First of all, this is a nightmare. Why because: a) I hope my comments are being posted in the right forum. b) I don’t use Audacity Frequently at all. c) I wish there was a way to speak to somebody about my concerns by phone.
Hoping this is the right place to post my concerns, here is my problem:
To keep things short and to the point: Adobe Creative Cloud told me they weren’t able to solve my problem of getting me back into my Adobe account. So, I can have access to my Adobe Creative Cloud all apps. They tried many things which still failed to get me my normal access to Adobe CC. Eventually they told me, they’ve faced this similar problem before and advised me to have Microsoft ReInstall Windows on my computer. That was the advice of a senior tech support Adobe agent.
As I am also sure you can understand, this has created a great worry and concern for me. I am trying to do things right now calmly and with some degree of caution and preplanning of what is going to happen after I reinstall Windows on my computer.
I don’t know what I am going to have to do with my Audacity. I think I’ll have to download it again once I have the reinstalled version of Windows. However, I don’t know if I will still have access to any of my files created by the previous Audacity I had before I reinstalled Windows. I need to know what to do after I reinstall Windows on my computer. I also need to know if I will have any problems accessing or playing any files which I made and saved with Audacity before the reinstall of Windows on my computer.
Do you have all your work backed up on external drives or systems? Audacity hates external drives, but if it’s closed, you can push files around wherever you want.
If you have work from a very early Audacity, your Projects consist of two parts: An AUP project manager file and a _DATA folder with the actual sound fragments in it. Both of those need to be in the same location or folder on the internal drive for a show to open. No option.
Was there an event that started all this? A Windows Update? Breakin?
How old is all this stuff? Network problems? Adobe can get very testy if it can’t connect to the servers with proper quality and security.
Have you ever done a clean Windows Shutdown? Not Regular Shutdown or Restart.
Basically, Ctl-Alt-Del and hold SHIFT while you shut down.
Koz
I understand. It is a rarity these days to be able to do that with anything.
That does seem quite extreme just to solve an issue with Adobe software. You will have to reinstall all your software you have installed now not just Windows.
Very wise. The most important thing to realise is that you must back up ALL your data because reinstalling Windows will erase what is there now. Did you know that?
Only if you back up and restore the files you need. Preserving your Audacity projects is just one part of a wider issue.
Mark B
Kozikowski:
First, I tried to reply to your email, but the Postmaster at Outlook said that email was undeliverable. So, I am going to paste my response to you here in this forum. Thankfully, I had a copy of what I tried to send you via email in my Sent folder.
So here’s what I wrote you:
While I appreciate your attempt to email me back a response to my initial question, I found your email quite confusing to me.
I do backup my computer everyday automatically with an SSD, which has a schedule to backup my computer.
Look, to keep this simple, I just wanted to know if after I reinstall Windows on my computer and restore a most recent backup from my SSD to my computer, which has some of my Audacity audio files, then will I still be able to access those audio files? I think all I will have to do is: open Audacity, perhaps reinstall the program on my computer, and be able to access any audio file that was created with whatever version of Audacity made the audio file in the past couple of years.
Please don’t’ worry about my issues with Adobe CC or what I have already done to solve the problem of trying to get back into my Adobe account online. They want me to reinstall Windows on my computer. I am going to do this soon. I just want to make sure my access to any Audacity audio file will still be available to me.
Thank you
DA
Mark B:
Thank you for your reply.
Yes, I know this, and believe me I am quite peeved about it. But it is what it is and I have to deal with it.
Yes, I know that, and it is a major headache to have to contend with, but I am proceeding the best way I know how.
Make a note of the version of Audacity you’re using …
Reinstalling the same version will lower the odds of problems.
I suggest copying this Audacity folder
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\audacity
It contains your Audacity plugins and presets. Pasting it back into your reinstalled system should get you back to where you were.
Reinstalling Windows seems excessive, particularly when it’s cloud app, rather than software on your computer.
C:\Users<username>\AppData\Roaming\audacity
But where do I paste that string?
That’s the generic address of the hidden Audacity folder in the AppData folder, see …
https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/preferences.html#stored
Copy that Audacity folder* to preserve the state of your Audacity.
(* my Audacity folder is ~1Gb, I have a lot of plugins)
Reisntalling Windows does seem pretty extreme. Which version of Windows? Did we ever hit that?
You may be illustrating part of the problem. I didn’t send any emails. All my messages and responses are here on the forum.
I guess the forum may have copied my messages. The legacy forum used to allow us to intentionally contact the poster via email if needed, but I don’t know about this newer one.
Koz
Oh my goodness, this is so far over my head. Even when I try to know which username the string is referring to I get confused. Is it my email address or the name I use for this Audacity Forum? And I know you are really trying to be helpful, but much of what you are telling me is way over my immediate understanding. I just hope when I log back into Audacity after I’ve reinstalled Adobe CC that I don’t run into many problems.
