Difference between revisions of "Windows"

From GnuCash
Jump to: navigation, search
(→‎Known issues)
(→‎Problems, issues, comments: Windows 11 fails to launch installer.)
 
(195 intermediate revisions by 35 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
−
== [[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 installer? ===
+
=== Q: Is it possible to compile GnuCash on Windows? ===
−
'''A:''' Here: https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=192 This is the stable version and should be used by anyone who cares about their data.
+
'''A:''' Yes. It's cumbersome, but possible. See the instructions in [[Building_on_Windows| Building on Windows]].
  
 
=== Q: Are there nightly builds? ===
 
=== Q: Are there nightly builds? ===
−
'''A:''' Currently, yes, but there hasn't been much demand for them. They are available at http://cyberbird.yi.org/gnucash . This version is primarily intended for those testing bugfixes or new functionality. '''THIS VERSION HAS NOT BEEN TESTED IN ANY WAY, SO DON'T USE IT WITH ANY VALUABLE DATA. '''
+
'''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].
 +
 
 +
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? ===
 
=== 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/
  
−
==== Finance::Quote ====
+
==== Pdf name for invoices ====
−
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" (or, for later versions, "Install Online Price Retrieval") from the GnuCash group to install the necessary perl modules and verify the setup.
 
  
−
If you have downloaded a ActivePerl ZIP file, you can use the included <tt>installer.bat</tt> to install it.  You will not need to download OpenSSL, as the GnuCash installer ships it.
+
This name is controlled by two hidden preferences:
 +
* pdf-export/filename-format
 +
* pdf-export/filename-date-format
  
−
==== 2.2.0 only: Online Banking Setup Druid (needs Qt) ====
+
Both of them will reside in the registry under
 +
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/software/GSettings/org/gnucash/dialogs/general/report
  
−
In the gnucash-2.2.0 package, you have to install an extra package for the online banking setup. In newer packages (2.2.1 and higher) this is no longer necessary and you should ignore the rest of this section.
+
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''.
  
−
In the 2.2.0 package: 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. '''Don't do this for gnucash-2.2.1 or higher, as this ships with its own version of the Qt libraries in the gnucash/bin directory!'''
+
Under this key you can create two string type keys named '''filename-format'''
 +
and '''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].
+
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$s" is the date of the report, formatted according to the filename-date-format setting. (Note: Any characters that are not allowed in filenames, such as '/', will be replaced with underscores '_' in the resulting file name.)<br/>The default value is %1$s-%2$s-%3$s
  
−
=== Instructions for an (almost) automated build ===
+
;filename-date-format
−
These instructions explain how you can compile and run GnuCash on MS Windows by yourself. This is achieved by using the
+
: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.
−
mingw32/gcc compiler environment.  
 
  
−
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
+
= Notes =
−
automatically), you have to complete these steps manually:
+
== 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]].
  
−
* 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.
+
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.
  
−
* 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.)
+
See also [[Windows Debugging]].
  
−
* 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]
+
== 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".
  
−
* 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>)
+
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.
  
−
* 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>
+
= Problems, issues, comments =
−
 
+
For any problem that occurs now, you should add a new section below.
−
* 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".
 
−
 
 
−
* 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.
 
  
−
* Let the automated build begin by typing:
+
== Issues with older versions of GnuCash ==
  
−
  $INSTALLER_DIR/install.sh  (the complete path to the install.sh)
+
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]].
−
  (e.g. /c/soft/downloads/install.sh)
 
  
−
* 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.
+
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.
  
−
* 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
+
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]].
  
−
  c:/soft/gnucash/bin/gnucash
+
== Known issues ==
−
 
 
−
or even without MSYS directly by "Start"-> "Run"-> "c:\soft\gnucash\bin\gnucash.bat"
 
−
 
 
−
* If there HAVE been errors, then please report them in the Section [[#Problems, issues, comments|Problems, issues, comments]].
 
−
 
 
−
Please spread the word and report back any problems you encounter. It is
 
−
probably not too difficult anymore to create a full self-contained
 
−
package of GnuCash on Windows as well! Some more information is also
 
−
collected here on this wiki page.
 
−
 
 
−
=== A bit of history ===
 
−
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 ==
 
−
=== Error messages ===
 
−
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.
 
−
 
 
−
=== 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 [http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mingw/gdb-6.3-1.exe]
 
−
* Modify the installed "bin\gnucash.bat" script by inserting one and changing one line.  It should end like
 
−
set PATH=C:\Program Files\gdb\bin;%PATH%
 
−
start gdb gnucash-bin
 
−
with the correct path to gdb.exe
 
−
* Then start gnucash as usual, 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.
 
