I missed that you are using DropBox -- does it have some kind of "synch" option to force an update? That may be a better practice than just waiting for the synch to happen.
On Thu, Apr 17, 2025 at 10:06 AM David Long <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi, > thanks for this reply and others. It could have been that GnuCash did not > close down properly as mentioned after a power failure, but the error > message stuck around. It could also be that I opened GnuCash before Dropbox > had synchronised, although I was aware that could be an issue so generally > waited a while. However , if Dropbox had not opened on one of the machines, > and I did not notice, that could have happened, so will be more aware from > now on. As suggested, I have now updated to the latest version of GnuCash. > Where I am now is that one of the machines (thats the desktop at home), > would not open GnuCash at all, even with the latest version of GnuCash, and > this is the machine I had been using most recently. Even if I selected an > old backup file, it briefly opened and then closed. I restarted my Desktop > also, but still I could not open GnuCash. > Then, I opened GnuCash on my laptop I use when travelling, and it opened > the file even though it was running an old version of GnuCash. I saved the > file under a new name. My Desktop was able to open the newly named file > with no error message. I updated GnuCash on my laptop after updating to the > latest version. It was also able to open the file with no error message. > So I think my lessons from this are: > Save, if I take a break from GnuCash and not leave GnuCash idle for a long > time when there could be some kind of a disruption to cause an improper > close down. > Make sure Dropbox has fully synchronised on both machines before switching > machines and check the time of the saved file is the same on all machines. > Have the same and latest version on both machines. > David > > On Wed, Apr 16, 2025 at 7:01 PM R Losey <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> >> On Tue, Apr 15, 2025 at 2:18 PM David Long <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> Hi, >>> >>> I am using GNucash on 3 machines, who share the file on Dropbox. I make >>> sure only one version is open at any one time. When opening GnuCash, I >>> get >>> the message * GnuCash could not obtain the lock to( folder\filename). >>> That >>> database may be in use by another user, in which case you should not open >>> it." I always ignore the message and open it anyway, as the backups give >>> me the same message. I am worried that this might give me problems at >>> some >>> stage. What should I do? >>> thanks >>> David >>> >> >> Hello! >> I'm also running GnuCash on three machines - three operating systems >> (MacOS, Windows 10, and Linux [Ubuntu]). >> >> You should not be getting that message on a regular basis... when GnuCash >> starts, it creates a "lock" file that is deleted when GnuCash is shut >> down. If you start GnuCash and the "lock" file exists, it implies that >> GnuCash is running somewhere else, and you get the warning. >> >> Therefore, if something happened such that GnuCash didn't shut down >> cleanly, the "lock" file may stick around. >> >> Or perhaps one of the machines doesn't have write access to the GnuCash >> directory? >> >> Perhaps you're running an older version of GnuCash that isn't shutting >> down cleaning. (What version are you running?) One of the earlier 5.x >> versions had an issue in which GnuCash did not shut down all the way and >> left the lock file in place. >> >> >> -- >> _________________________________ >> Richard Losey >> [email protected] >> Micah 6:8 >> > -- _________________________________ Richard Losey [email protected] Micah 6:8 _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
