Two weeks ago my Audacity was recognized my my studio-only laptop. Then Windows snuck an “update” onto it and now, even the six Audacity recordings I successfully saved and have played on my home screen give me “This project was created with a newer version of Audacity. You will need to upgrade to open it”, which is NOT TRUE! I was doing fine with Audacity 3.2.1. When I try to go back and reload Audacity 3.2.1 now, it doesn’t work. What the _____ is going ON with Audacity? If I had an old reel-to-reel deck I’d never use Audacity or any other digital program for my music mixes or voice-overs; by the way it refused to recognize my new little Scarlet Solo also.
Windows does not update Audacity. You have to choose to update Audacity.
A possible explanation : somehow you have two different versions of Audacity on your computer, 3.2.1 and a later version. Accidentally launching the later version overwrites/corrupts “audacity.cfg” file making 3.2.1 unable to launch.
Possible solution: rename “audacity.cfg”, e.g. “audacity-old.cfg”, then launch Audacity 3.2.1.
Projects you made with the later version of Audacity 3 may not open on Audacity 3.2.1 , may not be backwards compatible.
If you want different versions of Audacity 3 on your computer, each must have it’s own “Portable Settings” folder, other wise they will share the same “audacity.cfg” file and corruption will ensue.