−
 
 
−
If you are working in a MinGW shell, you may want to change and call the bin\gnucash script instead.
 
−
 
 
−
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>.
 
−
 
 
−
=== install.sh ===
 
−
* To debug install.sh, change <tt>set -e</tt> to <tt>set -ex</tt> at the top of it.
 
−
* Once you have installed Subversion, you might want to checkout and update packaging/win32 as described in [[SVN]].
 
−
svn checkout <nowiki>http://svn.gnucash.org/repo/gnucash/trunk/packaging/win32</nowiki> packaging
 
−
 
 
−
=== Online banking ===
 
−
The current install.sh automated build already builds GnuCash with Online Banking enabled, including HBCI, OFX DirectConnect, and OFX file import methods.
 
−
 
 
−
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.
 
−
 
 
−
==== aqbanking ====
 
−
 
 
−
The GUI installation goes like this for a manual install:
 
−
 
 
−
* Install Qt 4.x (Open Source Edition) from http://www.trolltech.com/developer/downloads/qt/windows
 
−
* Since install.sh already includes the build rules as optional parts, run the following:
 
−
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.
 
−
 
 
−
=== Subsystems and exetype ===
 
−
All executables and DLLs on Windows operate in one of a few different subsystems, most of them either in <tt>Console</tt> or <tt>GUI</tt> (also called <tt>Windows</tt>).  Basically, executables in Console always start up in a new console window and print stuff to it, whereas ones in GUI do not open windows and are pretty quiet, even in console windows.  If you want to change that subsystem type, because you want to see debugging output or hide unnecessary console windows, [http://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-user/2007-April/020151.html] lists a few possible ways.
 
−
 
 
−
The easiest option if you don't have any further build tools available is probably the third one from that mail: Install the MSYS program (needed for building GnuCash) from the pointer at the top section of this page, fetch http://svn.gnucash.org/trac/browser/gnucash/trunk/packaging/win32/exetype.pl
 
−
and type
 
−
exetype.pl gnucash-bin.exe console
 
−
 
 
−
=== GTK-Wimp (better looking GUI) ===
 
−
If you think that the default Win32 GUI is old fashion, you can switch to the GTK wimp look & feel by :
 
−
* creating a file called '''gtkrc''' in the directory "$INSTDIR\Gnucash\etc\gtk-2.0\" (e.g. c:\Program Files\Gnucash\etc\gtk-2.0\).
 
−
* adding the following content (copy & paste it) :
 
−
<pre>
 
−
gtk-icon-sizes = "gtk-menu=13,13:gtk-small-toolbar=16,16:gtk-large-toolbar=24,24:gtk-dnd=32,32"
 
−
gtk-toolbar-icon-size = small-toolbar
 
−
 
 
−
# disable images in buttons. i've only seen ugly delphi apps use this feature.
 
−
gtk-button-images = 0
 
−
 
 
−
# enable/disable images in menus. most "stock" microsoft apps don't use these, except sparingly.
 
−
# the office apps use them heavily, though.
 
−
gtk-menu-images = 1
 
−
 
 
−
# use the win32 button ordering instead of the GNOME HIG one, where applicable
 
−
gtk-alternative-button-order = 1
 
−
 
 
−
style "msw-default"
 
−
{
 
−
  GtkWidget::interior-focus = 1
 
−
  GtkOptionMenu::indicator-size = { 9, 5 }
 
−
  GtkOptionMenu::indicator-spacing = { 7, 5, 2, 2 }
 
−
  GtkSpinButton::shadow-type = in
 
−
 
 
−
  # Owen and I disagree that these should be themable
 
−
  #GtkUIManager::add-tearoffs = 0
 
−
  #GtkComboBox::add-tearoffs = 0
 
−
 
 
−
  GtkComboBox::appears-as-list = 1
 
−
  GtkComboBox::focus-on-click = 0
 
−
 
 
−
  GOComboBox::add_tearoffs = 0
 
−
 
 
−
  GtkTreeView::allow-rules = 0
 
−
  GtkTreeView::expander-size = 12
 
−
 
 
−
  GtkExpander::expander-size = 12
 
−
 
 
−
  GtkScrolledWindow::scrollbar_spacing = 1
 
−
 
 
−
  GtkSeparatorMenuItem::horizontal-padding = 2
 
−
 
 
−
  engine "wimp"
 
−
  {
 
−
  }
 
−
}
 
−
class "*" style "msw-default"
 
−
</pre>
 
−
 
 
−
== Problems, issues, comments ==
 
−
For any problem that occurs now, you should add a new section below.
 
