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== [[GnuCash]] on Microsoft Windows ==
+
= [[GnuCash]] on Microsoft Windows =
  
−
This page collects various notes about compiling [[GnuCash]] on Microsoft Windows. See [[Windows/Old_Notes]] for old, solved issues.
+
This page collects various notes about running [[GnuCash]] on Microsoft Windows.
  
−
=== Q: Is it possible to compile GnuCash on Windows? ===
+
=== Q: Which Windows versions are supported? ===
−
'''A:''' Well, compiling is possible, and running as well, but so far not everything runs and we still need plenty of feedback.
+
;Answer: The [{{URL:www}}/download.phtml download page] shows, which Windows version is officially supported by which GnuCash version.
 +
:;Note: ''Windows 3/95/98/Me'' and ''Windows NT3.5/4.0'' have never been supported.
  
−
Note: Testing indicates that the Windows 9x line (Windows 95, 98, ME) does not run GnuCash.
+
=== Q: Where is the binary installer? ===
 +
'''A:''' The latest versions can be downloaded from the [{{{{URL:www}}}}/download.phtml download] page on the GnuCash website. Anyone who cares about their data should use the '''released version''' found there.
 +
:People looking to test new features - at the risk of running into extra bugs - could try a '''test version''':
 +
:* As it is not so easy to build GnuCash under Windows, a daily build of the [{{URL:Build:Win}} stable branch] is made available as well to '''test''' bugfixes.
 +
:* To closely follow development on the ''future branch'', which contains new features - and bugs - there are the [[#Q:_Are_there_nightly_builds.3F|nightly builds]]. Expect data loss if you try these though!
  
−
=== Q: Where is the binary? ===
+
=== Q: Is it possible to compile GnuCash on Windows? ===
−
'''A:''' Here: https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=192&package_id=5582 If no binary is visible check then check previous versions listed. For example, no 2.1.2 binary exists yet but the 2.1.1 binary does.
+
'''A:''' Yes. It's cumbersome, but possible. See the instructions in [[Building_on_Windows| Building on Windows]].
  
−
However, we know compiling is possible, but the runtime testing has just started, and we expect a lot of issues still need to be resolved. This means the source code will change quite quickly and those early testers are expected to follow those source code changes by getting the code from [[SVN]], see below for building from SVN.
+
=== Q: Are there nightly builds? ===
 +
'''A:''' We run nightly builds for the '''stable''' (former <q>maint</q>) and after implmenting its first feature the '''future''' (former <q>master</q>) branch, but it's configured so that it runs only if changes have been pushed since the last build and only if the build is successful; they do fail from time to time. You can find the last 6-12 month's worth of builds at
 +
{{BuildURL}}/builds/win32/
 +
or, more specifically, for [{{URL:Build:Win}}?C=M;O=D stable], on demand for [{{URL:Build:Win|future}}?C=M;O=D future], and [{{URL:Build:Win|build-logs}}?C=M;O=D logs for all builds].
  
−
====Download numbers====
+
The product of the nightly builds is a Windows installer that will ''replace your existing GnuCash installation''. The future branch ''really is unstable'': Be sure to have suitable backups and don't use it for your "production" books.
−
The older revisions are being deleted from sourceforge.net again so that only the latest is accessible. Here are the download numbers for previous revisions (downloads in brackets): r15308 (351); r15309 (81); r15330 (295); r15335 (534); r15393 (116); r15398 (335); r15417 (716); r15480 (665); r15522 (387); r15574 (940); r15667 (2697); r15815 (414); r15877 (123+); These builds are now being built with the normal release schedule. See the download pages for numbers.
 
  
 
=== Q: Anything else? ===
 
=== Q: Anything else? ===
 +
To avoid making the installer file even bigger, some functionality is not available without further downloads and installations of software.
  
−
To avoid making the binary even bigger, some functionality is not available without further downloads and installations of software.
+
==== Preferences in GnuCash 2.6 and more recent ====
 +
gconf has been replaced with another preferences system. On Windows you
 +
will find the preferences directly in the Windows Registry under the
 +
registry key
 +
  HKEY_CURRENT_USER/software/GSettings/org/gnucash/
  
−
==== Online Banking Setup Druid (needs Qt) ====
+
==== Pdf name for invoices ====
  
−
For the Online Banking Setup Druid (AqBanking), you have to download the library "Qt" from [http://www.trolltech.com/developer/downloads/qt/windows Trolltech].  Download the latest package <tt>qt-win-opensource-4.x.y-mingw.exe</tt> (where x.y is some version number) and install it.
+
This name is controlled by two hidden preferences:
 +
* pdf-export/filename-format
 +
* pdf-export/filename-date-format
  
−
After the installation completed, additionally you need to add the "bin" subdirectory of the newly installed Qt library (e.g. <tt>C:\Qt\4.2.3\bin</tt>) to your "PATH" environment variable. How to do this on Windows XP is described [http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310519 here].
+
Both of them will reside in the registry under
 +
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/software/GSettings/org/gnucash/dialogs/general/report
  
−
==== Finance::Quote ====
+
These won't be there by default (only values that deviate from the default
−
For online retrieval of price quotes, you will need to install Perl and Finance::Quote.  To this end, download and install ActivePerl 5.8 from [http://www.activestate.com/store/activeperl].  Contact details are optional, just choose the MSI installer for your system.  Then use the start menu item "Install Finance-Quote" from the GnuCash group to install the necessary perl modules and verify the setup.
+
value will be effectively in the registry). To change it you will first
 +
have to create a sub key named '''pdf-export''.
  
−
Support for ActivePerl 5.6 will be added in GnuCash 2.1.2.  If you have downloaded a ZIP file, you can use the included <tt>installer.bat</tt> to install it.
+
Under this key you can create two string type keys named '''filename-format'''
 +
and '''filename-date-format'''.
  
