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ebiggs1
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Post by ebiggs1 » Wed Nov 18, 2020 2:57 pm

Yes to both! BTW, each time as this was number three. New d/l too. I also run Windows 10 maintenance and file restore and cleaned the registry.

Finale has started to reopen itself now. Save file, click "X" to close, all good but a few seconds later it starts back up.
Finale 27.4.1 - Perfect Layout Silver - Note Performer 4.4 - SmartScore Pro 64 - Windows 11
President, The Shawnee Concert Band, Composer/Arranger, retired Music Teacher.


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ebiggs1
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Post by ebiggs1 » Wed Nov 18, 2020 3:00 pm

From MM;
Please know that due to the overwhelming impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, our response time has been significantly delayed to a week or more in many cases. We appreciate your patience during this time and will respond as quickly as we are able. In the meantime, you can also search for answers on our Finale/Garritan Knowledge Base and Community Forums as well as our New SmartMusic Knowledge Base and Community Forums.
(emphasis is mine)
Finale 27.4.1 - Perfect Layout Silver - Note Performer 4.4 - SmartScore Pro 64 - Windows 11
President, The Shawnee Concert Band, Composer/Arranger, retired Music Teacher.

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zuill
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Post by zuill » Wed Nov 18, 2020 4:05 pm

On my last reported issue, I have had 3 or 4 follow-up emails to make sure that I was satisfied with the help. They are very responsive.

Zuill
Windows 10, Finale 2011-v26.3.1
"When all is said and done, more is said than done."

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motet
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Post by motet » Wed Nov 18, 2020 4:38 pm

Finale starting back up automatically could be because of a crash file in the temp directory.

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ebiggs1
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Post by ebiggs1 » Wed Nov 18, 2020 4:41 pm

Deleted all temp files and folders.

This laptop is brand new (well several months old now). The only other large program is has on it is Photoshop and Lightroom. It doesn't even have Office on it yet.

It has a SSD drive (very fast) plus a 2TB HD. It has 20GB of Ram.
Last edited by ebiggs1 on Wed Nov 18, 2020 4:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Finale 27.4.1 - Perfect Layout Silver - Note Performer 4.4 - SmartScore Pro 64 - Windows 11
President, The Shawnee Concert Band, Composer/Arranger, retired Music Teacher.

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ebiggs1
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Post by ebiggs1 » Wed Nov 18, 2020 4:42 pm

They are very responsive.
We'll see won't we?
Finale 27.4.1 - Perfect Layout Silver - Note Performer 4.4 - SmartScore Pro 64 - Windows 11
President, The Shawnee Concert Band, Composer/Arranger, retired Music Teacher.

bkrause
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Finale Version: 2014.5
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Post by bkrause » Fri Nov 20, 2020 5:54 pm

Just started getting this exam same error message, which automatically closes Finale (can't even get into any menus). Haven't tried all the steps the OP has outlined, but I guess I'll start with an uninstall/reinstall. This is happening with 2014.5, for me.

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ebiggs1
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Post by ebiggs1 » Fri Nov 20, 2020 6:05 pm

This is what MM suggested.
Here are the steps ....
1. Login to your test administrator account.
2. Close Finale
3. Press the WINDOWS key on your computer keyboard once to open the Start menu
4. Type or copy & paste the following:
• Programs and Features
5. Select the Programs and Features option that appears
6. In your Programs and Features list, right-click on "Finale", and then choose Uninstall
7. Hold down the WINDOWS key and type the letter "R" to open the Run dialog box
8. Type or copy & paste the following:
• C:\Program Files\MakeMusic\Finale
9. Click 'OK'
10. Find and delete the "26" folder. (If you have any personal files saved here, be sure to remove them first.)
11. Hold down the WINDOWS key and type the letter "R" to open the Run dialog box
12. Type or copy & paste the following:
• %appdata%\MakeMusic
13. Click OK
14. Delete the "Finale 26" folder. (If you have any personal files saved here, be sure to remove them first)
15. Empty the Recycle Bin
16. Restart the computer
17. Re-install Finale by downloading it from your MakeMusic account
Of course this is for my Finale 26 version so you will need to do whatever you need for 2014. Make sure you have latest version of 2014.
Finale 27.4.1 - Perfect Layout Silver - Note Performer 4.4 - SmartScore Pro 64 - Windows 11
President, The Shawnee Concert Band, Composer/Arranger, retired Music Teacher.