−
 
 
−
=== 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.
 
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.
−
* http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=457100 Fatal error on windows startup (Our top windows bug!)
+
* {{BugURL}}/show_bug.cgi?id=466512 Win32: Wrong permissions for .gnucash directory (was: Win32 GnuCash 2.2.1 Fails to Start/Install)
−
* http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=449153 Win32 GnuCash Fails to Start
+
* {{BugURL}}/show_bug.cgi?id=645273#c40 Reports features do not work
−
* http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=462148 report output is vertically inverted and bottom up printed
 
−
* http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=395327 win32: Some dialog windows open in the background, app may look frozen
 
−
* http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=468846 Win32 GnuCash 2.2.1 Fails to Start/Install
 
−
* http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=504261 Start on W2K fails with Entry Point Not Found (KERNEL32.dll, GetVolumePathNameForVolumeNameW)
 
−
 
 
−
=== 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."
+
== Windows 7 64-bit - GnuCash fails to run ==
−
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.
+
This is with GnuCash 2.4.3:
  
−
===DLL install error===
+
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:
−
I get an error like that:
 
  
−
'libgncmodule.la' 'c:/soft/gnucash/lib/libgncmodule.la'
+
# Right-click on the GnuCash icon and select 'Run as Administrator'
−
/bin/install -c .libs/libgncmodule.dll.a
+
# GnuCash starts up as expected
−
c:/soft/gnucash/lib/libgncmodule.dll.a
+
# Close GnuCash
−
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.
+
After doing the above once, I can start GnuCash normally and it starts up properly.
−
: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)
+
Hopefully this helps someone. --[[User:Sketch|Sketch]] 05:05, 7 March 2011 (UTC)
−
:Seems like using libtool-1.5.23a didn't change a thing. I've written a script that should track down potential errors:
 
  
−
<pre>
+
== Font problems ==
−
#!/bin/sh
 
−
ALL_LIBDIR=` find . -name '*.la' | grep '\.libs' `
 
−
RM_THESE=""
 
−
 
 
−
for LIB in $ALL_LIBDIR ; do
 
−
    DIR=`dirname ${LIB}`
 
−
    FNAME=`basename ${LIB}`
 
−
    LIBBASE=`basename ${LIB} .la`
 
−
    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
 
−
    echo "Do this:"
 
−
    echo "rm ${RM_THESE}"
 
−
fi
 
−
</pre>
 
−
 
 
−
So how is someone supposed to use the above script? It says it is supposed to track down potential errors, since it is doing some erasing (rm) does that mean it is fixing the problems as well? Or at least fixing it such that running install.sh again should work?
 
−
 
 
−
I have now run <tt>make clean && make all install</tt> in a particular directory 3 times but still get the same error.
 
−
 
 
−
=== GConf/ORBit COMM_FAILURE ===
 
−
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 might try to install ORBit2-2.13.3 from [ftp://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/binaries/win32/ORBit2/2.13/ here] instead of 2.14.x, as this seems to fix that problem. However, on some computers only the latest ORBit2 (2.14.7 from [ftp://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/binaries/win32/ORBit2/2.14/ here] as of this writing) fixes this, whereas on others, only ORBit-2.13.3 fixes this.
 
−
* GnuCash-2.2.0 ships with ORBit2-2.13.3; if you experience the above error, try downloading ORBit2-2.14.7 and unzipping it into the Program\GnuCash folder.
 
−
* GnuCash-2.2.1 ships with ORBit2-2.14.7; if you experience the above error, try downloading ORBit2-2.13.3 and unzipping it into the Program\GnuCash folder.
 
−
 
 
−
The bug is still present on some computers. One suggestion is to kill all running gconfd-2.exe instances and remove <tt>C:\Documents and Settings\$user\Local Settings\Temp\gconfd-$user\lock\ior</tt>.
 
−
 
 
−
Unfortunately we don't have any further ideas about that so far.
 
−
Some users suggested that disabling all network interfaces is a temporary fix for that problem. (Not confirmed yet)
 
−
 
 
−
=== Check Printing characters inverted ===
 
−
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.
 
−
 
 
−
 
 
−
 
 
−
=== Windows XP Home Edition Problems ===
 
−
 
 
−
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).
 
