USGS EGIS web pages
EGIS Home
EGIS Support
Metadata
Training
Email Lists
Esri Events
External web pages
Esri Support
Esri Product Help
Esri GeoNet
GIS Stack Exchange
EGIS wiki space (here)
ArcGIS Desktop saves thousands of user-specific settings in two places: a) the user application profile (%APPDATA%\ESRI\Desktop10.x) and b) in the HKCU hive of the registry. These settings include application settings (set in Customize/Options in ArcMap and ArcCatalog, for example) and user setups such as ArcCatalog connections, UI widget locations, "remembered" properties such as where windows pop up on the screen and paths where specific dialog boxes last opened.
Since all of these settings are useful to remember - why would we want to "zap" the application profile?
If one user is having an issue with ArcGIS and other users logging into the same machine are not experiencing the problem, resetting the ArcGIS app profile is likely to help.
If the problem occurs for all users, the application profile probably will not help (though it won't hurt).
ArcMap saves some user customizations in a template for all new map documents named "Normal.mxt". Just rebuilding this one file can sometimes solve a software problem or improve ArcMap performance.
Open your application profile folder:
Win7/2008 | Enter |
WinXP/2003 | Start / Run..., enter |
Rebuilding your entire user profile may delete some user settings, but is highly recommended after installing a service pack or doing a major update. A full profile reset may also improve performance and stability of your ArcGIS applications, as the profile can get loaded down with fragmented templates and log files over time.
Open your application profile folder:
Win7/2008 | Enter |
WinXP/2003 | Start / Run..., enter |
You may copy certain files from the "backup" folder (ESRIold) to your new profile without losing the benefits of the "reset" (these files may also be candidates for backup outside of your user profile area):
Arc 10.x ("x" in [0,1,2,..]) | Arc 9.x | Description |
---|---|---|
Desktop10.x\ArcCatalog\ArcCatalog.gx | ArcCatalog\ArcCatalog.gx | Folder connections |
Desktop10.x\ArcToolbox\My Toolboxes | ArcToolbox\My Toolboxes | User toolboxes |
Desktop10.x\ArcMap\<stylename>.style | ArcMap\<stylename>.style | User styles (symbology) |
Update: new method, does not require admin access.
These registry keys store user application settings saved between ArcGIS sessions. This includes some application options, default folders used by open dialogs, certain screen window positions, and other settings.
A common reason to reset your registry is if your window locations are kerfuzzled from working with multiple monitors and you want to return them to defaults.
Since DOI/USGS security settings do not allow users to run the regedit utility to modify HKEY_CURRENT_USER, you must get to these settings using the Windows command line.
At the command prompt, enter:
reg copy HKCU\Software\ESRI HKCU\SOFTWARE\ESRIold /s reg delete HKCU\Software\ESRI
This step is dangerous and is kind of extreme, as user settings for all apps, and all user documents in the user profile will be removed. A backup of C:\Users\<username> is recommended.
If issues persist after trying the steps outlined above, the following may be attempted, in order. (Running a repair install or re-install of ArcGIS Desktop should be a last resort.)
These steps require elevated privileges.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\ArcGIS\Desktop10.0\Configuration
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\ArcGIS\Desktop10.1\Configuration (delete only if 10.2.x is installed)