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zuill
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Post by zuill » Fri Nov 20, 2020 6:08 pm

ebiggs1:

Did those steps from MM solve the problem?

Zuill
Windows 10, Finale 2011-v26.3.1
"When all is said and done, more is said than done."

bkrause
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Post by bkrause » Fri Nov 20, 2020 6:14 pm

If I'm understanding correctly, those instructions are basically: 1) uninstall Finale 2) delete the Finale "X" folder in Program Files 3) delete the Finale "X" folder in AppData and 4) reboot

?

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ebiggs1
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Post by ebiggs1 » Fri Nov 20, 2020 6:21 pm

You need to completely remove any instance of Finale from you computer. Just using the Windows uninstall does not completely remove it.
Finale 27.4.1 - Perfect Layout Silver - Note Performer 4.4 - SmartScore Pro 64 - Windows 11
President, The Shawnee Concert Band, Composer/Arranger, retired Music Teacher.

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ebiggs1
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Post by ebiggs1 » Fri Nov 20, 2020 6:23 pm

Be warned! This will remove your plug-ins folder so if you have any paid for plug-ins, make sure you have a backup for them. ALso if you don't have a seperate folder for your music back it up too.
Finale 27.4.1 - Perfect Layout Silver - Note Performer 4.4 - SmartScore Pro 64 - Windows 11
President, The Shawnee Concert Band, Composer/Arranger, retired Music Teacher.

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zuill
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Post by zuill » Fri Nov 20, 2020 6:36 pm

The locations are slightly different for 2014.5. For example, Finale is in Program Files (x86) and not Program Files. I'm sure there are other differences as well.

Zuill
Windows 10, Finale 2011-v26.3.1
"When all is said and done, more is said than done."

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motet
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Post by motet » Fri Nov 20, 2020 8:05 pm

Program Files (x86) is supposed to be for 32-bit applications, Program Files for 64-bit, but I'm not sure that's enforced or makes much sense.

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zuill
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Post by zuill » Fri Nov 20, 2020 8:24 pm

Aren't 2014.5 and earlier 32-bit?

Zuill
Windows 10, Finale 2011-v26.3.1
"When all is said and done, more is said than done."

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motet
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Post by motet » Fri Nov 20, 2020 11:24 pm

Right. Just describing Microsoft's logic, not contradicting you.

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ebiggs1
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Post by ebiggs1 » Sat Nov 21, 2020 12:42 am

The reason for the "Program files (x86)" folder is to eliminate the risk or chance of having both 32-bit and 64-bit installs of the same program. Their installation files could create conflicts and issue problems. Other than that it makes no difference.
Finale 27.4.1 - Perfect Layout Silver - Note Performer 4.4 - SmartScore Pro 64 - Windows 11
President, The Shawnee Concert Band, Composer/Arranger, retired Music Teacher.

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motet
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Post by motet » Sat Nov 21, 2020 2:43 am

Makes sense.

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zuill
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Post by zuill » Sat Nov 21, 2020 4:23 am

I am still not seeing a report from ebiggs1 that the instructions actually do work to fix the error message problem. Did I miss something?

Zuill
Windows 10, Finale 2011-v26.3.1
"When all is said and done, more is said than done."

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ebiggs1
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Post by ebiggs1 » Sat Nov 21, 2020 4:52 pm

You didn't miss anything I had not had the opportunity to do the fourth re-re-re-install. It takes my DSL about an hour to d/l Finale 26 installation file. I have now done that. When you do an uninstall like the instructions says, it deletes all your Finale related folders. This includes the plug-ins folder. The first thought was the plug-ins form JW were the culprit.

