[GNC] problem obtaining lock

[Kalpesh Patel]

I normally create c:\data folder and then create a nice tree based on app underneath it to hold various critical data files. This way I can back up just one directory to "zap" all in with simplicity. You are using a backup program to create a system/backup image on regular basis, right? Windows has a simple built-in backup app that can create an image at minimum so that you can restore back.

-----Original Message-----
From: Marty Landman <martster at gmail.com> 
Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2026 11:50 AM
To: David T. <sunfish62 at yahoo.com>; gnucash-user at gnucash.org; Robert Heller <heller at deepsoft.com>
Subject: Re: [GNC] problem obtaining lock

I'm not sure how it ended up there, what is the suggested location and how do I change it?

On 8/12/2026 11:49 AM, David T. wrote:
> On a side question: why are you putting your GnuCash data file in the
> (hidden) system folder AppData? I'm not sure that's advised...
>
>
> On August 12, 2026 8:32:21 PM GMT+05:30, Robert Heller 
> <heller at deepsoft.com> wrote:
>
>     To expand on Wm Tarr's response, GnuCash create a "lock" file when
>     it opens your books (at startup) and will delete the lock file
>     when it closes your books (or when you exit). You should always
>     cleanly exit from GnuCash before you logout, shutdown, or reboot
>     your computer. At Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:55:25 -0400 Marty Landman
>     <martster at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>         My wife and I have been using Gnucash for a few years now for
>         our small business, and the one problem that keeps happening
>         is after my Windows 11 Home edition updates and I have to
>         restart Gnucash I get the following message: Gnucash could not
>         obtain the lock for C:
>         \Users\Admin\AppData\Local\GnuCash.gnucash That database may
>         be in use by another user, in which case you should not open
>         the database. What would you like to do? I select 'open
>         anyway', then open, close, and then reopen it and the error
>         goes away.         What is going on? How can I prevent this
>         error from happening in the first place? Marty
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