If you’ve installed the Windows 11 24H2 update, you may notice that some of your macro scripts and plugins have suddenly gone missing. The most obvious symptom is toolbar buttons indicating the script is missing, or custom hotkeys for the scripts no longer working.
So, what’s happening?
According to the 3ds Max developers:
- Windows 11 24H2 sets the #system attribute on the following folder: C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local
- As a security measure, 3ds Max does not load startup scripts (including macroscripts) from folders with either the #system or #hidden attribute set.
If you check the max.log file, you’ll see something like this:
2024/10/30 08:24:32 INF: [06452] [02764] Hidden/System startup script: ‘C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMax\2025 – 64bit\ENU\usermacros\DragAndDrop-Macro1.mcr’, skip loading..
The solution
To resolve this, you need to turn off the #system attribute for the C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local folder. There are several ways to do this:
If 3ds Max is open, run the following command in the Listener:
setFileAttribute (systemtools.getEnvVariable “LOCALAPPDATA”) #system false
Or, you can open the Command Line and do this
attrib -S %LOCALAPPDATA%
BUT!
If you follow my pipeline integration tutorials, you won’t face this issue in the first place.
How to Manage Tools Part 1 – Scripts (Featuring New 3ds Max 2022.3 Pipeline Integration)
How to Manage Tools Part 2 – Plugins (Featuring New 3ds Max 2022.3 Pipeline Integration)
3ds Max 2023 Pipeline Integration v2
By relocating all relevant files outside the ENU folder, as outlined in the tutorials, you can eliminate the need to repeatedly configure your scripts and plugins—whether for new software versions, new machines, or after resetting the ENU folder. Personally, I install a beta version of 3ds Max every two weeks, and since setting this up, I haven’t needed to reinstall any scripts.