Input source vanished

[KenTatetsu]

Hello, can anyone set me back on the straight and narrow? I'm a non-techie newish user, and as I was opening audacity to send my 3rd (free) English lesson to china, a box came up saying something about a service I didn't have, and AUP. Sorry about my lack of technical clarity, but I hope someone must recognise the message. Something about double-clicking and projects.
I clicked 'yes' to receive, assuming more info would appear, but all that happened was my source input box greyed out and now I can't record. I've tried reading various advice till my brain greyed out too, but I'm sure the problem must be related to that little box.
Any solutions wd be received with gratitude!

[steve]

It's very difficult to diagnose the cause of the problem without knowing the exact error that Audacity reported.

I think the most likely cause is that Audacity lost some of the data for the project. It is important not to "clean up" files or move the project or data folders until you have safely finished the Audacity project and Exported your final audio file (usually as WAV or MP3).

Note - following these next steps will permanently trash any temporary Audacity files.

Try emptying the temporary directory. You can find the location of the temporary directory by looking in "Edit > Preferences > Directories"

If still no joy, you can "reset" Audacity to day 1 by using "Audacity reset Preferences .reg file for Windows" available from the bottom of this page: http://www.gaclrecords.org.uk/audacitydl.html
Save this .reg file to your drive, then double-click it and click "yes" when asked if you want to add the information to the Registry. This will reset most of your Audacity Preferences to safe default values.

[KenTatetsu]

Thanks very much Steve for your suggestions ..... I wish I could report success, but having found temp directory, I couldn't see how to empty it, so tried 2nd suggestion, but no change. Many thanks anyway.

PS I thought uninstalling and re-installing the prog. might help, but I get a message saying 'not all parts have been uninstalled, but this can be done manually' - no clues how to do it tho'! KT

[steve]

To empty the temporary directory, go to that directory, select everything in it, and press the "Delete" key.

The bits that do not get uninstalled automatically are the registry entry and possibly the Audacity folder within the "Program Files" folder.

Are you still getting that Error message? If so, what is it?

You could also try installing Audacity 1.3.5 ad see if that works. (One nice thing about version 1.3.5 is that it does not use the registry, so it is easier to clean up before a fresh install).