−
:Does GnuCash 2.2.2 work for you? [[User:Andi5|andi5]]
 
−
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]]
 
−
:Please file a bug report at [[Bugzilla]]. [[User:Andi5|andi5]]
 
−
 
 
−
 
 
−
 
 
−
=== Windows 2000 Problems ===
 
−
I downloaded the latest binary today.
 
−
Installed on Windows 2000 SP4.
 
−
GnuCash did not display windows fully.
 
−
When I selected the option to import QIF files, program immediately crashed with no error messages.
 
−
Did not even get a chance to select a QIF file.
 
−
 
 
−
:Please take a look at [[Windows#Error messages|Error messages]], maybe you find something useful in there.  Ok, I just added that section ;-)
 
−
:What does "display windows fully" mean? -- [[User:Andi5|andi5]]
 
−
 
 
−
I have a multiboot system, each OS is Windows 2000.
 
−
I installed the binaries in the OS on G.
 
−
I checked C, G, and I, and could not find any file named gnucash.trace.
 
−
I: has several shared directories.
 
−
It's possible I cleaned out Temp files, do not recall.
 
−
 
 
−
Do I now have to download a more recent binary to see this?
 
−
I'll check for a more recent binary.
 
−
 
 
−
"does not display fully means, remember this is first time I ever ran GniCash:
 
−
 
 
−
1. Window wit hoption to create account, import QIF, amd one other option appeared.
 
−
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.
 
−
 
 
−
I just remembered, I uninstalled gnucash-2.0.99-svn-r15667-setup.exe after the error occurred yesterday.
 
−
 
 
−
==== Problems trying to build on Windows 2000 Sp4 ====
 
−
2007-08-15 Trying to run the automated build install.sh I get the following:
 
−
(note that MSYS already asked to normalize my environment when I first installed it)
 
−
<pre>
 
−
This is a post install process (...)
 
−
Do you wish to continue with the post install? [yn ]
 
−
Do you have MinGW installed? [yn ]
 
−
Please answer the following in the form of c:/foo/bar.
 
−
Where is your MinGW installation?
 
−
I see that you already have an /etc/fstab file.  Do you wish for me
 
−
to add mount bindings for c:/soft/mingw to /mingw? [yn ]pi.sh: [: ==: unary operator expected
 
−
 
 
−
        Normalizing your MSYS environment.
 
−
(...)
 
−
!!! mingw not installed correctly !!!
 
−
!!! ABORTING !!!
 
−
</pre>
 
−
 
 
−
In install.sh I had to change the following line:
 
−
FROM:
 
−
(echo "y"; echo "y"; echo "$_MINGW_WFSDIR") | sh pi.sh
 
−
 
 
−
TO:
 
−
(echo "y"; echo "y"; echo "$_MINGW_WFSDIR"; echo "y") | sh pi.sh
 
−
 
 
−
:Thanks for reporting this; we'll integrate it to our source as soon as possible. --[[User:Cstim|Cstim]] 04:06, 16 August 2007 (EDT)
 
−
 
 
−
More problems. After running for many hours it got to the aqofxconnect.dll. Looks like it built it correctly but failed trying to do some installs. I'm not sure how much more needs to be built after this.
 
−
 
 
−
<pre>
 
−
Creating library file: .libs/aqofxconnect.dll.a
 
−
/bin/install -c .libs/aqofxconnect.dll.aT /c/soft/aqbanking/lib/aqbanking/plugins/16/providers/aqofxconnect.dll.a
 
−
base_file=`basename ${file}`
 
−
dlpath=`/bin/sh 2>&1 -c '. .libs/'${base_file}'i;echo $dlname'`
 
−
make[8]: *** [install-pluginLTLIBRARIES] Error 1
 
−
make[8]: Leaving directory `/c/soft/tmp/aqbanking-2.3.2/src/plugins/backends/aqofxconnect/plugin'
 
−
make[7]: *** [install-am] Error 2
 
−
</pre>
 
−
 
 
−
:This seems to be the same problem as [[Windows#DLL_install_error]] and we don't know any real solution. You can run "make install" in the tmp/aqbanking-x.y.z directory by hand in order to finish the aqbanking installation, then run install.sh again. --[[User:Cstim|Cstim]] 04:06, 16 August 2007 (EDT)
 
−
 
 
−
It was make install-pluginLTLIBRARIES that was failing. (...) Similar problems in (...)
 