This procedure, this time, for what ever reason, did permit the dll to load. Why 4 times? I have no idea. The JW plug-ins are also now reinstalled (new d/l) seem to not be affecting it either. Again why? MM's last reasoning after this is a permissions issue. Again why, it worked is a mystery to me. What permission changed?

That is the extent of the MM response so far and since this is Saturday I doubt I will get any further explanation until Monday.

My desktop running the same Windows 10 and the same Finale 26 version and my old laptop, same set-up, never displayed this issue. My same account as administrator on each machine is the same. Same, same, why?
Finale 27.4.1 - Perfect Layout Silver - Note Performer 4.4 - SmartScore Pro 64 - Windows 11
President, The Shawnee Concert Band, Composer/Arranger, retired Music Teacher.

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ebiggs1
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Post by ebiggs1 » Mon Nov 23, 2020 4:27 pm

Here is my reply just to update and MM reply.
The re-re-install seems to have worked. It works on either the test account or my Ernie Biggs account. I reinstalled the JW plug-ins, too. Why does, or is this, happening to me? Since you said I had the problem before? This laptop is brand new. It only has Finale and Photoshop on it. It doesn't even have Office yet.
I have the same exact set-up on my desktop and it is not having this issue. The laptop didn't have it either at first.
EB
Latest response from MM.
Glad to hear the issue seems to be resolved!

I believe your previous ticket a few years ago was an entirely different issue caused by the plug-ins, and this issue was resolved in Finale v25.4. I thought it was the same initially because I saw the same error message in your ticket. It seems your current issue was caused by a broken permission on your user account. User account issues are relatively common, but it's hard to say what caused the user account issue. In any case, reinstalling on the test user account seems to have fixed the user account issue. You should be good to go!

Until MM brought up the incident from several years ago I had forgotten it. I don't recall now but I assume I did the same uninstall and reinstall then as now. However, then it was a Finale vs JW plug-in problem. Apparently MM doesn't know why the permissions was broken.

My question now becomes, if you encounter this issue, do you have to create a new user account to fix it? Remember I did the same uninstall three (3) times before I contacted MM tech. However, I did it under my normal account which is the only one on that laptop.

And, I might add I use several other high end software like SMartscore Pro 64, Photoshop, Lightroom and Office, others, that don't seem to lose permissions? Anyway Finale works now.
Finale 27.4.1 - Perfect Layout Silver - Note Performer 4.4 - SmartScore Pro 64 - Windows 11
President, The Shawnee Concert Band, Composer/Arranger, retired Music Teacher.

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ebiggs1
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Post by ebiggs1 » Mon Nov 23, 2020 4:35 pm

On my last reported issue, I have had 3 or 4 follow-up emails to make sure that I was satisfied with the help. They are very responsive.
Zuill
It is only fair to say, MM was responsive and fairly quick in replying. So, I give them a Gold Star for that.
star.jpg
star.jpg (11.93 KiB) Viewed 4068 times
I don't know if the issue is completely resolved or not but if it only happens every four or five years it ain't so bad. Kinda a pain to do the uninstall and reinstall (many times) to fix it however.
Finale 27.4.1 - Perfect Layout Silver - Note Performer 4.4 - SmartScore Pro 64 - Windows 11
President, The Shawnee Concert Band, Composer/Arranger, retired Music Teacher.

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ebiggs1
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Post by ebiggs1 » Tue Nov 24, 2020 3:46 pm

Here is the full text for anyone else that may experience this issue. This is from latest to oldest, so you don't have to go all the way back to see the remedy. The key difference here it seems is, you need to create a new user account. A simple, by that I mean a complete, re-install isn't good enough sometimes. Hope it helps.
EB

MM
Yes, cleanly reinstalling Finale is a good first step to take when running into a DLL error message. If simply reinstalling on the normal user account doesn't work, the next step is to see what happens in a new user account. This helps to narrow down the issue to user account permissions. If Finale launches correctly on the new user account, then reinstalling it on that account typically resolves the issue on the normal user account as well.