−
=== Instructions for an (almost) automated build ===
+
This is the definition of these two string keys:
−
Copied from http://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-devel/2006-September/018588.html
+
;filename-format
 +
:This setting chooses the file name for PDF export. This is a sprintf(3) string with three arguments: "%1$s" is the report name such as "Invoice". "%2$s" is the number of the report, which for an invoice report is the invoice number. "%3$s" is the date of the report, formatted according to the filename-date-format setting. (Note: Any characters that are not allowed in filenames, such as '/', will be replaced with underscores '_' in the resulting file name.)<br/>The default value is %1$s-%2$s-%3$s
  
−
Several people have now compiled and run GnuCash on MS Windows by the
+
;filename-date-format
−
mingw32/gcc compiler environment. These instructions explain how everyone else can give it
+
:This setting chooses the way dates are used in the filename of PDF export. Possible values for this setting are "locale" to use the system locale setting, "ce" for Continental Europe style dates, "iso" for ISO 8601 standard dates , "uk" for United Kingdom style dates, and "us" for United States style dates.
−
a try as well. We would be happy to hear any further feedback about
 
−
problems or (hopefully) success in this matter.
 
  
−
We've created a shell script that will download, compile, and install
+
==== Finance::Quote ====
−
all requirements of GnuCash on Windows and eventually GnuCash itself. It
+
For the retrieval of [[Online Quotes]], you will need to install [{{URL:wp}}Perl Perl] and Finance::Quote (F::Q). See [[Online_Quotes#Installing_Perl_on_Windows|Installing Perl on Windows]].
−
will even make sure to retrieve the most up-to-date gnucash source code
 
−
directly from SVN. Running this script will probably download ~200MB of
 
−
data (but all downloaded data will be cached) and will take anything
 
−
between 0.5 through 5 hours of time. That shell script is located in
 
−
packaging/win32/install.sh of the gnucash [[SVN]] sources.  
 
  
−
Before you can execute this shell script (which will do everything else
+
== GnuCash via Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 ==
−
automatically), you have to complete these steps manually:
 
  
−
* Get the contents of the packaging/win32/ directory of gnucash [[SVN]], most up-to-date [http://svn.gnucash.org/repo/gnucash/trunk/packaging/win32/ from SVN], and copy it to some directory on your Windows machine. Do not use a directory that is one of the parent directories of the path you intend to use for the repository in the next step (c:\soft\repos by default). Possible locations are c:\soft\packaging or c:\soft\downloads.
+
For the adventurous user, it is also possible to install and use GnuCash via the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL2 in short). The following notes were taken from a message to the gnucash-devel mailing list by user Sherlock:
  
−
* Take a look at <tt>defaults.sh</tt> and optionally create a file <tt>custom.sh</tt> to specify directories according to your preferences; the defaults would install everything in subdirectories below c:\soft. (Note that due to shell syntax, every windows-style backslash has to be specified as two backslashes.)
+
=== Install WSL as Administrator ===
  
−
* Download the "MSYS" package from http://www.mingw.org/download.shtml -> Section "Current" -> Subsection "MSYS" -> MSYS-1.0.10.exe [http://prdownloads.sf.net/mingw/MSYS-1.0.10.exe?download Download link]
+
<syntaxhighlight lang="sh">
 +
wsl —install
 +
</syntaxhighlight>
  
−
* Execute this downloaded package to install it into the chosen directory, say, C:\soft\msys (which is the $MSYS_DIR variable in <tt>defaults.sh</tt>)
 
  
−
* Download the "wget" package from http://www.mingw.org/download.shtml -> Current -> mingwPORT -> wget-1.9.1-mingwPORT.tar.bz2 [http://prdownloads.sf.net/mingw/wget-1.9.1-mingwPORT.tar.bz2?download Download link] and place the downloaded file in the $DOWNLOAD_DIR in <tt>defaults.sh</tt>
+
=== Option 1 - Install distributed GnuCash ===
  
−
* Either, download Qt from http://www.trolltech.com/developer/downloads/qt/windows, install it and set QTDIR in <tt>custom.sh</tt>, like "QTDIR=/c/Qt/4.2.3"; or skip building the AqBanking Setup Wizard by specifying "AQBANKING_WITH_QT=no".
+
<syntaxhighlight lang="sh">
 +
sudo apt -y update
 +
sudo apt -y upgrade
 +
sudo apt -y install python3-gi python3-gi-cairo gir1.2-gtk-3.0
 +
sudo apt -y install adwaita-icon-theme-full
 +
sudo apt -y install gnucash
  
−
* Start the MSYS commandline shell by double-clicking the "MSYS" icon on the desktop which should have been created when you installed the MSYS package.
+
sudo apt -y install make gcc
 +
sudo gnc-fq-update
 +
</syntaxhighlight>
  
−
* Let the automated build begin by typing:
 
  
−
  $INSTALLER_DIR/install.sh  (the complete path to the install.sh)
+
=== Option 2 - Install flatpack GnuCash ===
  
−
* Some of the downloaded packages are installed through graphical installer dialogs where you can choose an installation directory. In those cases, the install.sh script will tell you in the MSYS window the installation directory that you should choose, according to your settings in <tt>defaults.sh/custom.sh</tt>. Please enter only those installation directory in the installer dialog because otherwise the install.sh script cannot find the newly installed software.
+
<syntaxhighlight lang="sh">
 +
sudo apt -y install flatpak
 +
sudo flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
 +
sudo flatpak install --system flathub org.gnucash.GnuCash
 +
</syntaxhighlight>
  
−
* If there haven't been any errors, you should be able (after several hours of compiling and installing) to start gnucash from the MSYS command line by typing
 
  
−
  c:/soft/gnucash/bin/gnucash
+
=== Option 3 - Set up build environment and build gnucash yourself ===
  
−
or even without MSYS directly by "Start"-> "Run"-> "c:\soft\gnucash\bin\gnucash.bat"
+
Prepare the build environment:
  
−
* If there HAVE been errors, then please report them in the Section [[#Problems, issues, comments|Problems, issues, comments]].
+
<syntaxhighlight lang="sh">
 +
sudo sed -i "s/^# deb-src/deb-src/" /etc/apt/sources.list
 +
sudo apt -y update
 +
sudo apt -y upgrade
 +
sudo apt -y build-dep gnucash
 +
sudo apt -y install git
 +
sudo apt -y install p7zip-full
 +
sudo apt install at-spi2-core
  
−
Please spread the word and report back any problems you encounter. It is
+
mkdir -p ~/Documents/gnucash/source
−
probably not too difficult anymore to create a full self-contained
+
mkdir -p ~/Documents/gnucash/build
−
package of GnuCash on Windows as well! Some more information is also
 
−
collected here on this wiki page.
 
