Whole Ren'Py Program Disappeared Twice

[Paul Kinsella]

I've done a search, but could not find a similar problem on the board. Perhaps my search terms were incorrect or perhaps this is a new kind of problem...
I have downloaded Ren'Py from https://renpy.org/latest.html twice. The last time it downloaded to: C:\Users\paul\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\IE\H9D9J09O\ (The time before that "H9D9J09O" was a different set of numbers and letters.) In both cases there was no desktop icon I could click on to start the program, so I made my own desktop shortcut. A few hours later, in both cases, the shortcut I made would not work and an error message popped up that read: "The item 'renpy.exe' that this shortcut refers to has been changed or moved, so this shortcut will no longer work properly. Do you want to delete this shortcut?" In both case when I went back to look for the program file at C:\Users\paul\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\IE\ it was gone.
What could I be doing wrong?
I'm running windows 10.
Where were your Ren'Py programs inserted when they were downloaded?
Was I supposed to select a file of my own making or something?

[isobellesophia]

Actually, whenever i download RenPy, i always put it in Downloads folder, fearing a error would appear.

Have you tried putting it in there?

[hell_oh_world]

I've done a search, but could not find a similar problem on the board. Perhaps my search terms were incorrect or perhaps this is a new kind of problem...
I have downloaded Ren'Py from https://renpy.org/latest.html twice. The last time it downloaded to: C:\Users\paul\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\IE\H9D9J09O\ (The time before that "H9D9J09O" was a different set of numbers and letters.) In both cases there was no desktop icon I could click on to start the program, so I made my own desktop shortcut. A few hours later, in both cases, the shortcut I made would not work and an error message popped up that read: "The item 'renpy.exe' that this shortcut refers to has been changed or moved, so this shortcut will no longer work properly. Do you want to delete this shortcut?" In both case when I went back to look for the program file at C:\Users\paul\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\IE\ it was gone.
What could I be doing wrong?
I'm running windows 10.
Where were your Ren'Py programs inserted when they were downloaded?
Was I supposed to select a file of my own making or something?

It's prolly related to your security settings in your desktop. Check your antivirus settings. Make sure also that you're not placing the sdk folder into a temporary folder, the `INetCache` sounds like a temporary folder. Put it into your documents or directly into your desktop. It could also be that you're using deepfreeze which deletes the newly added files in your storage after booting up again. There are plenty of reasons for this, i suggest starting from the above.

[Imperf3kt]

The location you mention is a temporary location, a cache. It isn't supposed to be visible to the average user.
You should consider somewhere else such as 'downloads' or 'my documents' or even just your desktop.

[Paul Kinsella]

hell_oh_world sound right about NetCache being a temporary folder.
I've downloading RenPy to: "C:\Users\paul\renpy\". I'll wait until morning to see if it has vanished or not. If so I'll try again to the "Downloads folder" or the Desktop.
Thank you very much for your help. I'll let you know how it turns out.

[Paul Kinsella]

All good! It has been 4 days and the program has not disappeared. Thank you so much for your help! For some reason Renpy's default download spot was a temporary folder. Why this is I don't know. If anyone else has this problem, the solution appears to be to download Renpy to a higher location. I downloaded mine to... C:\Users\paul\renpy\". But I'm sure that the "Downloads" folder or the Desktop would work just as well.
Thank you again for your help!

[Imperf3kt]

All good! It has been 4 days and the program has not disappeared. Thank you so much for your help! For some reason Renpy's default download spot was a temporary folder. Why this is I don't know. If anyone else has this problem, the solution appears to be to download Renpy to a higher location. I downloaded mine to... C:\Users\paul\renpy\". But I'm sure that the "Downloads" folder or the Desktop would work just as well.
Thank you again for your help!

Rather than Ren'Py, this would actually be something your internet browser was doing, Ren'Py has no way to specify its download location.

Might I suggest you copy/move your Ren'Py install into c:/programs to ensure its never lost again?