Best,
Austin W
EB
OK, Austin thanx so much, again, it seems for the advice. What I am learning form this, and hopefully I can remember this time is, if it happens again my remedy is to completely uninstall and reinstall? However, as I think I explained I did do that 3 times before the last time? Are you saying that I must do it under a “New Account” each time?
Ernie Biggs
MM
Glad to hear the issue seems to be resolved!

I believe your previous ticket a few years ago was an entirely different issue caused by the plug-ins, and this issue was resolved in Finale v25.4. I thought it was the same initially because I saw the same error message in your ticket. It seems your current issue was caused by a broken permission on your user account. User account issues are relatively common, but it's hard to say what caused the user account issue. In any case, reinstalling on the test user account seems to have fixed the user account issue. You should be good to go!

Best,
Austin W.
EB
The re-re-install seems to have worked. It works on either the test account or my Ernie Biggs account. I reinstalled the JW plug-ins, too. Why does, or is this, happening to me? Since you said I had the problem before? This laptop is brand new. It only has Finale and Photoshop on it. It doesn't even have Office yet.
I have the same exact set-up on my desktop and it is not having this issue. The laptop didn't have it either at first.
Ernie Biggs
MM
Hi Ernest,
Looking back at your ticket from a few years ago, although it started with the same error message, it looks like it was caused by an issue that was resolved in v25.4. It looks like the plug-ins did not cause your current issue in v26, so we can disregard that.

The fact that you do not receive the dll error message when logged into the test user account indicates a permissions issue on your normal user account. I'd like to attempt a clean reinstall while logged into the test user account. Hopefully, this will resolve the permissions issue back on the normal user account.

Here are the steps again.
1. Login to your test administrator account.
2. Close Finale
3. Press the WINDOWS key on your computer keyboard once to open the Start menu
4. Type or copy & paste the following:
• Programs and Features
5. Select the Programs and Features option that appears
6. In your Programs and Features list, right-click on "Finale", and then choose Uninstall
7. Hold down the WINDOWS key and type the letter "R" to open the Run dialog box
8. Type or copy & paste the following:
• C:\Program Files\MakeMusic\Finale
9. Click 'OK'
10. Find and delete the "26" folder. (If you have any personal files saved here, be sure to remove them first.)
11. Hold down the WINDOWS key and type the letter "R" to open the Run dialog box
12. Type or copy & paste the following:
• %appdata%\MakeMusic
13. Click OK
14. Delete the "Finale 26" folder. (If you have any personal files saved here, be sure to remove them first)
15. Empty the Recycle Bin
16. Restart the computer
17. Re-install Finale by downloading it from your MakeMusic account

After reinstalling, log back into your normal user account and launch Finale. Let me know how this goes!

Best,
Austin W.
EB
I did the reinstall just like you pointed out. I have done it several times so it is matter of fact.
The new "test" account worked. It loaded the .dll. I don't remember this happening but you said it did so it must have.
What did we do the last time ? The exact same plug-ins are on my desktop and there is no problem.
Ernie Biggs
MM
Hi Ernest,
Thanks for contacting MakeMusic Customer Support. Please accept my apology for the delay in responding. Due to many factors related to the COVID19 pandemic, our team has been overwhelmed with a large backlog of support tickets, and as a result our response time has been significantly delayed. I hope this email finds you well, and I appreciate your patience as we look into this matter.

I see that you encountered the same error message a few years ago with Finale v25. It looks like it was ultimately attributed to the JW Plug-ins, but before we go that route, I'd like to verify some details.