  
−
=== A bit of history ===
+
git clone https://github.com/Gnucash/gnucash.git ~/Documents/gnucash/source
−
This page used to collect random notes from the time when we manually tried to install each and every part of the requirements. They have been moved to [[Windows/Old Notes]].
 
  
−
== Notes ==
+
cd ~/Documents/gnucash/source
−
=== Error messages ===
+
git checkout 5.4
−
In the binary builds, all error messages are redirected to files <tt>c:\Documents and Settings\myname\Local Settings\Temp\gnucash.trace.ABCDEF</tt> (on Vista in <tt>C:\Users\myname\AppData\Local\Temp</tt>). If you experience crashes or unexpected behavior, check the latest of these files (or the one created when the problem started) and add meaningful snippets to your error reports, at least <tt>WARN</tt>ings and <tt>CRIT</tt>ical warnings.
+
</syntaxhighlight>
  
−
=== gdb ===
 
−
In addition to [[Stack Trace]], here are a few instructions on how to run gnucash under gdb on Windows:
 
−
* Install "gdb" from mingw.org
 
−
* Modify the installed "gnucash" script to call "exec gdb gnucash-bin.exe" instead of "exec gnucash-bin.exe" at the end
 
−
* Then start gnucash, which will give you the gdb prompt
 
−
* Type "run" at the gdb prompt.
 
−
* Then provoke the crash and type "backtrace" or shorthand "bt" at the gdb prompt to obtain the backtrace, as explained on [[Stack Trace]] as well.
 
  
−
You can provide even better stack traces if you tell gdb where in memory dynamically loaded modules got mapped to, because otherwise function calls into those are only written as '??'. See [http://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-devel/2006-November/019042.html here] and [http://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-devel/2006-November/019048.html here] for a way to do this.  To enter <tt>[</tt> and <tt>]</tt>, use <tt>set editing off</tt>.
+
Build instructions:
  
−
=== install.sh ===
+
<syntaxhighlight lang="sh">
−
* To debug install.sh, change <tt>set -e</tt> to <tt>set -ex</tt> at the top of it.
+
cd ~/Documents/gnucash/build
−
* Once you have installed Subversion, you might want to checkout and update packaging/win32 as described in [[SVN]].
+
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/opt/gnucash ~/Documents/gnucash/source
−
svn checkout <nowiki>http://svn.gnucash.org/repo/gnucash/trunk/packaging/win32</nowiki> packaging
+
make
 +
sudo make install
  
−
=== Online banking ===
+
sudo /opt/gnucash/bin/gnc-fq-update
−
The current install.sh automated build already builds GnuCash with Online Banking enabled, including HBCI, OFX DirectConnect, and OFX file import methods.
+
</syntaxhighlight>
  
−
However, in order to set up the online banking connectivity (HBCI or OFX, which are both handled by aqbanking), you need to run a separate setup program of aqbanking. Because of the high complexity of the various online banking techniques, the setup program is a GUI program which is based on the Qt library. These Qt parts are ''not'' automatically built by install.sh, but you can enable them as described below.
+
= Notes =
 +
== Error messages, Trace file ==
 +
In the GnuCash application, all error messages are redirected to a ''trace file''. There will be one trace file for each time GnuCash is run. For a user named "myname" these files are located in the folder
 +
* <tt>c:\Documents and Settings\myname\Local Settings\Temp</tt> (Windows XP) or
 +
* <tt>C:\Users\myname\AppData\Local\Temp</tt> (Windows Vista/7).
 +
They are named
 +
* <tt>gnucash.trace.ABCDEF</tt> (GnuCash 2.2.9 and older) or
 +
* <tt>gnucash.trace.ABCDEF.log</tt> (GnuCash 2.4.0 and newer)
 +
where the ABCDEF part is changed randomly on each start of gnucash. See also [[Tracefile]].
  
−
==== aqbanking ====
+
If you experience crashes or unexpected behavior, check the latest of these files (or the one created when the problem started) and add all interesting-looking lines of that file to your error reports, at least the lines with the keywords <tt>WARN</tt>ing and <tt>CRIT</tt>ical warning.
  
−
The GUI installation goes like this for a manual install:
+
See also [[Windows Debugging]].
  
−
* Install Qt 4.x (Open Source Edition) from http://www.trolltech.com/developer/downloads/qt/windows
+
== Determining the locale ==
−
* Since install.sh already includes the build rules as optional parts, run the following:
+
When asked for the locale, take a look at the Regional Settings in your Control Panel and report the values found for "Standard and Formats", "Location" and "Language for non-Unicode programs".
−
export QTDIR=/c/Qt/4.2.2
 
−
export aqbanking_with_qt=yes
 
−
install.sh
 
  
−
This should build and install the qt parts of aqbanking as well.
+
Also, use [{{BugURL}}/show_bug.cgi?id=450353 this  bug's] [{{BugURL}}/attachment.cgi?id=90557 attachment] to determine the locale as used internally by gettext.
  
−
== Problems, issues, comments ==
+
= Problems, issues, comments =
 
For any problem that occurs now, you should add a new section below.
 
For any problem that occurs now, you should add a new section below.
  
−
=== Outdated statement in mainline FAQ ===
+
== Issues with older versions of GnuCash ==
−
 
 
−
The following FAQ in the mainline documentation http://svn.gnucash.org/docs/guide/appendixb_general.html#appendixb_software_windows would benefit from a reference to this page. This http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/FAQ#Q:_Is_there_a_version.2Fport_for_Windows.3F is an up-to-date version of the same FAQ, maybe the repository should be updated from the wiki.
 
