ID3 Tag Editing software no longer works

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I’m running Win 11 22H2. I have used an ID3 tagging software called Tag & Rename to organize and add music to audio files (.flac & .mp3) for many years. This software allows me to add things like album art to music files. Two days ago it stopped working. It no longer ‘sees’ any .flac or .mp3 files. It will show the album art (always named folder.jpg) in an album folder but nothing else. I have also downloaded and installed a couple of other ID3 tagging apps and they have the same result. It appears something changed 2 days ago but I have no idea what. Anyone else using and experiencing problems with ID 3 tagging software? Anyone have any idea of a cause or solution?

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The first thing I would ask is, what else did you change since the last time the software worked? Windows update? Anti-virus? Other programs?
Also, have you updated the software recently? Have you run the Windows Program Compatibility Troubleshooter (Settings\Update&Security\Troubleshoot\Additional Troubleshooters)?

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The only thing that changed would be malware signatures for Windows Security and Malwarebytes Free Version. Tag & Rename has not had an update for several years. None was needed that I am aware of. Troubleshooter found no identifiable problems.

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Have you tried temporarily disabling Windows Security and Malwarebytes (presumably disconnected from online) to see if that makes a difference?

Have you tried contacting the author through their website?

Maybe they can help you.

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Haven’t contacted the software creators yet. I did find that there was one item updated on the date when everything went haywire. That was Microsoft Edge. I don’t know how an update to Edge could affect a piece of software that has nothing to do with it, but with Microsoft you never know. I don’t think there’s a way to undo an Edge update.

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Are the .mp3 and .flac files in the \Users\(your user name)\Music folder on your computer?

Are the album cover art file(s) in the same location, or in a different location?

The reason for these questions is that the symptoms suggest a system issue with an update or updates that got installed a few days ago, since your usual program and other music file editing programs that you’ve tried can’t see the same files that they normally should. The only things that have been updated in this time-frame are the definitions for Windows Defender and MS Edge, per your prior statements.

One thing that can cause issues like this is the Controlled Folder Access feature of Windows Defender. One of the folders it protects by default is a user’s Music folder, usually located in the path I showed in the first question.

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opti1

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My permanent music files are on a Synology NAS. The NAS is to allow access and local streaming to all my relevant devices that are on my local network.

Files I am editing are brought to an external SSD where I keep mostly just working files. I use two working folders on this SSD, one for .flac files and one for .mp3 files. The album art that goes with the files are kept in the same folder. When everything is working properly, I edit the files I am interested in to do things like add album art, ID3 tags, renaming, etc. Once I am through with the edits the edited files are moved to the NAS.

I don’t seem to be able to get to Controlled Folder Access. I suspect there is a Registry setting I would need to change but I have no idea what it is. I’ll do a little research though I doubt this is where my problem lies.

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I don’t have Windows 11, but I DO have Windows 10 22H2. Controlled Folder Access is a feature that’s built into Defender, and you access it from within Defender.

If, after reading the process below, someone who has Windows 11 22H2 or 21H2 knows of any difference in how you get to Controlled folder access in Windows11, please feel free to chime in!

To get to Controlled Folder Access, here’s what I have to do (and I’m presuming that it’s really similar or identical in Windows 11):

Open Windows Security and click on the item that says “Virus & threat protection”. Once that’s opened, scroll sown the page until you see “Ransomware protection” and click on the blue colored type that says “Manage ransomware protection” just under it. You should now be looking at a page that has Controlled folder access on it and a slider to either turn it off or on. There should also be some options below it, again in blue colored type.

One of those items should say “Protected folders”. Click on that and you can add folders to the protection or remove them from protection. If you find the folders on the NAS that hold your music files on this list, you can remove those from the list if you like. Doing this will remove them from protection. Before you do this, though, please read on.

BUT, another item may very well say “Allow an app through Controlled folder access”. Clicking on this item will allow you to add the music file editing program to an exemption list of sorts so that it will be allowed to access the folder on the NAS that your music is in so you can edit their properties as you see fit. This, to me, seems like a better option that will still allow the folder/folders to be protected, but still allow your program to access them to edit the files as you see fit.

As an aside, I first ran across the controlled folder access problem when I first used Windows 10. I wanted to use chkdsk to check a disk’s file structure, but controlled folder access wouldn’t allow the program to run, even with administrator privileges, so I added it to the exemption list.

Nearly a year later, after a definition update, it suddenly wouldn’t allow the volume shadow copy service (vss.exe) from Windows to run as it’s supposed to during an update’s installation. By default, when Windows installs one of its updates through the use of Windows Update (or downloading an update directly from the Microsoft’s catalog and double clicking on the .msi file), it creates a restore point in the event the update installation goes sideways. Controlled folder access wouldn’t allow this vital service to run after a new definition update was released, so I added the vss.exe service to the exemption list and everything’s now happy.

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I had to get to Controlled Folder Access via the Registry. It’s not enabled on my system.

I have resolved the problem. Apparently an obscure setting in my Tag & Rename program somehow got changed. In over 15 years of use of this program, this had never happened before. Don’t know how the setting got changed. I found it when I discovered there was no problem with .mp3 files displaying, only .flac.

I appreciate the help anyone offered and sorry if I caused you to waste any of your time.

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No waste of time at all, that’s what we’re here for! I’ve taken the liberty of changing the status of this question to “Resolved” for you.

By the way, when I went looking at the file history for your preferred program, I found the latest version to be 3.9.15, released on June 14th of 2018, so is has been just a few years since the last release. I also found out the program was first released back in 1999! That’s what I call staying power!

Should you continue to use Tag&Rename for more than another couple of years, provided that it doesn’t get any more updates, you may eventually need to run it in compatibility mode, with that mode set to Windows 10.

Congratulations on finding the fix! 

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