Reported v4.23: batch conversion 16bit to 8 bit tiffs

[tuga]

i searched for a while to see if i could find any bug reports/support posts that dealt with this, and i couldn't, so here goes.

i'm running this on Windows XP Pro X64 - SP2, and Irfanview v.4.23

i've used irfanview to perform this sort of batch conversion many times and i don't understand why it doesn't work. we recently had our work systems' OS reinstalled and stripped down to the basics. the reinstall only included irfanview and the software that particular workstation is meant to run (image processing/analysis software). usually my work flow involves converting 16-bit tiffs to 8-bit tiffs before i can proceed with the analysis i do. so as usual, i upload the list (usually anywhere from 400-1200, multi-layered files), select the change of colour depth to 8BPP in the advanced options, set the output directory, and let it run.

each time however, it reverts to the default settings, converting my files to JPG and starts saving them to the desktop, regardless of what i designate as the output directory. i've tried this a few different ways (ie. dithering on/off; 6 files, 400 files, 1200 files; varying the output directory) and the result is the same. am i missing something. before the re-install, we were using the same version of irfanview. this operation (again, the last time i tried it) completes without issue on my laptop, but not here.

thoughts?

[Skippybox]

If you're settings are not being preserved, then it sounds like an INI problem.

Double-check if changing a setting like "Output format" is retained in batch conversion with no input files. Start the empty conversion and go back and see if your changed setting is still there. If not, then the INI is not being accessed correctly. Go into the IrfanView folder and look for i_view32.ini. Under your workstation setup it may be read-only. If it must be read-only, then open it and see what it says. It should contain something like:

[Others]
INI_FOLDER=%APPDATA%/IrfanView

Usually, the settings are in the program INI and can be written to. However, if read-only, then it has a redirect like above, to another folder that has full write priveledges. The remote INI should be in the folder chosen with your settings, unless it was set-up incorrectly. Make sure that the INI is there and that it can be written to.