[GNC] could not obtain lock message when opening GnuCash

[R Losey]

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 <davidvernonlong at gmail.com>
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 <rlosey at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Apr 15, 2025 at 2:18 PM David Long <davidvernonlong at gmail.com>
>> 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
>> rlosey at gmail.com
>> Micah 6:8
>>
>

-- 
_________________________________
Richard Losey
rlosey at gmail.com
Micah 6:8