Would you please confirm that you followed these steps exactly when reinstalling Finale? To be sure, I'd recommend following these clean reinstall steps one more time. The steps change slightly with each version of Finale.
1. You will need to be logged in to this computer on a user account that has full administrative rights
2. Close Finale
3. Press the WINDOWS key on your computer keyboard once to open the Start menu
4. Type or copy & paste the following:
• Programs and Features
5. Select the Programs and Features option that appears
6. In your Programs and Features list, right-click on "Finale", and then choose Uninstall
7. Hold down the WINDOWS key and type the letter "R" to open the Run dialog box
8. Type or copy & paste the following:
• C:\Program Files\MakeMusic\Finale
9. Click 'OK'
10. Find and delete the "26" folder. (If you have any personal files saved here, be sure to remove them first.)
11. Hold down the WINDOWS key and type the letter "R" to open the Run dialog box
12. Type or copy & paste the following:
• %appdata%\MakeMusic
13. Click OK
14. Delete the "Finale 26" folder. (If you have any personal files saved here, be sure to remove them first)
15. Empty the Recycle Bin
16. Restart the computer
17. Re-install Finale by downloading it from your MakeMusic account

If the issue persists after reinstalling, I would like to test what happens in a new user account. Please follow the steps below to create a test user account. Launch Finale, and let me know if the 2012 File Converter DLL error message appears or not.
1. Click on the Start menu (Windows icon in the lower-left corner of your screen) and select 'Settings' (sometimes looks like a gear icon)
2. Click on 'Accounts', then select 'Other people'
3. Select 'Add someone else to this PC'
4. The resulting window will prompt you for an email. Click on 'I don't have this persons sign-in information'
5. At the bottom of the 'Let's create your account' window, select 'Add a user without a Microsoft account'
6. On the Create an account for this PC window, type in the username "Test" and create a password for the account. When you are finished, click 'Next'
7. Under 'Other people', select the new "Test" account and click the 'Change account type' button.
8. In the drop-down menu change the account type to "Administrator" and click 'OK'
9. Restart your computer, and log into the account you had just created.
10. Open the application and test to see if your issue is resolved.

Best,
Austin W.
EB
When starting Finale 26.3 it can not load 2012 file converter.dll. Tried three uninstalls and reinstalls. Completely deleted Finale form the HD. Run Windows 10 repair tools. On occasion it restarts Finale by itself. i don't use the converter an dall seems ok but it is annoying to see each time Finale is started. This is on my brand new laptop. My desktop runs Finale 26 perfectly. Ernie Biggs
Finale 27.4.1 - Perfect Layout Silver - Note Performer 4.4 - SmartScore Pro 64 - Windows 11
President, The Shawnee Concert Band, Composer/Arranger, retired Music Teacher.

Paul Inwood
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Finale Version: Finale 27.3
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Post by Paul Inwood » Mon Jun 14, 2021 9:02 pm

ebiggs1 wrote:
Tue Nov 17, 2020 5:53 pm
The 2012 dll is not needed, I believe, for operation of Finale.
I don't use it and I have not seen any other issue with Finale because of it. It is just an annoyance.
Well, I am seeing it all the time and it is a serious annoyance. I now cannot see any files created with any version earlier than Finale 2014. Since I have files going all the way back to Finale 2 in 1991, this is hampering my work big time

Files created in 2014, 25 and 26.3 will display, though I get the error message now when I open any file. The application tells me that my version, 26.3.5.120 is the latest version. Maybe this latest update is what is causing the problem.

I'm also getting lots of emails inviting me to upgrade to 27. Perhaps this current dysfunctionality is a way of forcing people to buy it. If so, it needs to be called out.

Paul Inwood
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu Nov 14, 2013 5:17 pm
Finale Version: Finale 27.3
Operating System: Windows

Post by Paul Inwood » Mon Jun 14, 2021 9:51 pm

Happy to report that a reinstall did the trick!

Incidentally, the instructions from Make Music for uninstalling further up the thread are labyrinthine and unnecessary. Simply go into Control Panel, Programs -> Uninstall, right click on Finale, and bingo. Very simple. No need to empty the Recycle Bin either.

After restarting the computer, I found the installer application in my downloads folder (this computer is only four months old) and was able to reinstall without having to spend an hour downloading the file again from Make Music.

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