Error Message "One or more of your client settings files..."

[MischiefThyme]

I've been getting the message "One or more of your client settings files, which include your hotbar settings, failed to save." repeatedly since starting the game (a little more than a week now) but it never happens during any changes I make, just while I'm running about playing. It is more of an annoyance than anything else. I don't know if there is something I'm supposed to do to fix it.

I'm moderately tech saavy if someone explains what I need to do (and where I go to do it) I'd just like to stop these messages if possible.

[Kirika-]

Allow Administration Privileges (Run As Administrator) to the game executable and see if it helps.
If you do not have an admin account on the PC, or your PC security is just a bit too tight, when the game needs to edit/change a "save file" that is stored in your windows account sub folder (\Users\<your Windows user name>\Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn), it may hit a "write security privilege" block.
This can also happen if you have a anti-virus/anti-malware program running in the background and it's heuristics are set "too high" so that any files being rewritten by the game engine are blocked as a "virus/malware".

[DrWho2010]

you may want to exclude one drive from backing up the xiv folder as well. xiv is constantly talking between your computer and the server so if one drive is locking the file then xiv can't write to it.

[Wind-up-Epic-Beardman]

OneDrive was the culprit for me for that same issue. finally changing the game's folder from readonly and permissions as stated above worked

[MischiefThyme]

Thanks guys. I'll give that a go!

[MischiefThyme]

Quick question, how do I exclude the file from onedrive's backup system?

[Xivne]

Ok, so I started having this problem as well right after patch 5.35. Not only am I getting this error in-game, my gear sets, macros, and hot bars were not saving either. Every time I log on, I have to re-equip and fix my hot bars and basically gave up on macros completely.

Things I have tried:

• uninstall/reinstall the game
• run game as administrator
• pause onedrive (though my onedrive never sync with my doc folder so not sure what this has to do with it)
• go through every gearset hot bars to make sure i got rid of all removed skills from past patches
• check to make sure my doc folder is not read-only. I also did realize some items will keep revert back to read-only on its own. I have tried running command prompt using attric -r +s command (access denied). So not sure what else to do here.

Ok, after having done all that, the error/problem continues. I continue to start game each time as admin. About a week later, it stopped on it's own and everything's back to normal. 2 days ago, after the maintenance, it started again out of NO WHERE. I have now once again tried to go through all those steps. Nothing works. I am desperate and Square Enix support is no help at all, takes like a week for them to answer and gave me useless tips like reinstall the game which i already told them i've tried.

Please, if anyone have any other suggestions, I would appreciate it.

[Xivne]

Ok, so I got some useful info from SE's support, thought I'd share. Before I do, it turned out, it is my Windows Defender's problem. 2 things worked, switching off Real-time Protection but it's kind of a stupid solution since it turns itself back on after some time. Then I discovered a more perm solution, not sure if it is the way to go but for now, it'll do. Basically, under Ransomware protection, turning off "Controlled folder access".

Anyways below are the suggestions I got from SE's support:

- Allow Administration Privileges (Run As Administrator) to the game's executable file and launch the game.

- Please make sure all background applications (including anti-virus programs such as Norton, Kaspersky, Windows Defender, etc.) have been disabled and/or closed to minimize game interference before attempting to log in.

- While the game is running, open the Task Manager and click the 'Details' tab. Find the game, right click it and select the 'Set Priority' options to 'High.'

- Turn off Fullscreen Optimizations. Find the executable file for the game (normally found in the install folder), right-click it and select 'Properties'. Under the 'Compatibility' tab, check the box labeled 'Disable Fullscreen Optimizations', then click 'Apply'.

- Ensure that the latest version of Internet Explorer is installed on your PC (even if you don’t use Internet Explorer). Please do not use Microsoft Edge for these steps, as that is a different Internet platform.
Once Internet Explorer is up-to-date, please open the Internet Explorer browser’s “Internet Options” by clicking on the “Tools” option (or type Alt+X), then click on the “Internet options” setting. Please adjust the following settings:

- Under the General tab, please delete ALL browsing history by clicking on the “Delete…” button, then selecting all of the options and clicking “Delete” again.
- Under the Security tab, please move the slider to the lowest possible setting, or no higher than “Medium.”
- Under the Privacy tab, look for the Settings section and click on “Advanced,” then Accept First-party Cookies and Third-party Cookies, then check the box that says, “Always allow session cookies” and click OK.
- Under the Advanced tab, look for the Settings section and scroll towards the bottom of the list and check on the setting under Security for “Allow software to run or install even if the signature is invalid.”
- Under the same section, make sure that all ‘Use TLS’ options (EXCEPT SSL 3.0) are checked. [Use SSL 3.0 should be unchecked]

Hit “Apply” then “OK” to save the changes.
Please RESTART your PC now.

[Rhaervis]

Thank you for posting in the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums.

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