−
 
 
−
=== Help files not found in the binary distribution ===
 
−
 
 
−
I just installed GnuCash from gnucash-2.0.99-svn-r15522-setup.exe and it is working nicely, except for the help that seems to be absent. When help is requested, the following message pops up:
 
−
 
 
−
GnuCash could not find the files for the help
 
−
documentation.  This is likely because the
 
−
'gnucash-docs' package is not installed.
 
−
 
 
−
It would be nice if these can be included in the Windows binary package. Note that my Gtk runtime is configured to work in Dutch, but that should not matter I guess.
 
−
:You are completely right, it is on our [[Windows#Todo|todo list]], but not at top priority. -- [[User:Andi5|andi5]]
 
−
::Ah, sorry. I had overseen that. -- [[User:Bastiaan|Bastiaan]]
 
−
:Documentation can be built as of r15713.  I do not know for sure, but I expect an increase in download size of the binary package by approx. 9 MB.  So should the CHM files be included or packaged up in a gnucash-docs-*-setup.exe?
 
−
::I would vote for inclusion, as that is what Windows users are used to. -- [[User:Bastiaan|Bastiaan]]
 
−
 
 
−
=== Errors on Windows 98 ===
 
−
 
 
−
Hi, I installed SVN r15355 on Windows 98 and got the following error:
 
−
 
 
−
"Die Datei LIBGTK-WIN32-2.0.0.DLL ist verknüpft mit dem fehlenden Export-COMDLG32.DLL:PrintDlgExW."
 
−
Translated this means "the file ... is bound to the missing export ...". GNUcash failed to start.
 
−
 
 
−
:As mentioned above ([[Windows#Q: Is it possible to compile GnuCash on Windows?]]), GnuCash will not run on Windows 98. You need at least Windows 2000.
 
−
 
 
−
===DLL install error===
 
−
I get an error like that:
 
−
 
 
−
'libgncmodule.la' 'c:/soft/gnucash/lib/libgncmodule.la'
 
−
/bin/install -c .libs/libgncmodule.dll.a
 
−
c:/soft/gnucash/lib/libgncmodule.dll.a
 
−
base_file=`basename ${file}`
 
−
  dlpath=`/bin/sh 2>&1 -c '. .libs/'${base_file}'i;echo $dlname'`
 
−
make[5]: *** [install-libLTLIBRARIES] Error 1
 
−
make[5]: Leaving directory `/c/soft/repos/src/gnc-module'
 
−
make[4]: *** [install-am] Error 2
 
  
−
This seems to be only an installation problem. Fine compiling it seems.
+
In an effort to keep the information somewhat manageable this page will only gather issues with the current stable version of GnuCash. For historical reference, the older issues will be moved to [[Windows/Old Issues|a separate page]].
−
:I saw this at "make install" when I stopped and restarted the preceding compiling several times. So to me this looks like an artifact of DLLs that somehow "don't fit" to each other. The solution was always to run "make clean" in the source directory so that all DLLs are being deleted, and then starting the compiling again. --[[User:Cstim|Cstim]] 05:55, 4 December 2006 (EST)
 
−
Now I got that: http://rafb.net/p/zYqOJv60.html  (also after removing the whole soft directory (besides the downloads dir).[[User:Calmar|Calmar]]
 
−
:So you have got these errors in at least three different directories and also in a clean environment. The problem always seems to be a missing .lai file. But surprisingly other directories (among them those that failed in other builds) contain such files. The only solution I know is still to <tt>cd</tt> into the offending directory and to run <tt>make clean && make all install</tt>. I am sorry for the inconvenience. -- [[User:Andi5|andi5]]
 
−
::I was able to solve the problem, with ./install.sh (repeated) until it comes through. After the 5th try or so, it came through :) Very happy I can satisfy now what I promised to my friend (I mean new year is a good start for him). Thanks again for all your help! Good new year everybody!
 
  
−
Actually I still see this error frequently, even when I completely remove the build/ directory and let it be created from scratch. (?!?) As an alternative, I've now tried a newer libtool version by installing the cvs snapshot libtool-1.5.23a from http://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/ . Maybe the newer version has this bug fixed. --[[User:Cstim|Cstim]] 10:27, 22 January 2007 (EST)
+
If you experience issues with an older version of GnuCash, the first advice is normally to try again with the current stable version. There may however be situations where you need to revive an older version and in that case the information kept on the [[Windows/Old Issues|older issues page]] may be useful.
−
:Seems like using libtool-1.5.23a didn't change a thing. I've written a script that should track down potential errors:
 
  
−
<pre>
+
In addition, if you experience any of the older issues in the current stable release of GnuCash, please [[Bugzilla|file a bug report]] or ask about it on the [[Mailing Lists|user mailing list]].
−
#!/bin/sh
 
−
ALL_LIBDIR=` find . -name '*.la' | grep '\.libs' `
 
−
RM_THESE=""
 
  
−
for LIB in $ALL_LIBDIR ; do
+
== Known issues ==
−
    DIR=`dirname ${LIB}`
+
Here is a list of the most often mentioned Windows issues. If you experience this problem, please check the respective bugzilla reports for potential workarounds.
−
    FNAME=`basename ${LIB}`
+
* {{BugURL}}/show_bug.cgi?id=466512 Win32: Wrong permissions for .gnucash directory (was: Win32 GnuCash 2.2.1 Fails to Start/Install)
−
    LIBBASE=`basename ${LIB} .la`
+
* {{BugURL}}/show_bug.cgi?id=645273#c40 Reports features do not work
−
    if test ! -f "${LIB}i" -a -f "${DIR}/${LIBBASE}.dll.a" ; then
 
−
echo "File ${LIB}i missing"
 
−
PDIR=`dirname ${DIR}`
 
−
#echo "Do this: rm ${PDIR}/${FNAME}"
 
−
RM_THESE="${RM_THESE} ${PDIR}/${FNAME}"
 
−
    fi
 
−
done
 
  
−
if test "x${RM_THESE}" != "x"; then
+
== Windows 7 64-bit - GnuCash fails to run ==
−
    echo "Do this:"
 
−
    echo "rm ${RM_THESE}"
 
−
fi
 
−
</pre>
 
  
−
=== GConf/ORBit COMM_FAILURE ===
+
This is with GnuCash 2.4.3:
−
On some computers (Windows 2000/SP4), the following error has been observed, but on other computers GConf runs fine. GConf shows plenty of error messages like these: "Failed to save key /apps/gnucash/window/pages/account_tree/name_visible: Adding client to server's list failed, CORBA error: IDL:omg.org/CORBA/COMM_FAILURE:1.0" and also the "Cannot find default values" dialog is shown on each startup, regardless whether the "setup" is done or not. Also, the startup of GnuCash might open dozens of shell windows one after the other, and the startup of GnuCash is incredibly slow.
 
