App Execution Aliases

1

I hate having to deal with Windows. But, my wife has a new laptop and I need it to be backed up.

It would be nice to just tell Duplicati to backup the \Users directory… but no, that won’t exactly work.

There is something new in windows called “App Execution Aliases”, they have something to do with the Microsoft Store. They are stored in a folder named "c:\Users\name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps. The files there are of zero size and any attempt to read them returns an error; so, I get a bunch of warnings for each user that a file can’t be accessed. I need my backups to run without warnings so I can check them quickly. Other exclude this folder for each user does anyone know a solution?

Thanks for the help.

2

could maybe use a wildcard exclude, or even a regular expression with alternation to be a bit more strict.

One problem with just backing up \Users (though I suppose one can do worse) is getting low-value files.
For example, browser cache is usually here, can be large, and Internet uploads are sometimes slower…

A riskier alternative to excluding WindowsApps by paths is to notice that these are NTFS reparse points.
exclude-files-attributes can exclude ReparsePoint files, but this will omit at least Windows junctions that aren’t all that interesting (to me, anyway), e.g. here are is an analysis of reparse points for a new account:

C:\>C:\tmp\Junction\junction.exe -q -s C:\Users\Account

Junction v1.07 - Creates and lists directory links
Copyright (C) 2005-2016 Mark Russinovich
Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com

\\?\C:\Users\Account\Application Data: JUNCTION
   Print Name     : C:\Users\Account\AppData\Roaming
   Substitute Name: C:\Users\Account\AppData\Roaming

\\?\C:\Users\Account\Cookies: JUNCTION
   Print Name     : C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCookies
   Substitute Name: C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCookies

\\?\C:\Users\Account\Local Settings: JUNCTION
   Print Name     : C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local
   Substitute Name: C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local

\\?\C:\Users\Account\My Documents: JUNCTION
   Print Name     : C:\Users\Account\Documents
   Substitute Name: C:\Users\Account\Documents

\\?\C:\Users\Account\NetHood: JUNCTION
   Print Name     : C:\Users\Account\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts
   Substitute Name: C:\Users\Account\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts

\\?\C:\Users\Account\PrintHood: JUNCTION
   Print Name     : C:\Users\Account\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Printer Shortcuts
   Substitute Name: C:\Users\Account\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Printer Shortcuts

\\?\C:\Users\Account\Recent: JUNCTION
   Print Name     : C:\Users\Account\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent
   Substitute Name: C:\Users\Account\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent

\\?\C:\Users\Account\SendTo: JUNCTION
   Print Name     : C:\Users\Account\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo
   Substitute Name: C:\Users\Account\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo

\\?\C:\Users\Account\Start Menu: JUNCTION
   Print Name     : C:\Users\Account\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
   Substitute Name: C:\Users\Account\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu

\\?\C:\Users\Account\Templates: JUNCTION
   Print Name     : C:\Users\Account\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates
   Substitute Name: C:\Users\Account\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates

\\?\C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Application Data: JUNCTION
   Print Name     : C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local
   Substitute Name: C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local

\\?\C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\History: JUNCTION
   Print Name     : C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History
   Substitute Name: C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History

\\?\C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Temporary Internet Files: JUNCTION
   Print Name     : C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache
   Substitute Name: C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache

\\?\C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files: JUNCTION
   Print Name     : C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache
   Substitute Name: C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache

\\?\C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.IE5: JUNCTION
   Print Name     : C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\IE
   Substitute Name: C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\IE

\\?\C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\GameBarElevatedFT_Alias.exe: UNKNOWN MICROSOFT REPARSE POINT

\\?\C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\MicrosoftEdge.exe: UNKNOWN MICROSOFT REPARSE POINT

\\?\C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\python.exe: UNKNOWN MICROSOFT REPARSE POINT

\\?\C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\python3.exe: UNKNOWN MICROSOFT REPARSE POINT

\\?\C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\Skype.exe: UNKNOWN MICROSOFT REPARSE POINT

\\?\C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\python.exe: UNKNOWN MICROSOFT REPARSE POINT

\\?\C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\python3.exe: UNKNOWN MICROSOFT REPARSE POINT

\\?\C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe\MicrosoftEdge.exe: UNKNOWN MICROSOFT REPARSE POINT

\\?\C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\Microsoft.SkypeApp_kzf8qxf38zg5c\Skype.exe: UNKNOWN MICROSOFT REPARSE POINT

\\?\C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay_8wekyb3d8bbwe\GameBarElevatedFT_Alias.exe: UNKNOWN MICROSOFT REPARSE POINT

\\?\C:\Users\Account\Documents\My Music: JUNCTION
   Print Name     : C:\Users\Account\Music
   Substitute Name: C:\Users\Account\Music

\\?\C:\Users\Account\Documents\My Pictures: JUNCTION
   Print Name     : C:\Users\Account\Pictures
   Substitute Name: C:\Users\Account\Pictures

\\?\C:\Users\Account\Documents\My Videos: JUNCTION
   Print Name     : C:\Users\Account\Videos
   Substitute Name: C:\Users\Account\Videos


C:\>

This used Sysinternals Junction, but the Windows dir command can identify reparse points in a folder.
fsutil reparsepoint can identify and dump them somewhat. You may need to check the Windows docs.

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