−
 
 
−
:I already said: This problem is already known and all that we know is listed at [[Windows#DLL_install_error]]. --[[User:Cstim|Cstim]] 10:47, 17 August 2007 (EDT)
 
−
:: Sorry I was just keeping a log of the directories that were having problems in case there was something specific to those directories, if you don't think that is helpful then I will leave it out.
 
−
::: No problem, but in this particular case we know already it isn't a problem of a particular directory, but rather the Msys shell and make on Windows in general. --[[User:Cstim|Cstim]] 12:49, 17 August 2007 (EDT)
 
−
 
 
−
=== Application Error on Exit in XP Pro ===
 
−
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 ===
 
−
 
 
−
This is the error that I got:
 
−
 
 
−
3200K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 99%  145.77 KB/s
 
−
3250K .......... ...                                        100%  834.05 KB/s
 
−
<br>
 
−
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.
 
−
 
 
−
When I turn on <tt>set -ex</tt>, I get the following:
 
−
 
 
−
++ cp e_os.h e_os2.h include/openssl
 
−
+++ unix_path 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe'
 
−
+++ 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.
 
−
 
 
−
:Does that mean that your system lacks <tt>C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe</tt>, <tt>$TMP_DIR\openssl-0.9.8e\ms\mingw32.bat</tt> or what do you think?
 
−
 
 
−
<tt>C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe</tt> is definitely there.<br>
 
−
So is <tt>C:\soft\tmp\openssl-0.9.8e\ms\mingw32.bat</tt>.
 
−
 
 
−
If I hardcode the full path to <tt>mingw32</tt> in <tt>install.sh</tt> like this:
 
−
 
 
−
  PATH=$_ACTIVE_PERL_UDIR/ActivePerl/Perl/bin:$_MINGW_UDIR/bin $_COMSPEC_U //c <b>c:\\soft\\tmp\\openssl-0.9.8e\\</b>ms\\mingw32
 
−
 
 
−
<tt>ming32.bat</tt> starts to execute but it generates its own set of errors:
 
−
 
 
−
  > perl Configure mingw       
 
−
  Can't open perl script "Configure": No such file or directory
 
−
  Generating x86 for GNU assember
 
−
  Bignum
 
−
  The system cannot find the path specified.
 
−
  Can't open perl script "bn-586.pl": No such file or directory
 
−
  Can't open perl script "co-586.pl": No such file or directory
 
−
  DES . . .
 
−
 
 
−
So to get beyond that problem, I modified mingw32.bat to start out with a <tt>cd</tt> command, since it was starting in the <tt>C:\</tt> directory:
 
−
 
 
−
  <b>cd C:\soft\tmp\openssl-0.9.8e</b>
 
−
  perl Configure mingw %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8
 
−
  @echo off
 
−
 
 
−
which allowed it to run a bit further and generated this error:
 
−
 
 
−
  Generating x86 for GNU assember
 
−
  Bignum
 
−
  DES
 
−
  crypt
 
−
  Blowfish
 
−
  CAST5
 
−
  RC4
 
−
  MD5
 
−
  SHA1
 
−
  RIPEMD160
 
−
  RC5\32
 
−
  CPUID
 
−
  Generating makefile
 
−
  Generating DLL definition files
 
−
  Building the libraries
 
−
  Building OpenSSL
 
−
  mingw32-make: *** [banner] Error 1
 
−
 
 
−
I don't think I should keep making these minor adjustments to install.sh and mingw32.bat. There must be something I've done wrong that is causing this problem to appear in the first place.
 
−
 
 
−
--[[User:FELap09|FELap09]]
 
−
 
 
−
: I am sorry, I do not really know how to help you other than "delete c:\soft\tmp\openssl-*, c:\soft\openssl and retry with -ex". -- [[User:Andi5|andi5]]
 
−
 
 
−
: I had a similar problem compiling OpenSSL. It was fixed by uninstalling mingw from its custom location, then allowing the install.sh script to reinstall it. -- [[User:Cedayiv|cedayiv]]
 
−
 
 
−
=== Font problems ===
 
  
 
After upgrading to 2.2.1, people have reported font-related issues:
 
After upgrading to 2.2.1, people have reported font-related issues:
Line 464: Line 113:
 
* The tick/check mark in the Reconcile window may look like a "nondescript squiggle"
 
* 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)
 
* 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,
 
The reason appears to be that GnuCash is now referring to Windows to determine what fonts to use,
Line 476: Line 126:
 