  
−
This is being reported to the ORBit crew as [http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=363648 bug#363648]. As a quick workaround, you have to install ORBit2-2.13.3 from [ftp://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/binaries/win32/ORBit2/2.13/ here] instead of 2.14.2, as this seems to fix that problem.
+
Starting GnuCash shows the splash screen and the tip of the day for a brief instant and then it disappears. To fix the problem, I did:
  
−
:Bug still present in 16017:16019m (2007-04-28), it's sistematically preventing application load on Windows XP Home 5.1.26000, here is GnuCash error log:
+
# Right-click on the GnuCash icon and select 'Run as Administrator'
−
OTHER <> file corba-object.c: line 76 (ORBit_register_objref): assertion failed: (obj->object_key != NULL)
+
# GnuCash starts up as expected
−
::Please kill all running gconfd-2.exe instances and remove <tt>C:\Documents and Settings\$user\Local Settings\Temp\gconfd-$user\lock\ior</tt>.
+
# Close GnuCash
  
 +
After doing the above once, I can start GnuCash normally and it starts up properly.
  
 +
Hopefully this helps someone. --[[User:Sketch|Sketch]] 05:05, 7 March 2011 (UTC)
  
−
=== Check Printing characters inverted ===
+
== Font problems ==
−
Using r1557 on windows 2000, and testing check printing I found each string positioned well but each character was inverted vertically. The baseline for each line was also at the top.
 
−
:Workaround: Deactivate advanced features of your printer, may be this [http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=316531 bug].
 
−
:So I think this is a bug in Gnome-Print, but I hope we will actually use GtkPrint in GnuCash 2.2. -- [[User:Andi5|andi5]]
 
−
::The infrastructure is there now, we only need a newer gtkhtml package. -- [[User:Andi5|andi5]]
 
−
:::Now the gtkhtml package is there, but we fall back to gnomeprint with the known workaround, given that currently gtkhtml/gtkprint produces black filled boxes only.
 
  
 +
After upgrading to 2.2.1, people have reported font-related issues:
  
 +
* The tick/check mark in the Reconcile window may look like a "nondescript squiggle"
 +
* Register windows may open with all transactions scrolled out of sight (upwards)
 +
* Languages other than English show characters as a box of four zeros "0 0 0 0".
  
−
=== Windows XP Home Edition Problems ===
+
The reason appears to be that GnuCash is now referring to Windows to determine what fonts to use,
 +
and in both these cases is using the one specified for "Message Box", which defaults to Tahoma 8.
  
−
Gnucash does not appear to work on windows XP home edition (mediea edition). Gconfd takes a long time to start (5+ minuets) and everything else takes longer and then it just appears to do nothing (even though it is still in the list of processes).
+
Changing to Tahoma 10 fixed both of these for me.
−
In my machine it works well, except for the reports, that doesn't work and cause the application to crash. I have installed the last build (15667) on my windows xp home with SP2. -- [[User:Jeanobrega|jeanobrega]]
 
  
−
=== Windows 2000 Problems ===
+
The procedure on WinXP is:
−
I downloaded the latest binary today.
+
# Start -> Control panel or My Computer -> Control panel
−
Installed on Windows 2000 SP4.
+
# Appearance and Themes -> Display (or, if using the "Classic View", Display)
−
GnuCash did not display windows fully.
+
# Appearance
−
When I selected the option to import QIF files, program immediately crashed with no error messages.
+
# Advanced
−
Did not even get a chance to select a QIF file.
+
# Select "Message Box" from the drop-down
 +
# Change as required (e.g. set to Tacoma 10 point)
 +
# OK
 +
# Apply
  
−
:Please take a look at [[Windows#Error messages|Error messages]], maybe you find something useful in there.  Ok, I just added that section ;-)
+
[[User:Fred|Fred]] 10:30, 22 August 2007 (EDT)
−
:What does "display windows fully" mean? -- [[User:Andi5|andi5]]
+
:Is this still necessary when using GnuCash 2.2.2? [[User:Andi5|andi5]]
  
−
I have a multiboot system, each OS is Windows 2000.
+
I ([[User:piyo|piyo]]) confirmed that the above procedure is necessary for viewing Japanese on Windows XP with GnuCash 2.2.3 (2008-01-08):
−
I installed the binaries in the OS on G.
+
* Confirmed that working fonts are '''Arial UI Unicode''', '''FixSys''', '''System''', '''Tahoma''' (including 8!), '''Terminal'''. Also for Japanese, '''MS P Gothic''', '''MS P Mincho''', '''MS UI Gothic''', '''MS Gothic''', '''MS Mincho fonts''' are working.
−
I checked C, G, and I, and could not find any file named gnucash.trace.
+
* Confirmed that non-working fonts are '''Lucida Sans Unicode''' and '''Microsoft Sans Serif'''.
−
I: has several shared directories.
+
--[[User:Piyo|Piyo]] 23:23, 5 February 2008 (EST)
−
It's possible I cleaned out Temp files, do not recall.
 
  
−
Do I now have to download a more recent binary to see this?
+
== Program hangs constantly ==
−
I'll check for a more recent binary.
 
