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Finale won't open file

Posted: Sat May 05, 2018 6:04 pm
by CChamp27
Hello,

I suddenly cannot open the file I am working on! I've tried opening it through the "recent" window at the launch dialogue, directly from the file location, and through an earlier version of Finale, but these scripts pop up every time. Pleeease help!

Re: Finale won't open file

Posted: Sat May 05, 2018 6:13 pm
by motet
Make yourself a folder for Finale's temporary files (perhaps in My Documents), then go to Finale's Preferences/Folders/Temporary Files and point to this new folder. Restart Finale and see if that fixes it.

Clean out this new folder from time to time.

Re: Finale won't open file

Posted: Sat May 05, 2018 6:30 pm
by CChamp27
Thank you for your response! I have followed your suggestion, but I am still receiving the same error scripts. :(

Re: Finale won't open file

Posted: Sat May 05, 2018 6:34 pm
by miker
Have you restarted the computer?

Re: Finale won't open file

Posted: Sat May 05, 2018 6:53 pm
by CChamp27
Hello! After restarting the computer, .tmp files (FIN6447.tmp and FIN6448.tmp) now appear in the new folder I created from the first responder's suggestion, as well as a folder called Finale>CrashReporting>25.2.0.92, but when I attempt to open my .musx file, it is again feeding the same error scripts. :(

Re: Finale won't open file

Posted: Sat May 05, 2018 7:07 pm
by N Grossingink
As far as I know, Finale will make backup files as long as you don't disable that feature when you install the software. Do a search and you might find a backup.

For the future, you should make sure you configure Finale to save backup files, preferably on a drive off the computer. Go to Preferences > Folders and set up a backup folder there. A simple thumb drive is inexpensive and will do the job.

N.

Re: Finale won't open file

Posted: Sat May 05, 2018 7:58 pm
by motet
From the error messages shown, it doesn't sound like the file is corrupted. Next thing to try is resetting preferences.

Re: Finale won't open file

Posted: Sat May 05, 2018 8:06 pm
by zuill
Post the file here and let's see if anyone can open it. If not, then it might be corrupt.

Zuill

Re: Finale won't open file

Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 9:32 am
by BuonTempi
It is odd that Finale is reporting trouble deleting a file with no file path, when you're trying to open one.

Might be worth resetting Finale's preferences (there's a button in the Preferences pane), followed by another restart.

Re: Finale won't open file

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 7:29 am
by luckychrm9
I just experienced the same problem. I was exiting Finale to try to get a bug to reset, and saved my work, but when I exited, the computer crashed ("Windows has detected fatal problem blah blah ") and when I re-opened Finale, I couldn't open that file. Same errors as the original poster. Did we ever figure out a fix? I've put 8 hours into this file. I NEED to be able to open it.

As for resetting preferences, which preference would maybe help this problem?

Thx

Dan

Re: Finale won't open file

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 4:41 pm
by motet
motet wrote:Make yourself a folder for Finale's temporary files (perhaps in My Documents), then go to Finale's Preferences/Folders/Temporary Files and point to this new folder. Restart Finale and see if that fixes it.

Clean out this new folder from time to time.

Re: Finale won't open file

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 10:30 pm
by luckychrm9
Ok, I've tried that. It didn't work. Same error messages. Can anyone help?

Thx

Re: Finale won't open file

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 10:56 pm
by miker
You may have to open a support ticket with Finale. Go to finalemusic.com and tap Support.

Re: Finale won't open file

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 11:16 pm
by zuill
Report it. I'm sure they would like to see the file as well as any screen shots and crash reports.

However, I would prepare myself to consider that the 8 hours of work are lost, and will need to be redone. However, I would resolve the issue before wasting another 8 hours.

Zuill

Re: Finale won't open file

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2018 2:34 am
by motet
I didn't expect the temp file setting to make your file readable, but it may keep it from happening again.

Yes, do report it. They've had years to fix this.

