[GNC] longtime user suddenly unable to open gnucash

[Liz]

On Mon, 4 Aug 2025 19:19:46 -0700 (PDT)
Jacob Wegelin <jacobwegelin at fastmail.fm> wrote:

> I have been using gnucash for about 20 years on macos for personal
> bookkeeping.
> Suddenly today, it refuses to open with the following message:
> 
>  	GnuCash could not obtain the lock for
> /Users/qg/u/Household/GnuCash/wip/JAW.gnucash (which is my file which
> it also opens).
> 
>  	The database may be in use by another user, in which case
> you should not open the database.  What would you like to do?
> 
> When I clicked "open anyway," the application looked like it was
> loading and then it went away---the application was not open.
> 
> I tried deleting gnucash.LCK and it just made another one.
> 
> I reinstalled gnucash, updated my macos and rebooted the computer.
> 
> I changed the permissions on JAW.gnucash so it is readable and
> writeable by everybody. Exactly the same message.
> 
> I tried reinstalling it again after the macos reboot, 
> as follows:
> 
> https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Installation
> 
> https://sourceforge.net/projects/gnucash/files/gnucash%20%28stable%29/
> click: download latest version Gnucash-Arm-5.12-1.dmg (184.3 MB)
> 
> I made gnucash.LCK read,write,execute by everybody, but the same
> result.
> 
> How do I get GnuCash working again? I use it every day.
> 
> Thank you
> 
> Jacob Wegelin


Jacob
I apologise if you have already been advised or tried this, but one
option available when appear to have a problem in your user directory
is to make a new user on your computer and then open your file as the
new user.
There will be some settings which are set to default by this process,
but it can get you restarted.

Liz