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? personal settings locked? ensure user 'closes OO on host'

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2019 7:02 pm
by effiegee
Apologies in advance for being slow. I have a new to me laptop, Windows 10, God forfend after using gentle Windows 7 on my old laptop, 10 is a beast. :crazy:
I don't know my way around this yet so maybe I've pressed a button that I should have kept away from, that's then led to this problem.

Anyway, the laptop was set up successfully, all my folders etc moved onto it and I've used Open Office successfully until yesterday.

PDFs, JPEGs, photos all opening OK.
What's not opening are .ODT and Microsoft Word 97 documents, they're there in the correct folders and they look intact but the round blue circle stops after a few spins or I get a box up that says:
? Either another instance of Open Office is accessing your personal settings or your personal settings are locked. Simultaneous access can lead to inconsistencies in your personal settings. Before continuing you should ensure user 'closes Open Office on host'. Do you really want to continue? Yes in box No (bolded) in box. Inviting a No click.

I have no idea what this means nor how to get to 'close Open Office on host' to put this right.
Seems that somewhere along the line I messed up the settings?
Though all I've done knowingly was to instal AdBlock yesterday and tidy up my documents into folders, doubt it was anything to do with that?

If this is relevant, on my opening page where there is a tab for Open Office 4.1.6 that would normally lead to the options available, all that happens is that little blue circle circling once and then stopping.

The man who knows about such things is not contactable and I am in the middle of legal stuff......that should have been printed off and sent off today.

I would be very grateful if someone out there knows how to put this right, in terms of one syllable if at all possible.
Thanks in advance.

Re: ? personal settings locked? ensure user 'closes OO on ho

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2019 8:06 pm
by effiegee
Just to add, was advised to uninstall and re-install, did so, version 4.1.6, the same thing is happening, the same message in the box as noted above.

Re: ? personal settings locked? ensure user 'closes OO on ho

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2019 8:32 pm
by John_Ha
effiegee wrote:I have a new to me laptop, Windows 10, God forfend after using gentle Windows 7 on my old laptop, 10 is a beast. :crazy:
You have my sympathy - W10 is awful. I'm staying on W7 till I'm forced off it and then I think I'll go to a Linux.

1. Google accessing your personal settings or your personal settings are locked for lots of hits - see [Solved] Another instance or settings locked. The path will be C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4 and you need to switch on Show hidden files and folders to see it. The instruction will therefore be:
in the \4 folder, there should be a .lock file. Just delete it.
Possibly try

2. Be sure the file associations and default programs are correct - Google it.

3. Open TaskManager. Kill any soffice.exe, soffice.bin and swriter.exe processes. Retry. nb rebooting does it for you.

Re: ? personal settings locked? ensure user 'closes OO on ho

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2019 10:20 pm
by effiegee
Thanks John. I'm going to have a go at this tomorrow when my nerves re-boot. RIP Windows 7.

Re: ? personal settings locked? ensure user 'closes OO on ho

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2019 10:42 pm
by RoryOF
If individual files are then announced as "locked", come back to the Forum. It is possible that in the move from the old computer some other hidden files were transferred; we can tell you how to get rid of these.

Re: ? personal settings locked? ensure user 'closes OO on ho

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2019 11:07 pm
by effiegee
Thanks very much, really helpful to me, still on quill pens and Quink here!

Re: ? personal settings locked? ensure user 'closes OO on ho

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2019 11:20 pm
by effiegee
Hi Not quite sure what's going on here, I've uninstalled and installed a few times, same result, locked docs, except a minute ago I clicked onto Open Office Writer (? I think) and accessed the draft letter I've been chasing all day? It appeared. My head's screwed for today, I'm going to have to come back tomorrow and try to suss how this happened. I hadn't done anything yet to rectify as per your instructions. Good night and thanks for your support!

Re: ? personal settings locked? ensure user 'closes OO on ho

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2019 11:50 pm
by robleyd
Uninstalling and reinstalling is a waste of your time; follow the suggestions made above by John_Ha.

Re: ? personal settings locked? ensure user 'closes OO on ho

Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2019 12:23 am
by RoryOF
Users expect that an uninstall/reinstall of OO will make a new User Profile. This does not happen for historical reasons.

The original version of Writer was designed so that those using it for major (say, booklength) works did not lose their customisation such as autocorrects and custom dictionaries when OO was upgraded. OO was designed so that a minor upgrade picks up the existing User Profile, containing all customisation. This is not picked up on a major version upgrade such as from OO 3 to OO 4.

Re: ? personal settings locked? ensure user 'closes OO on ho

Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2019 6:41 am
by effiegee
Thanks again, I'm grateful for your advice.