  
−
"does not display fully means, remember this is first time I ever ran GniCash:
+
(GnuCash 2.4)
  
−
1. Window wit hoption to create account, import QIF, amd one other option appeared.
+
According to [{{BugURL}}/show_bug.cgi?id=677829 this bug report] GnuCash can become unstable with some themes. The original reporter didn't remember which themes caused issues, but had no problems when using the "Unity" theme.
−
2. Smalling, what appearerd to be main, Gnucash window opened. not sized properly.
 
  
−
Clicking on the option to import QIF caused Gnucash to vanish, all windows closed, no messages displayed.
+
--[[User:GJanssens|GJanssens]] 18 October 2013
  
−
I just remembered, I uninstalled gnucash-2.0.99-svn-r15667-setup.exe after the error occurred yesterday.
+
== Gnucash fails to start with Failed to contact configuration server ==
  
−
===Windows Vista===
+
(GnuCash 2.4)
−
Does GnuCash run on Windows Vista? http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=434755 : GnuCash is designed to be portable, but certainly not specifically to run on Windows Vista.  Here is what we know about:
 
−
* GnuCash cannot be built on a Vista machine. At least on cstim's Vista 64-bit the available MSYS version will not open a shell window, but instead it will open 100 windows which will get closed automatically instantly. So we need to know about a Vista-capable MSYS first.
 
−
* None of the developers use Vista
 
−
* The section below indicates that the binary in fact works on (some?) Vista versions, so Vista support does not seem to be fundamentally broken.
 
−
* GnuCash depends on a lot a lot of libraries.  Some may have better Vista support than others.  If other products have similar problems, you might suffer bugs in libraries up the stack, e.g. in GTK+.
 
  
−
====64 bit====
+
Copied from [{{BugURL}}/show_bug.cgi?id=708989 this bug report]:
−
I have Windows Vista 64 bit and just downloaded and installed <tt>gnucash-2.0.99-svn-r15815-setup</tt>. I've encountered no problems so far, everything works great. Importing <tt>.ofx</tt> files works too. Looking forward to using it!
 
  
−
=== Application Error on Exit in XP Pro ===
+
I installed GnuCash on Windows 7 and at one point I received the following error message
−
I just installed 2.1.1 from SourceForge (not sure the rev number).  Install goes okay and program runs fine, but when I exit (using File->Quit) I get a dialog titled
 
−
*<no file>: gnucash-bin.exe - Application Error
 
−
The text reads:
 
−
The instruction at "0x0138a214" referenced memory at "0x014d3aa8".
 
−
The memory could not be "read".
 
−
Any ideas?  I'm a little confused because I was editing my existing GnuCash files (originally 1.8.11, saved using 2.0.1 in Linux), so it shouldn't be <no file>.  Here are the contents of the trace file:
 
−
*  WARN <qof.engine> [guid_init()] only got 1731 bytes.
 
−
The identifiers might not be very random.
 
−
*  WARN <gnc.engine> failed to load gnc-backend-postgres from
 
−
C:\Program Files\gnucash\lib\gnucash
 
−
*  WARN <gnc.app-util> Could not spawn perl: Failed to execute child
 
−
process (No such file or directory)
 
−
*  WARN <qof.session> [qof_session_load_backend()]  failed to load
 
−
gncqof-backend-qsf from c:/soft/gnucash/repos/inst/lib/gnucash
 
−
*  WARN <Gdk> gdkselection-win32.c:1068: OpenClipboard failed: Invalid
 
−
window handle.
 
−
*  WARN <Gdk> gdkselection-win32.c:1068: OpenClipboard failed: Invalid
 
−
window handle.
 
−
--[[User:Scbash|Scbash]] 13:22, 12 May 2007 (EDT)
 
  
−
=== Missing file after extracting Open SSL on Windows XP Pro ===
+
  Failed to contact configuration server; some possible causes are that you need
 +
  to enable TCP/IP networking for ORBit, or you have stale NFS locks due to a
 +
  system crash. See https://projects-old.gnome.org/gconf/ for information.
 +
  (Details -  1: IOR file
 +
  'C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Temp\gconfd-Username/lock/ior' not opened
 +
  successfully, no gconfd located: No such file or directory 2: IOR file
 +
  'C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Temp\gconfd-Username/lock/ior' not opened
 +
  successfully, no gconfd located: No such file or directory)
  
−
This is the error that I got:
+
I do not know what caused this error message.
  
−
3200K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 99%  145.77 KB/s
+
Uninstalling GnuCash, removing an empty gnucash folder in C:\Program Files
−
3250K .......... ...                                        100%  834.05 KB/s
+
(x86)\, and reinstalling Gnucash does not restore GnuCash. I.e., same error
−
<br>
+
message was produced.  
−
20:36:43 (145.65 KB/s) - `c:/soft/tmp/openssl-0.9.8e.tar.gz' saved [3341665/3341665]
 
−
<br>
 
−
Extracting openssl-0.9.8e.tar.gz ... done
 
−
The system cannot find the path specified.
 
  
−
This is the first error that I got. Everything was fine up to this point.  
+
Cleaning up the windows registry did not help either.
  
−
When I turn on <tt>set -ex</tt>, I get the following:
+
What did work was to remove the folder
 +
C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Temp\gconfd-Username/  
 +
which did not contain the subdirectory + file lock/ior that is mentioned in the
 +
error message.
  
−
++ cp e_os.h e_os2.h include/openssl
+
The folder AppData is hidden (for Windows 7) and needs to be explicitly typed
−
+++ unix_path 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe'
+
in the folder browser.
−
+++ echo 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe'
 
−
+++ sed 's,^\([A-Za-z]\):,/\1,;s,\\,/,g'
 
−
++ _COMSPEC_U=/C/WINDOWS/system32/cmd.exe
 
−
++ PATH=/c/soft/active-perl/ActivePerl/Perl/bin:/c/soft/mingw/bin
 
−
++ /C/WINDOWS/system32/cmd.exe //c 'ms\mingw32'
 
−
The system cannot find the path specified.
 
  
−
--[[User:FELap09|FELap09]]
+
And also note that 'Username' should be replaced with your real username in the path (it's in there two times).
  