I also feel like filing a claim against Adobe CC because of all this hassle. They should’ve been able to solve this situation without my need to go through this procedure.
I saved some of your previous recommendations, and I am also hoping that when I finally complete the task of reinstalling my Windows that this forum will still be accessible to me with my current username “Tonkda” I also found which version of Audacity is on my computer now: it is 3.7.3
I can’t keep this conversation going because it is distracting me from making progress checking out other icons on my desktop which I also have to look into what to do after the Windows reinstallation. Forgive me, but what I’ve learnt so far should be enough. If I need more assistance, then I will write in after I have Windows reinstalled. Thank you.
I guess the forum may have copied my messages. The legacy forum used to allow us to intentionally contact the poster via email if needed, but I don’t know about this newer one.
Look Koz (cool name); why I got an email indicating that you replied doesn’t matter. I am glad somehow the forum system lets me know that somebody–you–replied to my writing in this forum. I just learned that I can’t reply to that email; instead I have to return to this forum and reply there if necessary.
Which version of Windows?
I am using Windows 11 and Audacity 3.7.3 on my computer now.
I need to stop this correspondence now. I have learnt enough information from you and and Trebor. Hopefully after I am done with this annoying and overwhelming task of preparing myself for a reinstallation of Window on my computer: 1) My access to this forum will still be available to me under my username Tonkda. 2) If I need more assistance I will ask for it. 3) I will be able to get back into my Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps account. 4) I already asked Adobe billing to waive my next 1 year of charges for all this aggravation I have to go through. And I am starting to think even that request is nowhere near enough to ask for because they at Adobe should have been able to solve the problem I reported to them instead of making me accept this very extreme solution of having to reinstall Windows.
Have a nice day.
It’s a location on your computer that’s running Audacity.
Here’s mine, (i’ve blacked-out my Windows computer username) …
To make life more difficult, the “AppData” folder is a hidden folder.
You should check that your backup includes a copy this Audacity folder in AppData folder.
If not you should make a copy to so you can restore your customization of Audacity: your preferences, plugins, presets.
Before resorting to that that nuclear option, I would try a system restore to return a Windows operating system to a point in time before the (Adobe) problem occurred.
I would be resorting to the firecracker option of clean shutting down the machine, see above. If you do that and nothing happens, you haven’t lost anything. Wouldn’t you feel silly if you did the stiff, thorough shutdown and the problems vanished?
Koz
I assumed switching-it-off-and-on-again had been tried, when reinstalling OS was being contemplated.
See, that’s not what I said.
Nobody liked the delays and sloppy inconvenience when Windows machines “Really Shut Down.” So they don’t. Both Restart and Plain Shutdown leave a lot of stuff untouched and set for action. They are not the Burn It Off, Hose It Down, and Start Over they seem.
That Shift + Shutdown thing does reset everything and it takes longer. If you have Zoom sound settings or Multi-Player Game Settings getting stuck, for example, Clean Shutdown may be the only way to reliably clear that up.
There’s another one, too. Remember that adorable animation processor application you launched about three weeks ago, and is still running back there? Regular Shutdown may not touch that
Koz
Thanks for the laugh. But “Yes” turning it off and on again has been tried multiple times early on in this troubleshooting process. It did not solve the problem reported.
Koz: Please stop your correspondence on this matter. I have to focus my time right now on doing only what is necessary to help me solve the problem I reported. Thank you for trying to be helpful, but please stop participating in this thread. Thank you.
Trebor:
I have even suggested to Adobe CC Higher level tech support using this option: System Restore. However, they declined that option as a resolution to the problem I reported. Personally, speaking I thought that may have been the best option, but for some unknown reason to me they disagree. And I am guessing it has something to do with credential checking done between the Adobe CC program or app or whatever it is actually called and its ability to properly sync with my Windows 11 operating system.
But again, this stuff is so far over my head, I just don’t know what to think about it. I am just accepting their advice to reinstall my Windows 11, which is indeed a nuclear option.
That is a main reason why I am so peeved at them and disappointed about the process of spending the massive amount of time in both finding an attorney and filing a financial claim against them. That process in and of itself will massively impose itself on important time I need to place into my main business activities that has nothing to do with Adobe CC. It sucks! This process I am going through has already, taken away much time and energy I could have spent either making sales in my main business or advancing what I need to do in my own business projects.
Trebor: (Interesting name: what it means? I have no idea, but to me it means a man who is really trying to be helpful to me.) I kind of feel like I am learning stuff from an advanced Masters program about computers. Well, I hope I just made you smile!
However, back to business: I believe I was able to find the path to Audacity in my documents folder after going to users, etc. Now, if I am correct about that, then according to what you just said:
Then that has to wait until I do the last step in this process, which will be making a full backup of my computer and checking it has the copy of the Audacity folder in AppData folder. I hope it does, but if it does not then I think you are going to want me to copy all shown after \Roaming\audacity. Or just copying the audacity part of the string to a flash drive. I don’t know for sure, but I think I am on the right track here.