# Advanced
 
# Advanced
 
# Select "Message Box" from the drop-down
 
# Select "Message Box" from the drop-down
−
# Change as required
+
# Change as required (e.g. set to Tacoma 10 point)
 
# OK
 
# OK
 
# Apply
 
# Apply
  
 
[[User:Fred|Fred]] 10:30, 22 August 2007 (EDT)
 
[[User:Fred|Fred]] 10:30, 22 August 2007 (EDT)
 +
:Is this still necessary when using GnuCash 2.2.2? [[User:Andi5|andi5]]
 +
 +
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):
 +
* 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'''.
 +
--[[User:Piyo|Piyo]] 23:23, 5 February 2008 (EST)
 +
 +
== Program hangs constantly ==
 +
 +
(GnuCash 2.4)
 +
 +
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.
 +
 +
--[[User:GJanssens|GJanssens]] 18 October 2013
 +
 +
== Gnucash fails to start with Failed to contact configuration server ==
 +
 +
(GnuCash 2.4)
  
−
=== Windows Vista Problems ===
+
Copied from [{{BugURL}}/show_bug.cgi?id=708989 this bug report]:
−
A number of people have reported problems running on Windows Vista.  Gnucash takes a long time to start and reports an error, then may lock up. The error is
 
−
"An error occurred while loading or saving configuration information for gnucash. Some of your configuration settings may not work properly.", and, under the Details button, <br>
 
−
"Adding client to server's list failed, CORBA error: IDL:omg.org/CORBA/COMM_FAILURE:1.0
 
−
Adding client to server's list failed, CORBA error: IDL:omg.org/CORBA/COMM_FAILURE:1.0
 
−
Adding client to server's list failed, CORBA error: IDL:omg.org/CORBA/COMM_FAILURE:1.0
 
−
Adding client to server's list failed, CORBA error: IDL:omg.org/CORBA/COMM_FAILURE:1.0
 
−
Adding client to server's list failed, CORBA error: IDL:omg.org/CORBA/COMM_FAILURE:1.0"
 
−
<br>
 
−
Disabling all network interfaces allows Gnucash to work normally for some people. Apparantly there is a shortage of Vista machines in developers' hands, so don't hold your breath for a fix.
 
  
−
I had the above problem in Vista-32 bit. Downloaded ORBit2-2.13.3.zip from ftp://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/binaries/win32/ORBit2/2.13/ and extracted files into GnuCash\bin (backup existing files first) to resolved it. I am using GNUCash 2.2.1, r16462 2007-08-20.
+
I installed GnuCash on Windows 7 and at one point I received the following error message
  
−
:I can confirm that this fix works for me on Vista-32.--[[User:Jadlakha|Jadlakha]] 14:54, 8 December 2007 (EST)
+
  Failed to contact configuration server; some possible causes are that you need
−
:I can confirm that this fix works for GnuCash 2.2.2 on Vista x64. [[User:Pettijohn|Pettijohn]] 15:09, 18 December 2007 (EST)
+
  to enable TCP/IP networking for ORBit, or you have stale NFS locks due to a
−
::The 2.2.2 installer has been updated and should no longer require this fix. I have tested this per the discussion on this bug: http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=504319 [[User:Pettijohn|Pettijohn]] 16:33, 19 December 2007 (EST)
+
  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 can also confirm this problem in 2000 SP4 with version 2.2.1. No problems with the install. The above error describes it exactly just without locking up.
+
I do not know what caused this error message.
  
−
:This problem is known on all Windows versions. You may also want to go revert to the old ORBit2-2.13.3 version as explained in section [[Windows#GConf/ORBit COMM_FAILURE]] (above) for the same problem but on non-Vista OSs.
+
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.  
  
−
Had all of the above on Vista... Just tried the GNUcash portable beta  and it works like a dream on my Vista build.
+
Cleaning up the windows registry did not help either.
  
−
:Excuse me, but what is the "GnuCash portable beta"? Is this being offered somewhere? Can you give us the respective URL? Thanks. --[[User:Cstim|Cstim]] 03:53, 5 December 2007 (EST)
+
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.
  
−
=== Logitech QuickCam conflicts ===
+
The folder AppData is hidden (for Windows 7) and needs to be explicitly typed
 +
in the folder browser.
  
−
Some Logitech QuickCam software is incompatible with MSYS, and causes the install.sh script to randomly crash and create sh.exe.stackdump files. If you experience this problem, see the [http://www.mingw.org/MinGWiki/index.php/FAQ MSYS FAQ page] for help.
+
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 21:51, 3 May 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.

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=22115"