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jean
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Spinning ring and failure to launch Empty Spinning ring and failure to launch

Fri Jan 14, 2022 1:44 am
I've used Stickies for many years and even managed to transfer my notes to my new Windows 11 computer. (It replicated notes but otherwise worked fine.) Suddenly, a month in, it's not working. I can make it show desktop notes but it won't cooperate when I want to Manage Stickies, Settings, or do anything. "Not responding." "Encountered improper argument" came up on one try. I have reinstalled a couple of times. Toyed with uninstalling first but fear losing my database altogether and since I don't know really how I managed to transfer the notes I fear losing them. I'm not very technical!
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OldGrantonian
Posts : 55
Join date : 2018-06-09

Spinning ring and failure to launch Empty Re: Spinning ring and failure to launch

Fri Jan 14, 2022 10:30 am
jean wrote: 
I have reinstalled a couple of times. Toyed with uninstalling first but fear losing my database altogether 

I'm fairly sure that uninstalling ANY program does not automatically delete data. Either:

 - The prog doesn't ask if you want to save. In that case, it will leave your data alone.
or
 - The prog asks, and you reply Yes/No.

Anyway it's easy to backup your notes. R-click on yellow icon in sys tray. Select "Stickies Help" > Backup > User backups

The paragraph after that shows you how to Restore.

After that, you can try uninstall followed by re-install.

BTW:  Is your Stickies version on Win 11 the same as you used on Win 10 on your old computer? If not, don't install the newer version on Win 11. 

Instead, do it in stages. In other words, install the same version as for Win 10. 

If all is OK, upgrade to the latest version of Stickies.

BTW2:  Don't give anyone your old computer. Keep it for a few months until you break in your new computer.

So, in that case, you can continue using Stickies on your old computer until you sort out the issue in your OP.

Added:  Personally, if I were uninstalling Stickies on the new machine, I would also delete its corresponding database. (But back it up first, using the steps above.)

That means you are rolling back to a previously satisfactory state. So you can start all over again.


Last edited by OldGrantonian on Fri Jan 14, 2022 10:52 am; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : Adding some info on uninstalling Stickies)
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jean
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Join date : 2022-01-14

Spinning ring and failure to launch Empty Re: Spinning ring and failure to launch

Fri Jan 14, 2022 12:07 pm
Thanks for your reply. "Anyway it's easy to backup your notes. R-click on yellow icon in sys tray. Select "Stickies Help" > Backup > User backups." Problem is I can't open Stickies Help when I select it, or any of the other menu items.
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OldGrantonian
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Spinning ring and failure to launch Empty Re: Spinning ring and failure to launch

Fri Jan 14, 2022 12:36 pm
You can manually copy the database file to any safe location.

On a Win 10 machine, my stickies.db is here:

C:\Users\<me>\AppData\Roaming\stickies

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jean
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Spinning ring and failure to launch Empty Re: Spinning ring and failure to launch

Sat Jan 15, 2022 3:04 pm
I've done everything to no avail. The only correlation I can make is with the latest Windows 11 update. That's about when Stickies stopped working. I've uninstalled, after saving the db to OneDrive, then reinstalled. No use. If I click on the app icon, the notes that were on the desktop at time of crash appear but can't be titled, altered, stored. If I click on the db all I get is code. It won't open in newly installed Stickies. I think I may have to cut my losses by saving all the notes on my old computer as docs, give up on notes made on the new computer, and end my over a decade long use of Stickies. Crying or Very sad
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Guest
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Spinning ring and failure to launch Empty Re: Spinning ring and failure to launch

Sat Jan 15, 2022 5:18 pm
Stickies works fine on win11 , if the problem is in the database file it is not surprising that it still does not work . There are a lot of options you can try .

- if you have win10 on your old pc just copy the stickies.db from there to your new system .

- stickies takes by default a backup everyday so you will have some earlier database files and hopefully they are not corrupted .
You find them in the backup directory   example  C:\Users\<me>\AppData\Roaming\stickies\backup , you have to rename the oldest one from the datetime name to stickies.db and overwrite the one in use ( best to exit stickies first ).

- if you have another version of stickies on your old pc , just install this version on your new one and transfer the datafiles , if it works well upgrade to v10.

- you can always extract stickies from a databasefile using the ssit tool ( if you have a lot ...then it takes time ! )

https://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/stickies/tools.html

- the database file is a standard one so if all fails you can contact Tom Revell to ask if their is a free software to restore corrupt sqlite database ( i guess microsoft access uses one ...)

V10 only has two files needed stickies.db and stickies.exe , you can copy stickies.exe and a renamed backup db file to an usb and start to see if it works ( you need to exit your normal stickies first if you have a desktop sticky alt+f4 or use the taskmanager to kill stickies.exe it the traymenu does not work .

I am sure their will always be a way to get the data back ! Cool

I have the autoback directory on another drive but the file looks like this :

Spinning ring and failure to launch 415410


Best regards and have a nice weekend .
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jean
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Join date : 2022-01-14

Spinning ring and failure to launch Empty Re: Spinning ring and failure to launch

Sat Jan 15, 2022 6:22 pm
Once again, thanks so much. I'll follow your suggestions when I have time. I appreciate very much your time.
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jean
Posts : 7
Join date : 2022-01-14

Spinning ring and failure to launch Empty Re: Spinning ring and failure to launch

Mon Jan 17, 2022 1:48 pm
So mysteriously, Stickies began to work. I spent a couple of hours straightening up: closing notes, adding notes, catching up. And right in the middle, it crashed. Before its recovery I had backed up the files  on my old computer to OneDrive, then uninstalled, then re-installed on the new one. For a time, no luck. But then, suddenly, the Manage menu fully appeared and went live. Two hours later, crash.
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Guest
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Spinning ring and failure to launch Empty Re: Spinning ring and failure to launch

Mon Jan 17, 2022 2:15 pm
The crash would normally be logged by windows , you can see the logs in Event Viewer ( just type it in search ).
You best to a clean install ( you have a backup i saw  from your post ) by deleting all stickies related files , you can start using the uninstall.bat and then delete the whole directory ( uninstall leaves the datafiles but clears the registry ) .

If you reinstall you can check if all is default and no stickies , you can use the ssit tool to add some stickies from the backup datafile to see if all is working.

There are as far as i know no post about the V10 crashing if the libraries are updated , the only ones are during installation .
Did you have V10 on your old pc too?
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jean
Posts : 7
Join date : 2022-01-14

Spinning ring and failure to launch Empty Re: Spinning ring and failure to launch

Mon Jan 17, 2022 2:18 pm
Not initially but I guess I upgraded somewhere along this process. Will do the above. Thanks.
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http://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk

Spinning ring and failure to launch Empty Re: Spinning ring and failure to launch

Wed Feb 09, 2022 10:10 pm
For anyone who comes along later on, Jean got in touch and we were able to get her problem sorted out.

Tom
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