Settings from SystemInformer.exe.settings.xml not migrated correctly to new SystemInformer.exe.settings.json

[MagicAndre1981]

Brief description of your issue

I got the new nightly and saw that setting are lost, so I check for missing SystemInformer.exe.settings.xml, but it was here and I see a new file called SystemInformer.exe.settings.json. This was added in a recent commit, but the convert is not done.

Steps to reproduce (optional)

Update from 3.2.25347.754 to 3.2.25365.952

Expected behavior (optional)

old setting xml is converted and used

Actual behavior (optional)

new json is created but all settings are lost (colors in tree, old-new icon selection, columns)

Now:

Before Update:

Environment (optional)

Windows 10 1809
SI 3.2.25365.952

[dmex]

This was added in a recent commit,

This commit is adding a more standard/secondary method for settings conversion.

The actual settings conversion was added back in May, 2025 (8 months ago) and has been automatically converting the xml settings to json for everyone since May, 2025.

new json is created but all settings are lost

The settings are not lost since it don't overwrite or remove the original settings file.

[stef-19]

Might be related to this issue:

After upgrading (from 3.2.25338.143) and launching of 3.2.25365.952 the columns in the Threads-tab are wrong.

The entry in the json file should look like this:
"ThreadTreeListColumns":"@120|0,0,63|1,1,66|2,5,105|3,9,574|4,22,121|5,16,78|6,17,125|7,26,144|8,27,416|9,6,125|10,7,100|11,21,58|12,20,35|13,23,91|14,28,81|15,4,133|16,8,170|17,24,98|18,25,98|19,34,100|20,11,55|23,19,63|24,12,63|25,15,356|26,14,190|27,13,125|28,18,136|29,32,63|30,30,63|31,3,80|32,2,90|33,31,163|34,33,98|35,38,63|36,40,63|37,35,63|38,37,97|39,39,63|40,36,101|41,42,63|43,10,225|44,41,225|45,43,63|46,44,100|+DotNetTools+1,29,124",
corresponding entry in the xml-file:
<setting name="ThreadTreeListColumns">@120|0,0,63|1,1,66|2,5,105|3,9,574|4,22,121|5,16,78|6,17,125|7,26,144|8,27,416|9,6,125|10,7,100|11,21,58|12,20,35|13,23,91|14,28,81|15,4,133|16,8,170|17,24,98|18,25,98|19,34,100|20,11,55|23,19,63|24,12,63|25,15,356|26,14,190|27,13,125|28,18,136|29,32,63|30,30,63|31,3,80|32,2,90|33,31,163|34,33,98|35,38,63|36,40,63|37,35,63|38,37,97|39,39,63|40,36,101|41,42,63|43,10,225|44,41,225|45,43,63|46,44,100|+ProcessHacker.DotNetTools+1,29,124</setting>

but after launching, the entry in the json file look like this:
"ThreadTreeListColumns":"@120|0,0,63|1,1,66|2,2,105|3,3,574|4,4,121|5,5,78|6,6,125|7,7,144|8,8,416|9,9,125|10,10,100|11,11,58|12,12,35|13,13,91|14,14,81|15,15,133|16,16,170|17,17,98|18,18,98|19,19,100|20,20,55|23,21,63|24,22,63|25,23,356|26,24,190|27,25,125|28,26,136|29,27,63|30,28,63|31,29,80|32,30,90|33,31,163|34,32,98|35,33,63|36,34,63|37,35,63|38,36,97|39,37,63|40,38,101|41,39,63|43,40,225|44,41,225|45,42,63|46,43,100",

and these entries can be seen in the json file (the xml file has these entries too, but with correct values):
"ProcessHacker.DotNetTools.AsmTreeListColumns":"", "ProcessHacker.DotNetTools.AsmTreeListFlags":"0", "ProcessHacker.DotNetTools.AsmTreeListSort":"0,0", "ProcessHacker.DotNetTools.DotNetCategoryIndex":"5", "ProcessHacker.DotNetTools.DotNetListColumns":"", "ProcessHacker.DotNetTools.DotNetListSort":"", "ProcessHacker.DotNetTools.DotNetListGroupStates":"", "ProcessHacker.DotNetTools.DotNetVerifySignature":"1",
...in addition to these entries (only available in the json file) (correct values):
"DotNetTools.AsmTreeListColumns":"@120|0,0,300|1,1,63|2,2,100|3,3,750", "DotNetTools.AsmTreeListFlags":"0", "DotNetTools.AsmTreeListSort":"0,0", "DotNetTools.DotNetCategoryIndex":"5", "DotNetTools.DotNetListColumns":"0,250|1,140", "DotNetTools.DotNetListSort":"0,1", "DotNetTools.DotNetListGroupStates":"8|0|0|1|0|2|0|3|0|4|0|5|0|6|0|7|0", "DotNetTools.DotNetVerifySignature":"1",

