There has been an error reading or writing the file '.'

[Beebes]

I'm running Money Plus Deluxe on Windows 10 (which has all recent Windows OS updates).  I'm using the patched mnyob99.dll that I've seen recommended for some time.

I created an Account Transactions report (in Reports > Income and expenses).  Now when I select Account Transactions, I consistently get the error:

   There has been an error reading or writing the file '.'

and Money closes.

I ran Quick File Repair and Standard File Repair, neither of which solved the problem.  The Standard File Repair found no broken records.

I gather from some quick Googling that the error I see might be caused by malformed/incorrect selections in the report data filtering criteria.  I can't look for or fix problems in the report because the error causes Money to close before I can look at or modify the report.

There might also be something else wrong with my Money .mny file.

I could restore a .mny file that was backed up before this problem started, but I'm curious if there's another fix or workaround.  Also interested in any tips that might avoid this issue in the future.

Thanks for any help you might be able to offer.

[Bob Smiley]

Try Standard Repair - Level 1. this is specifically for report damage and resets all reports.

[Marcin Struzak]

Same issue here, with a very old, very large file.  Created some time ago an Account transactions report looking at a single account, all dates; it took forever to complete, but in the end it worked & I was able to export everything to Excel.  Of course, didn't think of resetting parameters, and now I'd like to take the latest 4 months, which should have maybe a dozen transactions--except Money crashes in exactly the same way as OP described, not letting me change the Date range. 

I ran Standard Repair - Level 1, like suggested above, and I am able to open the report in the repaired file; however, the operation also got rid of my two dozen (or so) personalized Favorite Reports.  Before I jump in & start recreating them all in the repaired file & then continue using it instead of the original one, two questions:

1. Is there a better or easier way?  E.g., now that I've proven that my issue has to do with report parameters (and apparently only for Account transactions), is there another way to reset them just for that report or for everything but Favorite Reports?  
2. What else gets reset or lost during a Standard Repair - Level 1?  

Thanks!  

[Cal Learner]

Is the problem with the Account transactions report itself, or a Favorite report based on Account transactions. If a favorite report, you would have just deleted that favorite report.

Therefore it is the Account transactions report itself.
When you do Reports->AccountTransactions->Customize->Reset, you get a crash, right?

I have a few things I would suggest. Start Money, and make the first thing you do is to go to
Reports->AccountTransactions->Customize->Reset

Have you tried the DateRange drop-down list at the bottom? I am not saying this will somehow let the Reset etc for that report start working, but it might be worth trying.

Also, what happens if you save that corrupt report to AddToMyFavoriteReports. I am just thinking of things to try that could have a side effect of letting you then reset the Account transactions report. I think this is very unlikely to help, but it could be worth a try.

[Marcin Struzak]

Thanks for a quick reply; answers & comments inline below.  

--Marcin

On Saturday, August 3, 2024 at 9:09:55 AM UTC-7 Cal Learner wrote:

Is the problem with the Account transactions report itself, or a Favorite report based on Account transactions. If a favorite report, you would have just deleted that favorite report.

Therefore it is the Account transactions report itself.

Indeed--I did not save it as a favorite, the report itself keeps the last settings & opens with all dates, which makes it crash almost instantaneously.  

When you do Reports->AccountTransactions->Customize->Reset, you get a crash, right?

No, the crash occurs upon pressing OK on the error window, which in turn pops up a second or two after the application starts working on the report (blue circle with yellow/orange pie-chart progress indicator), during which time Customize... or any other menu items aren't clickable; drop downs at the bottom are not even drawn yet.  So it's (whether first ting right upon opening Money or after hours of working in it)

1. Click Account transactions
2. Work area goes blank instantaneously & Windows "wait" cursor shows up for a second or so
3. Menu on the left starts appearing, usually beginning with Customize... (but it's not clickable)
4. Windows cursor changes to arrow & Money pie-chart progress indicator appears, first with just a line at 12 o'clock (0% progress), about a second later jumping to a little less than 1/4
5. At that time the error pops up; at this point nothing is clickable (and nothing was clickable at any moment since #1), other than OK on the error dialog
6. Click OK & the application crashes

[removing remaining suggestions, since they assume operational menu & drop-downs]

[Cal Learner]

You could try restoring a backup from 2 months ago, and see how long this corruption has been happening. You could then decide on where to go if that older vintage file does not have the problem.

If you don't have suitable old backups, you might reconsider your backup strategy going forward. I have the scheduled backup to occur every week, and I keep the latest 12. My scheduled backups go to a USB flash drive that is always plugged in.

[Marcin Struzak]

I looked closer at the favorite reports that the repair wiped out, and they aren't that difficult to recreate.  They all seem to work fine, same with the unaltered ones--except for Account transactions, which is not critical.  I see 3 options moving forward, all easier than restoring an old backup & dealing with missing transactions, reconciliations, etc.:

1. Don't do anything.  If & when I need Account transactions, I can do a Standard Repair - Level 1 & temporarily use the repaired fie to run the report, then revert to the original one with all my favorite reports. 
2. Run Reset reports from Reports Home > Change report settings, then recreate my favorites.  
3. Adopt the repaired file & recreate my favorites there.  

2 & 3 are about the same amount of work, with 3 potentially fixing other issues--which can be good (if more stuff is corrupted) or bad (if it silently removes other customizations I rely on).  1 is the simplest, but what if the corrupt report is only the tip of an iceberg & more things will go south over time.  

Any thoughts or opinions you can share will be much appreciated!  

PS. I feel my backup strategy is pretty solid with 13 most recent versions (one a week on average) going to the cloud & an additional 90 days there for each deleted backup (oldest one).