Help! Your Zotero profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible.

Earth1169
I just bought a new computer and it runs Windows 11 Pro 23H2. When I tried to use Zotero on it, the program said, "Your Zotero profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible." Then the program stopped working. I tried running Zotero in administrator mode, but it still didn't work. How should I deal with this problem?
  • dstillman
    edited August 23, 2024
    Did you transfer files from an older computer? It would be very unusual to get this on a new computer with no transferred files.

    Assuming there's an older Zotero profile folder, you could fix its permissions, but the easiest option is just to delete it and let Zotero recreate one.

    If you didn't actually transfer files, it's possible security software or something else is interfering with Zotero.
  • Earth1169
    Thank you for your help! I didn't transfer any files from my old computer. I tried to open the Zotero Profile folder and it was empty. I also didn't have any security software installed, other than Windows Defender, which comes with Windows.

    It appears that the problem is caused by Zotero not having read and write rights to the properties directory. Can I modify this directory to another disk?
  • dstillman
    edited August 24, 2024
    Something's not right on your system if you're getting this on a new computer with no transferred files and no non-standard security software.
    I tried to open the Zotero Profile folder and it was empty
    Can you share a screenshot of that, either here or to support@zotero.org with a link to this thread? (We'll respond here either way.)

    But you should delete AppData\Roaming\Zotero and AppData\Local\Zotero if they exist and try again. (The linked page explains how to get to AppData\Roaming.)
  • Earth1169
    I deleted the AppData\Local\Zotero and AppData\Roaming\Zotero folders, and then I ran Zotero again (in normal user mode). The program still says "Your Zotero profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible."

    Then I found that the AppData\Roaming\Zotero folder was created correctly and contained a folder named Zotero (i.e. AppData\Roaming\Zotero\Zotero). But the folder has no content. The AppData\Local\Zotero folder was not created.

    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u14859605/6fj79yymc249xw8i75wg.png
    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u14859605/yhz42nq22wgno4aouoys.png
  • dstillman
    edited August 24, 2024
    You can also try deleting C:\ProgramData\Zotero, if it exists. And for good measure, restart your computer.

    (Note, by the way, that you should never run Zotero (or almost any other program) as Administrator. That's never a troubleshooting step, and it might be making this harder to fix.)
  • Earth1169
    Ok, I see. Rest assured, I didn't run Zotero in administrator mode during the above troubleshooting process.

    After rebooting the computer, I deleted the C:\ProgramData\Zotero and AppData\Roaming\Zotero folders and ran Zotero again. A new file appears under C:\ProgramData\Zotero named "UpdateLock-2D10455B7A7320E1". The situation in the AppData\Roaming\Zotero folder is exactly the same as in my last post.
  • dstillman
    Rest assured, I didn't run Zotero in administrator mode during the above troubleshooting process.
    You said you did above: "I tried running Zotero in administrator mode, but it still didn't work."

    Have you tried uninstalling Zotero and reinstalling from the download page?

    If you go to AppData\Roaming\Zotero, right-click on the Zotero subfolder, go to the Security tab, and click on your username, is everything except for "Special permissions" checked under Allow?
  • dstillman
    Also, just to be clear, this is a personal computer, not an institutional computer?

    If none of the above works, we might need a log from Process Monitor for starting Zotero and reproducing this error. There are instructions here for generating that (though the steps might have changed slightly):

    https://support.threatdown.com/hc/en-us/articles/4413798945811-Use-Process-Monitor-to-create-real-time-event-logs

    If you're able to generate that, you can send it to support@zotero.org with a link to this thread.
  • Earth1169
    I'm sorry, I misstated it. Since then, I haven't run Zotero in administrator mode. In addition, I also tried to uninstall and reinstall, and the same error occurred.

    Also, everything except for "Special permissions" is checked.

    This is a personal computer. I will take time to uninstall and re-install Zotero in these two days in order to provide you with a complete log. I will comment again below this discussion when the recording is complete. Thank you for your help!
  • Earth1169
    After I uninstalled Zotero, I deleted the C:\ProgramData\Zotero, AppData\Roaming\Zotero, and AppData\Local\Zotero folders. Then restart my computer and reinstall Zotero.

    I then turned on the process monitor and tried to open Zotero. The same error happened again. The process monitor log has been emailed to support@zotero.org. Thank you for your help!
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