[Solved] Particularly Pesky prob Another Instance is Running

[Rank Amateur]

Hi All--

I had a BSOD crash the other day (msg indicated some problem with drivers, OK since then, Malwarebytes and Kaspersky find nothing), but since then I'm getting the "Another instance of OO is running or personal settings are locked" problem.

I have fixed other OO problems before by renaming my user profile or deleting the ~lock folder. Here renaming the user profile to old didn't fix the problem, and there is no ~lock folder. (Yes, I have enabled view hidden folders.) Last, nothing in the extensions/bundled folder to delete as advised in one of the other threads on this issue.

Anybody have an idea of what else I can try? Thank you very much if you do. Or should I just click "yes" to reply to the "do you really want to continue" message. When I do that, it wants me to start all over by registering OO. Is that normal?

[robleyd]

You seem to have a stray .lock file from the running instance of AOO when the BSOD happened; this would be in the AppData/Roaming/OpenOffice/4 directory. Delete that file and AOO should start happily - and may ask for registration details if you have renamed/delete the user directory.

Or should I just click "yes" to reply to the "do you really want to continue" message. When I do that, it wants me to start all over by registering OO. Is that normal?

Click "Yes" is fine; it will replace the .lock file with a current version and AOO will start. As above, registration will be presented if you have renamed/delete the user directory.

[Rank Amateur]

Hello Robleyd, and thanks for trying to help. There is no .lock file in the [users/[myusername]]AppData/Roaming/OpenOffice/4 directory -- only the folder named user. Unless by "stray" you meant it has somehow become non-existent as far as file explorer is concerned.

But, with your help as a prod to me to try something else, I think the problem is now fixed. I renamed the user folder "userold," and opened the program. I went thru the name, initials, etc. for new user registration. Then I opened the documents folder containing the file I wanted to open. Lo and behold, I saw a .~lock file associated with the name of the file I wanted to open. I deleted that file, and all appears to be well now.

Thank you.