−
== Todo ==
+
--[[User:GJanssens|GJanssens]] 18 October 2013
−
This section is intended mainly for developers to concisely specfiy what issues are open, assigned or closed (and can be removed then).
+
== Windows 11: GnuCash installer quits without doing anything ==
−
[/]    AqBanking
+
When launching <code>gnucash-setup.exe</code> Windows 10 and Windows 11 usually complain that GnuCash is from an unknown developer and will put up a scary dialog but if you accept the risk it will run the installer after the usual User Authorization Escalation dialog. We've had a [https://bugs.gnucash.org/show_bug.cgi?id=799299 report] that Windows 11 might silently fail to do anything. If that happens to you right-click on <code>gnucash-setup.exe</code> and select Properties from the context menu, then click Unblock and Save. You should be able to launch the installer normally.
−
[/]    Encoding issues ([http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=404832 Bug])
 
−
[ ]    Randomness ([http://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-devel/2006-December/019289.html Mail])
 
−
[W] [[Windows#GConf/ORBit COMM_FAILURE|R]] GConf/ORBit2
 
−
[X]    Finance::Quote
 
−
[X] [[Windows#Reading/writing compressed files|R]]  Compressed files ([http://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-devel/2007-February/019876.html Mail])
 
−
[X] [[Windows#Help files not found in the binary distribution|R]]  Documentation
 
−
[X]    LibOFX
 
−
[X] [[Windows#Text reports crash|R]]  Text report crashers (<strike>[http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=382852 Bug]</strike>, [http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=378158 Bug])
 
−
[X] [[Windows#Q: Where is the binary?|R]]  Packaging
 
−
 
−
A lot more, fill me
 
−
X = done; W = workaround; / = in-progress, not-yet-done, needs-testing
 

Latest revision as of 11:00, 28 September 2024

GnuCash on Microsoft Windows

This page collects various notes about running GnuCash on Microsoft Windows.

Q: Which Windows versions are supported?

Answer
The download page shows, which Windows version is officially supported by which GnuCash version.
Note
Windows 3/95/98/Me and Windows NT3.5/4.0 have never been supported.

Q: Where is the binary installer?

A: The latest versions can be downloaded from the [{{{{URL:www}}}}/download.phtml download] page on the GnuCash website. Anyone who cares about their data should use the released version found there.

People looking to test new features - at the risk of running into extra bugs - could try a test version:
  • As it is not so easy to build GnuCash under Windows, a daily build of the stable branch is made available as well to test bugfixes.
  • To closely follow development on the future branch, which contains new features - and bugs - there are the nightly builds. Expect data loss if you try these though!

Q: Is it possible to compile GnuCash on Windows?

A: Yes. It's cumbersome, but possible. See the instructions in Building on Windows.

Q: Are there nightly builds?

A: We run nightly builds for the stable (former maint) and after implmenting its first feature the future (former master) branch, but it's configured so that it runs only if changes have been pushed since the last build and only if the build is successful; they do fail from time to time. You can find the last 6-12 month's worth of builds at 

https://code.gnucash.org/builds/win32/

or, more specifically, for stable, on demand for future, and logs for all builds.

The product of the nightly builds is a Windows installer that will replace your existing GnuCash installation. The future branch really is unstable: Be sure to have suitable backups and don't use it for your "production" books.

Q: Anything else?

To avoid making the installer file even bigger, some functionality is not available without further downloads and installations of software.

Preferences in GnuCash 2.6 and more recent

gconf has been replaced with another preferences system. On Windows you will find the preferences directly in the Windows Registry under the registry key 

 HKEY_CURRENT_USER/software/GSettings/org/gnucash/

Pdf name for invoices

This name is controlled by two hidden preferences:

  • pdf-export/filename-format
  • pdf-export/filename-date-format

Both of them will reside in the registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER/software/GSettings/org/gnucash/dialogs/general/report

These won't be there by default (only values that deviate from the default value will be effectively in the registry). To change it you will first have to create a sub key named 'pdf-export.

Under this key you can create two string type keys named filename-format and filename-date-format.

This is the definition of these two string keys:

filename-format
This setting chooses the file name for PDF export. This is a sprintf(3) string with three arguments: "%1$s" is the report name such as "Invoice". "%2$s" is the number of the report, which for an invoice report is the invoice number. "%3$s" is the date of the report, formatted according to the filename-date-format setting. (Note: Any characters that are not allowed in filenames, such as '/', will be replaced with underscores '_' in the resulting file name.)
The default value is %1$s-%2$s-%3$s
filename-date-format
This setting chooses the way dates are used in the filename of PDF export. Possible values for this setting are "locale" to use the system locale setting, "ce" for Continental Europe style dates, "iso" for ISO 8601 standard dates , "uk" for United Kingdom style dates, and "us" for United States style dates.

Finance::Quote

For the retrieval of Online Quotes, you will need to install Perl and Finance::Quote (F::Q). See Installing Perl on Windows.

GnuCash via Windows Subsystem for Linux 2

For the adventurous user, it is also possible to install and use GnuCash via the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL2 in short). The following notes were taken from a message to the gnucash-devel mailing list by user Sherlock:

Install WSL as Administrator

wsl —install


Option 1 - Install distributed GnuCash

sudo apt -y update
sudo apt -y upgrade
sudo apt -y install python3-gi python3-gi-cairo gir1.2-gtk-3.0
sudo apt -y install adwaita-icon-theme-full
sudo apt -y install gnucash

sudo apt -y install make gcc
sudo gnc-fq-update


Option 2 - Install flatpack GnuCash

sudo apt -y install flatpak
sudo flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
sudo flatpak install --system flathub org.gnucash.GnuCash


Option 3 - Set up build environment and build gnucash yourself

Prepare the build environment: 

sudo sed -i "s/^# deb-src/deb-src/" /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo apt -y update
sudo apt -y upgrade
sudo apt -y build-dep gnucash
sudo apt -y install git
sudo apt -y install p7zip-full
sudo apt install at-spi2-core

mkdir -p ~/Documents/gnucash/source
mkdir -p ~/Documents/gnucash/build

git clone https://github.com/Gnucash/gnucash.git ~/Documents/gnucash/source

cd ~/Documents/gnucash/source
git checkout 5.4


Build instructions: 

cd ~/Documents/gnucash/build
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/opt/gnucash ~/Documents/gnucash/source
make
sudo make install

sudo /opt/gnucash/bin/gnc-fq-update

Notes

Error messages, Trace file

In the GnuCash application, all error messages are redirected to a trace file. There will be one trace file for each time GnuCash is run. For a user named "myname" these files are located in the folder

  • c:\Documents and Settings\myname\Local Settings\Temp (Windows XP) or
  • C:\Users\myname\AppData\Local\Temp (Windows Vista/7).