[Vasilich]

Got the same issue - all settings are gone after update for my work PC from version last updated at 23.12.2025 to 3.2.25365.952.
JSON file was created, but it definitely hasn't imported settings from XML - neither Dark mode, nor admin/driver settings, nor column settings, not even update channel (was always at canary, now defaults to release), so - no import at all.
I have tried to delete JSON file and restart - new local SystemInformer.exe.settings.json file was created with same content as before.
Mention that i have SystemInformer.exe.settings.xml in SystemInformer folder, not in AppData.
Is there any chance to force SI to reimport settings from XML file in same folder?
add:
if i start SI from command line specifying setting file:

SystemInformer.exe -settings SystemInformer.exe.settings.xml

then SI overwrites existing SystemInformer.exe.settings.xml file, putting inside default JSON settings. So it is even worse (and also wrong, as you loose your settings and will have XML as file extension and JSON as content) that starting SI without settings parameter.

Copying XML file to AppData\Roaming\SystemInformer and renaming it in settings.xml leads to creating settings.json in same folder, but also with default settings.
So i don't see any way of conversion XML->JSON working.

[fixator10]

For me (using AppData for settings.xml/.json) it seems to be working, xml converts to json, and it corresponds to json that i had before updating to .952 (from some previous canary version, don't remember which one), but feels like SystemInformer ignoring entire JSON if something (some particular setting?) is wrong and then overwriting entire config on anything changed in settings or if restarted as admin (basically saving entire current configuration instead of changing values that has been changed).

[MagicAndre1981]

The actual settings conversion was added back in May, 2025 (8 months ago) and has been automatically converting the xml settings to json for everyone since May, 2025.

no, this JSON is ONLY created since last version! All older SI versions use the XML. And as you can see it also fails for other users.

[MagicAndre1981]

now with 3.4.26017.1750, SI crashes at startup:

[MagicAndre1981]

this time with 4.0.26033.1009, Si no longer crashes, no longer tries to migrate settings xml to json, but still looses settings. The graphs for CPU, Mem, IO history are missing, the new ugly icons are used for toolbar. I have to check what else is broken

[MagicAndre1981]

I have to check what else is broken

click options causes crashes

[MagicAndre1981]

4.0.26036.1143 (774d2ec) now starts fine, the XML is updated compared to older XML and has line break diffs

But converting to JSON is not done now.

[MagicAndre1981]

Here is the list of not migrated settings from 3.2 XML to 4.0 XML:

• toolbar graphs
• toolbar icon style
• customized toolbar entries
• "Enable GPU Monitoring" enabled by default again for ExtendedPlugins (I uncheck this always and only show GPU from Graphicsdevices)
• Disk devices are unselected
• Graphics- Networkdevices/ are uncheck
• Taskbaricon Overlay gets reverted to None.

[Krzysiu]

I lost my settings and started getting this error message whenever I tried to open the app, close it, or change any settings.

The Polish part translates to: "The parameter is incorrect." (which is weird since I don't use the Polish locale, only Polish regional settings).

I can live with losing my settings, but a constant pop-up? No way! While the team works on the technical details, here’s a mini-tutorial on how to recover. Also, kudos for the robust design—the update didn't destroy the old settings; they were easily restorable.

!!! 🚨 HOW TO RESTORE YOUR SETTINGS 🚨 !!!

If I went a bit overboard with the heading, let me know and I'll tone it down.

What fixed it for me:

1. Go to %APPDATA%\SystemInformer
2. Remove settings.json but keep settings.xml.

The "Lazy Version" (Quick Fix):
If that's too much hassle, press Win+R, paste the following command, and hit Enter:

powershell -command "(New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application).NameSpace(10).MoveHere(\"$env:AppData\SystemInformer\settings.json\")"

^ it moves settings.json to recycle bin