[minimustangs]

While I was out today, someone unplugged my laptop, it proceeded to immediately shut off (battery is pooched). When I started Kodi again, NOTHING is installed. USATVNOW, for example shows me the INSTALL button. But, it doesn't install.

Is there a way I can clean up and recover to where I was an hour ago?

[User 272336]

Try this:

Start - Run - %appdata%
Right click on the Kodi folder then Properties
Previous Versions option tab, let it populate, select the time to restore.
Same process can be repeated for any desired folder.

[minimustangs]

Well I'm surprised there was no backup data from yesterday and earlier today. At elast I'm not re-installing everything. Thanks... Any clue what happened?

[User 272336]

Hard to tell but since you mentioned power was lost abruptly, there was no chance for what was in memory to be written to disk resulting in loss of data. You have no data from yesterday or today because there were no data change or it did not have time to save it.

When you have time, run a disk check overnight to prevent issues.
Double click My Computer / Right Click on drive C: /Properties /Tools / Check Now / Check Automatically fix... /Start
It will take a couple of hours but could save you hours of aggravation.

[minimustangs]

My laptop has an SSD... it was suggested I NOT do that to these things...

FOOTNOTE: After restoring Kodi (%appdata%), which had about 40% of the changes...I reconfigured it a 2nd time. Shut system down. When I restarted, the very changes I just made were again gone. and there was no save point from just moments ago. I redid everything again, but haven't checked this morning to see if settings and programs were saved. Annoying, but having had to go through the process 3 times now, I'm becoming more familiar with how to set up at least the things I had set up before. I have "a guide" (whose name I cant mention) working with a legitimate source of 7 free channels. That's about as much as I can talk about. LOL. Still very green about Kodi, but I may have learned all I needed to understand whats being offered on the multitude of Android STBs. At least in theory. If I had my own bare box, I could set it up myself - for my purposes. If I end up going with my own build of Kodi, I could see contributing to "the supported guide" and getting a fully functional version. I hadn't intended on ever actually using Kodi this way, it was merely an excercise. Now, that may change.

[DarrenHill]

Just to clarify a little - the various guides themselves (as opposed to the full installation of the banned add-ons (wiki) that they are associated with) are acceptable, precisely in the case that they can in some cases be used with legitimate sources. However they need to be carefully installed, as they tend to come from sources which are not allowed, and if those repos are present and visible in a debug log (wiki) then the rules apply.

It's a bit of a grey area I grant you, but we're against piracy and illegal sources, and if your usage does not include access or use of those (and to be safe you make this clear in any support request) then you should be ok.

[minimustangs]

I appreciate that clarification.

Truth be told, I was only looking for help getting "a guide" working... not specifically obtaining anything I shouldn't have. At the time I wasn't aware that certain source repositories were walking the wild side of the street. Still kinda in the dark on that, but hey....

As I stated, I am merely messing around with Kodi to educate myself on what is coming pre-installed on these Android STB's that are all the rage. For my testing purposes I simply wanted to see "how" to make stuff work...live tv, EPG, etc. I have no intention of leaving this installation on this laptop. I have had a Western Digital streaming media player for many years, but as it was one of the first out there, the concept of updating the pre-installed apps wasn't thought of I guess. Netflix. which is pre-installed, doesn't work anymore. The WD box needs to be retired only for that reason. If I could figure out how to get KODI on it.... my problem would be solved.

When I started checking out KODI last week - that is checking it out beyond a simple media player replacement that I had used in the past - I was completely unaware of the "banned" and otherwise nefarious nature of some of the add-ons. I had my original post about "a guide" not working banned without an explanation why. Over the weekend it became apparent as I worked on a few things that the Android STBs share a lot in common with the FTA satellite receivers from about 5 or 6 years ago, and it is these Android boxes (that I was interested in) that precipitated my exploring KODI further. I admit I'm still interested in them, but I don't have a use for much live TV, and what I have watched, it seems I can get through the freely available (legitimately with my USTVNOW account) network channels, so why would I even need one, since I can do it myself. Having a low power option for watching the odd network show and Netflix would free up a fairly nice laptop to be used as...well... a laptop. Not an set top TV Box.

I've been an admin, and a moderator. It's a thankless job, I respect the responsibility they have to shoulder, especially when each post is available World-Wide. Still, sometimes quick to pull the trigger. The fact that I joined in October of 2013 (apparently??), and only posted this past week...almost 3 years later, should have been a red flag to an admin or moderator that maybe a warning first was in order. All good now.

S~

[minimustangs]

So, back to the point of my original post. It seems that every time I close KODI, it forgets everything. I just went back into it 2 minutes ago, and all the addons I installed last night are not there again. When I go to Programs, there is no list, just "GET MORE..."

Shorcuts I created do not exist, although I can see the zip files from which I installed things (Of course they're on my SSD)...

I'm thinking a fresh install, maybe of Jarvis this time, in a new directory, deleting all the APPDATA content.

Hmmm.. I did make a backup of that folder last night, I wonder what would happen if I copied it back....

Well the backup was done BEFORE I installed some stuff, but not after I finished configuring "the guide", so I was able to get back to just before I set up my guide. So instead of 2 hours of reconfiguring, I probably only have 30 minutes. Thats getting somewhere. But leaves the question... why?

EDIT/UPDATE
My install must be corrupted beyond the %appdata% directory. When I close KODI it reverts to however it was when I opened it. It does not save changes...