Family Historian User Group

I am trying to make a copy of my project Myhill FH6 to use as a sample project whilst I experiment with Ancestral Sources, but am having the following problem.
In the project window I right click on the project and select copy project, name the copy Myhill AS FH6 and the copy appears in the project window and opens normally. No problem so far. However, since I am going to be using this project for a while, I want to make it the default, so I right click on it and select "set as default project." The green tick duly appears alongside the name to indicate that it is the default but when I shut down FH, the next time I open it, the original project is now the default.
I tried changing the location to the Myhill AS FH6 folder but got a message saying that I was specifying a location within another folder and suggesting that I abort the action. When I ignored it, there were no projects showing in the project window until I reset to the installation default. I don't think there was a need to change the location since both project folders resided in the same location "My Documents>Family Historian Projects" What am I missing?

Hi Dick, you did everything correctly, so it is strange why the Default Project setting did not 'stick'.
(You are correct that both Projects should be within the same default Family Historian Projects folder.)

Have you tried again, in case it was one off glitch?

After setting the Default Project, use Tools > Preferences > Startup and check Default Startup File: refers to the GEDCOM file within the chosen Project folder.
e.g. C:\Users\...\Documents\Family Historian Projects\Myhill AS FH6\Myhill AS FH6.fh_data\Myhill AS FH6.ged

Does the same problem afflict other Projects, such as the Family Historian Sample Project?

BTW: Exactly which version of FH is installed. Is it V6.2.6 ? (Tip: use Help > About Family Historian)

Hello Mike,

Thanks for your reply, and yes, the same thing applies if I set the sample project as the default. I checked the startup preferences and it did show the file I had selected as the default in the address bar. I even clicked "select" and "apply" again to confirm it. If I go back into the project window before exiting, the correct project is still showing as default. It is only after restarting FH6 that it resets itself to the original project.

I can also confirm that I am using version 6.2.6

Dick Myhill

I know that Default Startup File setting is saved in the Windows Registry.
So I suspect the Windows Registry write permission may have been upset.

To prove that theory, use Tools > Preferences > General and untick the top 5 tick options.
Also use Tools > Preferences > Backup and change the Default Backup Folder.
Close FH and re-open, then check all those changed settings have 'stuck'.

If those settings did NOT 'stick' then try re-installing FH V6.2.6 over the existing installation.
Does that fix the problem?

Hello Mike,

I tried your suggestions and those changes didn't stick either. I tried a reinstall over the existing programme and that didn't solve the problem, so I uninstalled it and installed again from scratch. I'm pleased to report that this seems to have done the trick.

Thanks again for your help.

Excellent!
Occasionally Windows Updates have been known to upset Registry &/or File permissions for FH.
Various degrees of re-installation of FH often fix the problem, but not always!