Windows clears 'Temporary Internet Files' location setting at each bootup.

[Tom T NH]

Hi.


I wasn't sure which community topic to submit this under because it actually crossed over a few of them. Although my problem manifests itself in Outlook, I believe this may be more of a general Windows related issue.


A number of weeks ago, I noticed that my Outlook 365 was suddenly no longer downloading images. After reading many threads (and trying many solutions to remedy the situation), I've finally narrowed the problem down to being related to my Temporary Internet Files location, or so it seems. Simply, each time I start Windows, if I open up >>> Control Panel / Internet Options / General / (Browsing history) Settings <<< , I see that the Temporary Internet Files "Current location" entry is blank, and "disk space to use" is set to zero. I then click "Move folder...", select the location (c:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache), set the disk space, and then allow the system to log off. Upon logging back in, everything is fine for the entire session .... Outlook once again downloads images. However, after I've shut down my computer, the next time I start Windows, the Temporary Internet Files Location setting is once again blanked-out, the disk space is set back to zero, and I must repeat the process.


Here are some of the things I've already tried:

• I've tried setting the folder location to places other than INetCache (including other drives). The behavior is the same regardless of the location I set. It works for the current session, but is cleared out after reboot.
• I've tried uninstalling / reinstalling IE 11 (via the Windows Features section in the Control Panel). No difference.
• Before resetting the location, I've checked the 'Cache' entry in following two registry keys ... both seem to be populated correctly:
  • HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders.
• I've run SFC / Scannow (No problems reported).
• I've run both Anti-Virus and Anti-Malware scans. No infections reported.

A couple of other things that may be of interest:

• Whenever the Temporary Internet Files Location setting is blank, I'm also unable to navigate anywhere using IE 11. I can launch it, but it immediately locks up. (I assume that's because there's no temp file location specified.) That's not an issue for me because I no longer use IE 11 as my primary browser, but I thought I'd mention it.
• Occasionally, I'm able to restart Windows without losing the setting, but that behavior is not consistent. Most of the time, the setting is blanked out.
• Prior to discovering the relationship between the temp file location and the Outlook image problem, I had also tried a number of other recommended solutions, such as unchecking the "Don't download pictures automatically ...." setting in the Outlook Trust Center, and unchecking "Do not save encrypted files to disk" (in Internet Options Security). Neither made any difference.

Any help in determining why my Temporary Internet Files location setting keeps getting blanked out would be appreciated.


Thanks.



Windows 10 Pro - All available updates applied.

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