This applies to Classic and Retail.
I’ve always had my Interface and WTF/Account directories as links (using Windows mklink command) to directories located in a cloud-synced hierarchy to keep my addons and data backed up and shared between laptop and desktop. This has always worked well, and outside of patches, still does.
Classic has never worked after a patch update and it turns out that the Interface and Account directory links are removed and new ones get created when the game runs. This never used to happen with Retail, but the 8.2.5 patch has done it.
I can simple recreate the links and all works as it did before (until the next patch) but it’s really annoying. I’ve tried using mklink with the /J and /D options, but no difference.
Anyone else using this “linked dirs” approach and having the same problem? If so, @Blizz, why???
I think you should post in the tech forums, I’ve never used that command.
The only thing I can think of is the new location of the files in the Warcraft directory.
Can’t you just create reverse symbolic links? Links pointing from inside your cloud storage folder to the Interface and WTF/Account folder. So trick your cloud sync application into accessing the WoW folder through a symlink rather than WoW accessing your cloud folder through a symlink.
As to why it happens, I can only speculate, but assume it has something to do with resetting folder permissions after a patch to reduce the chance of folder permission related bugs. Your use case is a very specific one, that few people will encounter.
Yes, a lot of addon devs use symlinks and this is very annoying to them
Thanks for the replies.
Tried Ebear’s neat suggestion of the reverse link, but my cloud sync (dropbox) doesn’t pick up changes in the linked directory.
Ketho’s link is definitely to the same problem, so I suggest diverting this thread to there.
Having the same exact problem, and it’s starting to really piss me off.
Had them set to dropbox for years now, and since a few weeks ago they are reset every single time.
Only solution I can think of so far is to have a batch file that reruns all the symlinks for me.
Yup - using batch file too. Not found any other solution.
What would otherwise be a good idea does not work in most cases because cloud sync clients usually ignore symlinks (nextcloud and dropdox do for example). If you’re a OneDrive user, you’re in luck because this client supports it.
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