Re: Finale won't open file

Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 12:30 am
by luckychrm9
I got a response from Customer "Success" telling me to copy the .bakx file to my desktop and change its name to .musx and then try opening it. I tried that and got the same error messages. I wrote back saying it didn't work and this was their response:
.
.
.
Nick M. (MakeMusic)

Jun 15, 2:59 PM MDT

Hi Dan,

Unfortunately, not every file is recoverable. The only way to recover a file is by following the steps I've sent you:

1. Copy the .bakx file
2. Paste the .bakx file to your desktop
3. Right-Click on the newly pasted file and select "Rename"
4. Change the name from "filename.bakx" to "filename.musx"
5. Select Yes.

If changing the name from "filename.bakx" to "filename.musx" does not allow you to open this file, I'm afraid this file is lost and cannot be recovered.

I'm sure this is not the news you've wanted to hear. Please let me know if you have any other questions about this topic.
Nick M. | Customer Success Representative
.
.
.
This is total BS. There are 184K bytes in that file, and I'm guessing one of their techs would be able to recover most or all of it, but they won't go to the trouble. I attached the file and he hasn't even had anyone LOOK at it. I'm so angry.

I don't suppose there's anyone on this forum who thinks they might be able to recover it? It's attached.

Re: Finale won't open file

Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 12:34 am
by motet
Do you have a .asvx version of the file?

Re: Finale won't open file

Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 1:25 am
by motet
A .musx file is really a .zip file. Below I've listed the contents of a normal .musx file and then tried to list yours with the error message you'll see. If you're technically inclined, you might be able to delve into the zip format and see what's wrong and if anything can be retrieved.

Otherwise, absent a .asvx file as I said, you may be out of luck.

Code: Select all

$ unzip -v un*
Archive:  Untitled1.musx
 Length   Method    Size  Cmpr    Date    Time   CRC-32   Name
--------  ------  ------- ---- ---------- ----- --------  ----
      34  Stored       34   0% 06-16-2018 01:15 68c6d273  mimetype
     252  Defl:X      167  34% 06-16-2018 01:15 8d945d65  META-INF/container.xml
     997  Defl:X      325  67% 06-16-2018 01:15 9a2df192  NotationMetadata.xml
   85141  Defl:X    85156   0% 06-16-2018 01:15 47a2cf5a  score.dat
--------          -------  ---                            -------
   86424            85682   1%                            4 files

$ unzip -v one*
Archive:  one.musx
  End-of-central-directory signature not found.  Either this file is not
  a zipfile, or it constitutes one disk of a multi-part archive.  In the
  latter case the central directory and zipfile comment will be found on
  the last disk(s) of this archive.

Re: Finale won't open file

Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 1:35 am
by motet
On further inspection, your file is not recoverable. Except for the beginning, it's all NULs.

Re: Finale won't open file

Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2018 10:37 am
by luckychrm9
Thanks for the help. I really appreciate the work you did.

I'm flabbergasted that a file I had JUST SAVED was full of emptiness. And how was the bakx file messed up as well? How does Finale allow such a bug? If I don't know how it happened, how can I prevent it in the future? I'm pretty much ready to deal with the headache of switching to Sibelius.

Again, I thank everyone for the comments. Now I have to try to remember the eight hours of brilliant work I lost :x

Dan

Re: Finale won't open file

Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 1:33 pm
by Vaughan
I know this is really annoying and it's indeed inexcusable. One small consolation: something I've invariably noticed when this happens to me is that redoing lost work always takes a fraction of the time it took the first time around.

Re: Finale won't open file

Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 1:43 pm
by Vaughan
P.S. Sibelius has its headaches, too. Check out Dorico. In most regards it has already left Finale (and Sibelius) far behind and those differences are only getting greater as the Dorico team is working quickly, diligently and intelligently on new features as well as refining the old ones. Sorry MM, but your snail-pace futzing in the margin is turning into slow suicide.