They are named

  • gnucash.trace.ABCDEF (GnuCash 2.2.9 and older) or
  • gnucash.trace.ABCDEF.log (GnuCash 2.4.0 and newer)

where the ABCDEF part is changed randomly on each start of gnucash. See also Tracefile.

If you experience crashes or unexpected behavior, check the latest of these files (or the one created when the problem started) and add all interesting-looking lines of that file to your error reports, at least the lines with the keywords WARNing and CRITical warning.

See also Windows Debugging.

Determining the locale

When asked for the locale, take a look at the Regional Settings in your Control Panel and report the values found for "Standard and Formats", "Location" and "Language for non-Unicode programs".

Also, use this bug's attachment to determine the locale as used internally by gettext.

Problems, issues, comments

For any problem that occurs now, you should add a new section below.

Issues with older versions of GnuCash

In an effort to keep the information somewhat manageable this page will only gather issues with the current stable version of GnuCash. For historical reference, the older issues will be moved to a separate page.

If you experience issues with an older version of GnuCash, the first advice is normally to try again with the current stable version. There may however be situations where you need to revive an older version and in that case the information kept on the older issues page may be useful.

In addition, if you experience any of the older issues in the current stable release of GnuCash, please file a bug report or ask about it on the user mailing list.

Known issues

Here is a list of the most often mentioned Windows issues. If you experience this problem, please check the respective bugzilla reports for potential workarounds.

Windows 7 64-bit - GnuCash fails to run

This is with GnuCash 2.4.3:

Starting GnuCash shows the splash screen and the tip of the day for a brief instant and then it disappears. To fix the problem, I did:

  1. Right-click on the GnuCash icon and select 'Run as Administrator'
  2. GnuCash starts up as expected
  3. Close GnuCash

After doing the above once, I can start GnuCash normally and it starts up properly.

Hopefully this helps someone. --Sketch 05:05, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

Font problems

After upgrading to 2.2.1, people have reported font-related issues:

  • The tick/check mark in the Reconcile window may look like a "nondescript squiggle"
  • Register windows may open with all transactions scrolled out of sight (upwards)
  • Languages other than English show characters as a box of four zeros "0 0 0 0".

The reason appears to be that GnuCash is now referring to Windows to determine what fonts to use, and in both these cases is using the one specified for "Message Box", which defaults to Tahoma 8.

Changing to Tahoma 10 fixed both of these for me.

The procedure on WinXP is:

  1. Start -> Control panel or My Computer -> Control panel
  2. Appearance and Themes -> Display (or, if using the "Classic View", Display)
  3. Appearance
  4. Advanced
  5. Select "Message Box" from the drop-down
  6. Change as required (e.g. set to Tacoma 10 point)
  7. OK
  8. Apply

Fred 10:30, 22 August 2007 (EDT)

Is this still necessary when using GnuCash 2.2.2? andi5

I (piyo) confirmed that the above procedure is necessary for viewing Japanese on Windows XP with GnuCash 2.2.3 (2008-01-08):

  • Confirmed that working fonts are Arial UI Unicode, FixSys, System, Tahoma (including 8!), Terminal. Also for Japanese, MS P Gothic, MS P Mincho, MS UI Gothic, MS Gothic, MS Mincho fonts are working.
  • Confirmed that non-working fonts are Lucida Sans Unicode and Microsoft Sans Serif.

--Piyo 23:23, 5 February 2008 (EST)

Program hangs constantly

(GnuCash 2.4)

According to this bug report GnuCash can become unstable with some themes. The original reporter didn't remember which themes caused issues, but had no problems when using the "Unity" theme.

--GJanssens 18 October 2013

Gnucash fails to start with Failed to contact configuration server

(GnuCash 2.4)

Copied from this bug report:

I installed GnuCash on Windows 7 and at one point I received the following error message 

 Failed to contact configuration server; some possible causes are that you need
 to enable TCP/IP networking for ORBit, or you have stale NFS locks due to a
 system crash. See https://projects-old.gnome.org/gconf/ for information.
 (Details -  1: IOR file
 'C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Temp\gconfd-Username/lock/ior' not opened
 successfully, no gconfd located: No such file or directory 2: IOR file
 'C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Temp\gconfd-Username/lock/ior' not opened
 successfully, no gconfd located: No such file or directory)

I do not know what caused this error message.

Uninstalling GnuCash, removing an empty gnucash folder in C:\Program Files (x86)\, and reinstalling Gnucash does not restore GnuCash. I.e., same error message was produced.

Cleaning up the windows registry did not help either.

What did work was to remove the folder C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Temp\gconfd-Username/ which did not contain the subdirectory + file lock/ior that is mentioned in the error message.

The folder AppData is hidden (for Windows 7) and needs to be explicitly typed in the folder browser.

And also note that 'Username' should be replaced with your real username in the path (it's in there two times).

--GJanssens 18 October 2013

Windows 11: GnuCash installer quits without doing anything

When launching gnucash-setup.exe Windows 10 and Windows 11 usually complain that GnuCash is from an unknown developer and will put up a scary dialog but if you accept the risk it will run the installer after the usual User Authorization Escalation dialog. We've had a report that Windows 11 might silently fail to do anything. If that happens to you right-click on gnucash-setup.exe and select Properties from the context menu, then click Unblock and Save. You should be able to launch the installer normally.

Retrieved from "https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/index.php?title=Windows&oldid=22219"