Edit configuration shows non printing unicode characters.

[Squelch]

Hi all,

I've recently found Sandboxie, and from what I have seen so far, it looks like it could be very useful. I've been exploring it's functions and trying to learn as much as possible.

I seem to have run into a problem with editing the .ini file in \windows. No matter which editor I use, the file is displayed with non printing characters (squares) every other letter. My main text editor is PsPad, but as I have also tried others, including plain old notepad, the problem persists. I have tried every view and formatting option without success, and this has never been a problem before.

I have searched the forums, and discovered

http://www.sandboxie.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1253

which describes my problem, but I do not understand how it was resolved.

Please could someone help me out here?

I'm using 3.00.06

[edit]
I have opened the .ini file on another machine using just notepad. It displayed correctly and a subsequent copy and paste into the original allowed me view it locally. I now get an error on reload configuration:

SBIE1403 Configuration file error in line 1: line too long

[/edit]

[MikeH]

Squelch:

If I were you I would uninstall then reinstall Sandboxie. When you go to edit the .ini file make sure that you only use a text editor. From what you described, I surmize that somewhere along the line, the .ini file was edited with a word processing program which sets higher order bits. I use notepad as my text editor and have never had any problems in this regard.

Regards,
Mike

[wraithdu]

If you are able to open the INI in notepap, add ByteOrderMark=yes under the global settings. It helps editors like Notepad++ understand the file. If you can't open it, then just delete it, and next time Sandboxie starts it will create a new one. Then open it in notepad and add that line. You may have to make a change from within Sandboxie after that line is added to force it to rewrite the INI and add the BOM.

[Squelch]

Thanks for the replies guys,

MikeH - PsPad is a very close free replacement for UltraEdit32 and can handle just about any file type. I was a little confused why it was failing with the .ini file. Looking at it in hex mode showed the first byte to be FF FE and a bit more research turned up the ByteOrderMark setting. To set it requires editing the .ini file. A Catch 22 situation.

wraithdu - your method worked exactly as posted. I opened it in a copy of notepad, entered the ByteOrderMark=yes, toggled another setting to force a change, and it now opens in PsPad (default system editor) without problems.

Now to see what I can really do with this

As a feature request, would having BOM as a menu item be worthwhile? It would certainly avoid this type of problem in future.

Thanks again, problem solved.

P.S. I would never have imagined notepad to be of use again until now

[Paul_K]

I'm glad to hear that you were successful. Personally, I don't bother with using an external text editor for Sandboxie.ini, since you can just double-click Sandboxie's tray icon, and select Configuration > Edit Configuration if you want to make a manual edit.
I'm wondering if Sandboxie can still read-in and edit the configuration file, using this method, if you modified it like it sounds.

Using the built-in "Edit Configuration" command also gives you a reminder message to "Reload Configuration" after you make your changes, so that your changes will take effect the next time a program is sandboxed. A Reload is necessary, not optional.

[Squelch]

I was actually using the Edit Configuration from the main window when I discovered this. It uses the default system editor, which in my case is now PsPad as a replacement for Notepad.

Until now it hasn't shown any problems, but if it happens again, either a switch back to Notepad, or a check on PsPad's unicode handling might be in order.