* Windows 11 issue

[Little.auk]

I have just upgraded to from Windows 10 to Windows 11 - (attempts after previous invitations to do so failed - but this latest invitation worked).

I am using OneDrive and have FH on both PC and Laptop, so I am using Directory Junctions to synchronise the two.

After installing Windows 11 I had to re-install the directory junctions, which worked fine, and had to refresh the FH Projects links - which also seemed to have worked, however, I am getting, intermittent messages from FH that I need to save changes made by an external program. I have not been making changes, other than running a couple of queries where I have changed the "Rows" Filter.

Sorry haven't made a screen clip will upload one next time it happens -

Has anyone else come across this problem?

[ColeValleyGirl]

Unexpected conflicted copy in OneDrive (21004) may be related, or it may not be.

[NickWalker]

Can you explain your usage of directory junctions. I'm not clear if you're using that term to refer to the behaviour described in the paragraph below or whether you're doing something else? If you're doing something different, what is the reason for that?

On my computers I use OneDrive with the recommended 'Backup Important PC Folders' feature. This ensures that the Documents, Pictures and Desktop folders are all stored in my one drive. From a technical viewpoint, to do this Windows creates a folder redirection so that the Documents, Desktop and Pictures standard folders all point at the OneDrive version of these folders.

This means that on all of computers I'm using the same OneDrive documents, pictures and desktop synchronised between them. In the case of FH, because it saves projects to the document folder by default this means the project is automatically saved in OneDrive. So If I save the project on my PC and then login to my laptop there will be a little bit of time while the OneDrive cloud icon in the system tray on my laptop will show that it is checking for changes and synchronising but generally within a minute or two the synchronisation is complete.

However, if you begin to view the project on the laptop before the sync has completed then you would experience the issue you've reported. i.e. the project has been opened on the laptop in FH and then while you're viewing it the changes made on the PC get synchronised to the laptop. The date/time of the file on the laptop changes and therefore FH shows the message warning it has been updated by an external program (in this case the OneDrive sync client).

I hope this helps!

Nick

[tatewise]

Peter, are you only running FH on one PC at a time?
If FH is running simultaneously on both PC then that message is what I would expect due to AutoSave every 5 minutes, which even on a dormant FH sometimes seems to perform a Save.

[NickWalker]

Peter, are you only running FH on one PC at a time?
If FH is running simultaneously on both PC then that message is what I would expect due to AutoSave every 5 minutes, which even on a dormant FH sometimes seems to perform a Save.

That's not my experience at all Mike. I often have FH running in the background for long periods while I add data to Ancestral Sources and I have rarely had an unexpected FH save. There must be something that FH is doing that it thinks it needs to save to the GEDCOM file so I wonder what that is.

But yes of course it's worth adding to the advice I gave that you should make sure you save the project in FH on the PC before moving to the laptop (or vice versa) and if in doubt, close FH too.

[Mark1834]

I suspect that Peter might be using Directory Junctions in a similar way to my setup. I have an additional FH folder in OneDrive, with subfolders for plugins, custom queries, and fact sets. These are mapped to the appropriate locations in C:\ProgramData\Calico Pie\Family Historian on the individual PCs using directory junctions.

This setup keeps most of the common settings elements backed up and synchronised automatically without having to faff about with a separate backup/restore process.

With a relatively slow 4G internet connection (typically about 10-15 Mb/s in each direction - FTTP coming next month, hopefully...) I find that the slow step is not syncing the GEDCOM file, but the ThumbCache.dat file. If I turn the PC off directly after closing FH, I often have to wait a minute or two for uploads to complete.

[Little.auk]

To answer some of the questions -
"Unexpected conflicted copy in OneDrive (21004)" is not relevant to my issue, that implies two copies that do not agree. In my case it is saying that there are changes in FH that have not yet been saved to the Gedcom file.

I don't use Dropbox so that is not an issue, and my Internet provider is Virgin Media, so data transfer speed is not an issue. Anyway, I have OneDrive set to keep copies of all files in the FH Project folders on my PC, so I can work on them even if the Internet connection goes down.

I only run FH on one computer at a time, 95%+ it is my PC (large screen, proper keyboard) - My laptop is only used if I am away from home.

The best explanation of the use of Directory Junctions, and why they are needed, is in the FH Knowledge Base under "Synchronising data with the Internet" at https://fhug.org.uk/kb/kb-article/synch ... junctions/ - I have to use them to synchronise Plugins, Queries, Reports and Source Templates via the cloud.

I have been using these links for at least twelve months now without any problem, however, I did get these messages on Windows 10 when returning to FH after creating and saving sources using AS - I had assumed this was normal.

In the current scenario I am now also getting the message when exiting FH, when I have not been using AS.

[Jane]

In your original post you said

FH that I need to save changes made by an external program

in your most recent post you said

it is saying that there are changes in FH that have not yet been saved to the Gedcom file

These are two completely different messages with different causes, can you confirm which one you are getting.

The latter one could be that Autosave is off or you made some changes and have not yet hit Save, if you are opening projects which have not been saved in the current FH version it's possible they need resaving.

[Little.auk]

These are two completely different messages with different causes, can you confirm which one you are getting.

Since upgrading to Windows 11 I have received both. Autosave is set to every 5 minutes and to autosave on close.

I only have one project, and I have only ever used FH 7 so no issue there. The only "external program" I use is AS, and I had not been using that when the messages occurred.

[Little.auk]

Thanks everyone for your input - I am posting now to close this thread - as I have now identified the cause of the unhandled exception problem!
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Unhandled Exception.jpg (25.73 KiB) Viewed 590 times

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For many years I have used a pen tablet in preference to a mouse. The pen has three programmable "button" actions,

Tapping the tip (set to single left click),
Pressing a "left" button (set to double left click)
Pressing a "right" button (set to single right click)

Using Windows 10 a "left" pen click on an icon (double left click) opened the item, however, I have now discovered that, with Windows 11 the double left click now opens two copies! So, unknowingly, I have been opening TWO copies of FH with a single click of the pen! I then end up working on the second instance.
When I exit FH, if there is data that has not saved, I get the "save" message before closing, and when the second instance does close, the first instance gives the unhandled exception error!

A simple edit of the "left" button action to "single click" has solved the problem.

The opening and closing is so quick and seamless, that it is not noticeable that two instances have been opened or closed.

The Windows 10 taskbar display showed an "overlapping" icon if two or more copies were open (e.g. Word documents), but Windows 11 simply shows a blue dot, which turns into a wider bar - not quite as clear an indication, and easy to miss!