie wipes started to occur for me around the same time as the latest crypt32.dll update (6.1.7601.24542).

                              Can we please get --disable-encryption support in Opera to avoid such issues?

                              Reply Quote 2
                                andrius-s burnout426 2 Replies Last reply
                              • andrius-s
                                andrius-s @tapedi2471 last edited by andrius-s

                                @tapedi2471
                                I am also on Windows 7 x64 computer.

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                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                • andrius-s
                                  andrius-s last edited by andrius-s

                                  The latest occurrence has been observed today (23rd May, 2020). The Cookies has been wiped just after automatical update of Opera browser (updated to v68.0.3618.125). Luckily, now I have a backup copy of the file "...\AppData\Roaming\Opera Software\Opera Stable\Cookies". By restoring the only file "Cookies" (without extension) my settings of opened Web-Sites are back...
                                  Currently, I'm not sure by 100%, that issue is related to automatical update of browser, but I'll notice that. In the future I'll inform you about my observations. How about You guys? - Are You observing this issue just after automatical update of browser too???

                                  Reply Quote 2
                                    tapedi2471 1 Reply Last reply
                                  • burnout426
                                    burnout426 Volunteer @tapedi2471 last edited by

                                    @tapedi2471 said in "Profile Error Occurred" - Message On Opera Startup:

                                    I suspect it's caused by a failed call to CryptUnprotectData() in crypt32.dll.

                                    Changing the password for the Windows user account in question has fixed some things like this for some users. It might cause previously-saved passwords and cookies etc. to not be used though. But, if you change the password and then start with a new Opera profile, the combo might help.

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                                    • tapedi2471
                                      tapedi2471 @andrius-s last edited by

                                      Are You observing this issue just after automatical update of browser too?

                                      I thought so, but no. The last time it happened on a normal launch. There was a welcome page, but that's probably because of a failure to read some file. Still, this error might be more likely to occur following an update.

                                      Reply Quote 1
                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                      • A Former User
                                        A Former User last edited by

                                        With all Operas alleged problems during the past few years it makes me wonder what else is wrong with it that we don't know about. Personally I would remove it, Can you trust a browser with your financial details when it behaves erratically and has I believe far east foreign owners.( I stand to be corrected on that point). It all boils down to is Opera worth bothering with when their are more sturdy alternatives available.

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                                        • andrius-s
                                          andrius-s last edited by andrius-s

                                          The latest occurrence has been observed today (30th May, 2020). This issue occured after regular restart of Opera browser. An auto-update has not taken place in this time, thus I do confirm: this problem isn't related to auto-updates. Current version of Opera remains v68.0.3618.125.

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                                            andrius-s 1 Reply Last reply
                                          • andrius-s
                                            andrius-s @andrius-s last edited by

                                            It's very strange, but each such issue leads to the appearance of the Welcome screen. Even without an auto-update of the Opera browser. Additionally, today I found a subfolder "opera autoupdate" inside of the folder "...\AppData\Local\Temp" and the timestamp of the subfolder "opera autoupdate" equals to the moment, when "Profile Error Occurred" issue has been generated...

                                            Reply Quote 1
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