can't load backup Audacity files on new computer [SOLVED]

jhundt · February 7, 2018, 3:51pm

I had a laptop w/ Windows 7 and a version of Audacity, I don’t know the number. I believe it was in the 2.x.x series. That computer recently died, but I had all my files backed up on an external drive. I have transferred all of my Audacity files to the new computer hard-drive.

My new computer has Windows 10 Pro. I have downloaded and installed Audacity 2.2.1. Now I can not load any of my backup files.

Audacity will open, and I can start a new file. I have imported an mp3 file successfully. But every time I try to open one of my Audacity files I receive a message that Audacity has stopped working. The only option available is to close the program.

I searched here for solutions, but I have not found an answer yet. There was a suggestion to erase .cgi files. I tried that and it did not change anything.

I went to the event viewer, and got the following report on one of the failed attempts:

Log Name:      Application
Source:        Application Error
Date:          2/7/2018 9:56:47 AM
Event ID:      1000
Task Category: (100)
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      DESKTOP-LK2IM54
Description:
Faulting application name: audacity.exe, version: 2.2.1.0, time stamp: 0x5a280ee8
Faulting module name: MSVCR120.dll, version: 12.0.21005.1, time stamp: 0x524f7ce6
Exception code: 0xc0000409
Fault offset: 0x000a46a9
Faulting process id: 0x240c
Faulting application start time: 0x01d39ff06e90bbed
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Audacity\audacity.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Audacity\MSVCR120.dll
Report Id: 64e1a2d0-6f57-40a1-9684-02c17e436ffc
Faulting package full name: 
Faulting package-relative application ID: 
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="Application Error" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>100</Task>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2018-02-07T08:56:47.152481200Z" />
    <EventRecordID>2530</EventRecordID>
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>DESKTOP-LK2IM54</Computer>
    <Security />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data>audacity.exe</Data>
    <Data>2.2.1.0</Data>
    <Data>5a280ee8</Data>
    <Data>MSVCR120.dll</Data>
    <Data>12.0.21005.1</Data>
    <Data>524f7ce6</Data>
    <Data>c0000409</Data>
    <Data>000a46a9</Data>
    <Data>240c</Data>
    <Data>01d39ff06e90bbed</Data>
    <Data>C:\Program Files (x86)\Audacity\audacity.exe</Data>
    <Data>C:\Program Files (x86)\Audacity\MSVCR120.dll</Data>
    <Data>64e1a2d0-6f57-40a1-9684-02c17e436ffc</Data>
    <Data>
    </Data>
    <Data>
    </Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>

Log Name:      Application
Source:        Application Error
Date:          2/7/2018 9:56:47 AM
Event ID:      1000
Task Category: (100)
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      DESKTOP-LK2IM54
Description:
Faulting application name: audacity.exe, version: 2.2.1.0, time stamp: 0x5a280ee8
Faulting module name: MSVCR120.dll, version: 12.0.21005.1, time stamp: 0x524f7ce6
Exception code: 0xc0000409
Fault offset: 0x000a46a9
Faulting process id: 0x240c
Faulting application start time: 0x01d39ff06e90bbed
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Audacity\audacity.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Audacity\MSVCR120.dll
Report Id: 64e1a2d0-6f57-40a1-9684-02c17e436ffc
Faulting package full name: 
Faulting package-relative application ID: 
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="Application Error" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>100</Task>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2018-02-07T08:56:47.152481200Z" />
    <EventRecordID>2530</EventRecordID>
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>DESKTOP-LK2IM54</Computer>
    <Security />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data>audacity.exe</Data>
    <Data>2.2.1.0</Data>
    <Data>5a280ee8</Data>
    <Data>MSVCR120.dll</Data>
    <Data>12.0.21005.1</Data>
    <Data>524f7ce6</Data>
    <Data>c0000409</Data>
    <Data>000a46a9</Data>
    <Data>240c</Data>
    <Data>01d39ff06e90bbed</Data>
    <Data>C:\Program Files (x86)\Audacity\audacity.exe</Data>
    <Data>C:\Program Files (x86)\Audacity\MSVCR120.dll</Data>
    <Data>64e1a2d0-6f57-40a1-9684-02c17e436ffc</Data>
    <Data>
    </Data>
    <Data>
    </Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>

Can anyone give me advice?

DVDdoug · February 7, 2018, 4:49pm

I assume you’re talking about AUP project files?

Did you “restore” the files to the same file/folder structure? Things can get messed-up if you move the files around. [u]Here[/u] is some information about Audacity project files that might help.

…For future reference - It’s a good idea to back-up to WAV (or FLAC) files because it’s a single file and it’s less likely to get messed-up. There’s no harm in backing-up the Audacity project, but it’s also a good idea to save/back-up your audio files. It depends on what you’re doing, but most of the time I’m doing “simple stuff” and don’t even bother making an AUP project… I just export to WAV (and sometimes MP3).

jhundt · February 7, 2018, 7:19pm

I didn’t change anything about the Audacity files. I took the whole folder of Audacity projects and copied it as-is into the new machine.

kozikowski · February 7, 2018, 9:40pm

I didn’t change anything about the Audacity files.

And just so we’re not talking past each other, each project or show looks like this example, right?

It’s a series of matched sets?

Koz

jhundt · February 8, 2018, 7:19am

yes, just like that.

jhundt · February 9, 2018, 6:40pm

so I guess nobody has any suggestions?

steve · February 9, 2018, 7:32pm

I think the lack of replies indicates no ideas about why this is happening.
What happens if you do the following:

Launch Audacity
Generate a 30 second “Chirp” (“Generate” menu)
File menu > Save Project → Save the project to your Desktop with the name “testproject” (without quotes).
You should now have a file on your Desktop called “testprojet.aup” and a folder called “testproject_data”.
Close Audacity.
Launch Audacity
“File menu > Open”, navigate to the Desktop and select “testproject.aup”

jhundt · February 10, 2018, 8:30am

I solved it. The problem was not in Audacity itself, but in the way Windows backup files were transferred and restored from another computer. It has something to do with ‘ownership’ and ‘permissions’, of which in computer-file context I have little knowledge or understanding.

Each Audacity project consists of two items, as we agreed above. Those are 1) the Audacity file, and 2) the corresponding data-file folder.

I found that I could copy the Audacity file and paste it into another location. But when I tried to do that with the data-file folder I received a warning message that reads:

File Access Denied
You’ll need to provide administrator permission to copy this file.

There is also a check-box labelled “do this for all current items”.

After ticking that box I clicked on “continue” and the copy process went on to completion. The copied project opens just as it is supposed to on the Audacity program.

I created a new folder which I called “NEW audacity projects” and copied into it each folder from my original “Audacity projects” folder. Each time I went through the procedure described above, and all files are now working.

It may be that I could have copied the entire “Audacity projects” folder in one single event; I chose to do one folder at a time because it was still an experiment, and I don’t have so many projects.

Thanks for your replies. Can the moderator please edit this thread to read “SOLVED” in the title?