Ugh. You've fallen into a black hole of Windows trying to be "helpful" and simply confusing everything in the process. Let me see if I can adequately explain what's going on here....
The gotcha here is how Windows now works, and it's a well-known source of problems for many users like yourself. When you run in Admin mode, Windows provides proper access to the "Program Files" folder. When *not* In Admin mode, Windows virtualizes the "Program Files" folder. In other words, Windows automatically creates an alternate folder and *pretends* that it is the real "Program Files" folder.
To make matters more interesting, Windows will automatically run in Admin mode when installing software, even if you do not normally have Admin privileges on the user account. This means that Windows will install the software with Admin privileges to properly place it in the "Program Files" folder, but the next time you run the product, you won't have Admin privileges. If anything is reliant on content beneath the "Program Files" folder, it will be in one place when you install the product (the real folder) and a different place when you later run the product (the virtualized folder). Yes, Microsoft has caught *lots* of flak over this half-baked design decision, but it's what we're all stuck with.
One last bit of important information is that launching an application from one program automatically inherits the same privileges as the original program. Consider the implication. When you install a product, you're automatically running in Admin mode, whether you asked for it or not. If you then utilize the common option of launching the product via the installer when it completes, the first launch of the product is *also* running in Admin mode. When you later run the product separately, it now runs in non-Admin mode. This subtle issue has contributed to the confusion you're experiencing.
Based on all of this, your rosters live in two different locations, depending on whether you launched AB with Admin privileges. Similarly, your license key file gets stored in two different places, depending on whether you ran AB with Admin privileges. Remember, when you auto-launch AB via the installer, you're running it in Admin mode, but not otherwise.
At this point, it's no wonder that your head hurts and you think AB is broken. The real problem is that Windows is doing all this stuff behind the scenes without telling you. By automatically switching you in and out of Admin mode, it changes how Windows behaves, which gets both you and the product confused.
The primary reason why we encourage users to *not* install our products under the "Program Files" folder (the installer defaults to "C:\ArmyBuilderEx") is to help avoid this problem in the first place. Some users prefer to install everything under "Program Files", but that can lead to additional complications unless the user is familiar with subtle issues like I've outlined above.
So now the question is how to sort everything out and get AB working. The simplest solution is to just always run AB in Admin mode. This can be achieved by right-clicking on the shortcut icon you use to launch the product and selecting "Properties" from the menu that appears. On the menu, go to the Compatibility tab, click the "Run as Administrator" option, and then save the change. Thereafter, AB will always be launched with Admin privileges.
If you do this, all of the problems you've experienced will disappear, with one exception. Some of your saved saved rosters will not be visible due to Windows placing them in the virtualized "Program Files" folder. You may also have different versions of data files in the different locations. The good news is that you can retrieve those files easily. Windows will virtualize the "Program Files" folder into the location shown below. There will be a folder beneath this location that has the same name as the folder you used when installing the product, and the various files will be in folders beneath that. Copy your rosters and any other files out of that location.
C:\Users\loginname\AppData\Local\VirtualStore
Hopefully, the above explanations will enable you to both understand what's going on and get things resolved appropriately. If not, please let me know and I'll do my best to help further to get this sorted out for you.
