Moneydance says my file is corrupt
James Fleming
This morning when I tried to open Moneydance I was asked to sign
up for an email newsletter, which I did. But then the program would
not open. I got a screen giving a choice of creating a new file,
opening an existing file or importing a file. I chose open existing
but my file was not visible! I could see it in Windows Explorer but
not this Moneydance introduction screen! So I opened a new file
that I called MoneyTest. Then I tried opening my proper file using
File/Open but the system says it is corrupt. So I copied that file
to another location and then copied my backup of that file from my
external hard drive. But Moneydance says that IT is corrupt too!
Aaaagh! Moneydance is offereing to restore from backups, but they
are more than a year old. I have attached a screen dump.
Also, Moneydance is now saying that it is in demo mode, when It is
a registered copy for at least 2 years!
I read the Forum discussion here:
http://help.infinitekind.com/discussions/problems/931-program-wont-....
I tried the work around solution but it didn't work.
By the way, I frequently synchonise Moneydance on my laptop with my
iPhone, so the data should be on the iPhone somewhere.
I am running Windows Vista Version 6 Build 6002 on a Dell XPS13
laptop. My Program list includes Java 6 Update 27 and Java 7 Update
4 and Java FX 2.1.0.
Thanks
Jim
- Screendump.doc 164 KB
Support Staff 2 Posted by Jessica Little on 18 Jun, 2012 12:02 PM
Hi Jim,
It looks like there might be a problem with the permissions on either your Moneydance file or the folder that you are saving the file to. If you move your file to your Desktop, does it work, or is it still corrupted?
Jessica Little
Moneydance Support
3 Posted by James Fleming on 18 Jun, 2012 01:54 PM
Thanks Jessica
I moved the file to the desktop and double clicked it. I get a "Getting Started with Moneydance" box giving three options (new file, open file or import data). After I choose open existing file and click on the relevant file I get the following error message
Error: java.lang.Exception: Invalid data format or file corrupted
Thanks Jim
Support Staff 4 Posted by Jessica Little on 18 Jun, 2012 03:23 PM
Hi Jim,
First, close Moneydance. Then, under your C:\User\Jim folder, you should see a folder called ".moneydance" (note the dot). Rename that folder to something else (like .moneydance-old). Then, restart Moneydance. You should be asked to find your file again, but hopefully this time it will open and you will be able to save your license key.
Jessica Little
Moneydance Support
5 Posted by James Fleming on 19 Jun, 2012 01:12 AM
Thanks Jessica
I am now back up and running; thank you very much.
I was not able to rename the .moneydance folder, so I just moved it. That did not solve the problem immediately. But I found that I was able to restore my second-to-last backup file. Whew!
I have since done a successful synch with my iPhone, so everything seems to be OK once again.
Thanks again
Jim
6 Posted by J Williams on 02 Aug, 2012 11:54 PM
I am having a similar problem. I recently got a new computer and had to move my moneydance files from my old computer to the new one. I included the backup files in the transfer, but now I can not seem to get money dance to recognize them.
I was getting the "The file 'Finances.md' is corrupt or missing. It can be restored from backup(s). Please select one from the following." error, so I made sure I was trying to open a .md (as opposed to one of the backups that reads .md2012-05-12).
Once I started using the .md, I am getting an an error that says "Error: java.lang.Exception: Invalid data format or file corrupted" and I still can't open my file.
I tried the solutions listed above (renaming/moving the .moneydance folder) but it did not do any good.
I am running Windows 7 and my java is up to date.
Please help!
Thank you! - J
Support Staff 7 Posted by Scott Meehan on 03 Aug, 2012 01:18 AM
Hi J williams,
Do you still have access to the computer where your original files were stored? If so, I would suggest trying to copy them over again (using a different method than the method you used before) and see if that fixes the corruption.
Also, what operating system, version of Moneydance, and version of Java are you now using, and what were you using before? The version of Java and version of Moneydance can be found by going to Help -> About Moneydance.
Scott Meehan
Moneydance Support