I’ve gone back to a system image and this time emclient won’t run, it has the corruption error and I can’t restore because I have the usual error:
The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.
I’ve done the obvious, trying different backups and shutting down and restarting the computer.
Any ideas? Do I wipe the emclient data directory? I have replicated backups and the zip files so I have a couple of choices. What is the recommended alternative step?
Place the zip files in your …\Documents\eM Client\ folder.
Start eM Client and use Menu > File > Restore.
Before we go further (I’ve put results below). Although emclient will not go past the restore option, it is creating backups, so there is some process working??
I’ve done rebuilds and restores in the past. Usually if I get a fail, retrying the restore works.
I copied the backup from my usual backups directory to \documents\em client\
I get this error
System.IO.IOException: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.
at System.IO.FileSystem.MoveDirectory(String sourceFullPath, String destFullPath)
at System.IO.Directory.Move(String sourceDirName, String destDirName)
at MailClient.DbBackup.FormBackup.Restore(String backupFile, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at MailClient.DbBackup.FormBackup.Restore(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at MailClient.DbBackup.FormBackup.<>c__DisplayClass27_0.<MainForm_Load>b__0(Object a, DoWorkEventArgs b)
at System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker.OnDoWork(DoWorkEventArgs e)
at System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker.WorkerThreadStart(Object argument)
There should have been more in the error to say what file couldn’t be accessed. Did you remove that from your post? If you did, can you provide it please?
And is this with the MS Store version of eM Client? If so what version are you using? (Menu > Help > About)
I couldn’t see a file name either. I can’t reproduce it because emclient now fails completely. It isn’t validating at all. I am a reviewer, so I have been updating from an original NFR download.
I have the following resources: 1. Veeam system image backup, including program, mail data directory structure and a backups location, plus .zip backups going back years.
2. Backup of mail data directory made with Karen’s Replicator, which in the past has been simple to restore.
The only thing I haven’t tried is almost scorched Earth. Uninstall emClient. Destroy the mail data directory. Reinstall emClient. Set it up again, point to the empty data directory (sigh). Shut down emclient without receiving or sending any mail. then rename the empty data directory. Load the mail data directory from my archive NAS. Restart emClient and if prompted or necessary, restore from the splash screen or within emClient. None of which should theoretically be required after restoring a
complete system image. Everything else is working ok as if at the Veeam backup.
Thoughts?
Well, the kind of error you quoted usually refers to the temp directory.
Close eM Client and delete all the files in the C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Temp\eM Client temporary files\ folder.
Restart eM Client and try Menu > File > Restore again.
I don’t have any em client folders under C:\Users\ali\AppData\Local\Temp
Deleted the contents of the db folder. I uninstalled. Reinstalled and updated. It remembers my license name and locations of files (YAY!, but how? Registry?) However when I found the restore option (I was expecting it under in the list with Backup, I still got the file in use error. Maybe it’s the backup file? I expected to find a filename/address in the error.
On a minicomputer I could manually reset the in use flag. Sigh.
Restoring a Karen’s Replicator backup of the data directory files from before the rebuild (caused by Brother Printer software bug), and emC won’t run and it wont restore, so I’m five days without a working system and I can’t seem to find any solution. I always do boots and braces backups for things like emC and extra backups before a restore, but I seem to have completely lost access to my files. I can get an empty structure, but anything I try to get my active mail database back fails.
I just went back to a 2021 backup just to see what would happen.
lunes 31 julio 2023 :: 1106hrs (UTC +0100)
Hey @Festivali
Given all that you have posted, I am not sure if you have carried out or tried all that @Gary has posted as I find some of what you have said difficult to follow, but maybe that is just me and NO ‘Scorched Earth’ certainly not until everything has been explored and there is absolutely NO alternative so…
Here are a few queries and a suggestion to get you running until you resolve your issue with image restore.
As a reviewer I presume you will have access to Windows Serial Keys and hopefully tried some if not all of the following, though of course a gentle reminder is always useful, I find it helps.
1./ You are a reviewer but do not say for what and for whom, not particularly relevant, just curious
2./ Do you work for a particular company or several as a contractor?
3./ How many test computers/laptops do you have available to carry out tests?
4./ Exactly what is/was your original OS and version of included in the image? You did not answer @Gary
5./ We (my company) have used VEEAM for years and have never experienced data error/corruption with image restore for any any of our clients in Banking/Insurance/Government/Airline/Shipping/Military
6./ As you are apparently experiencing data error/corruption you should contact VEEAM support, they will be concerned, particularly so as you have previously been able to restore without error
7./ There is a known Path/File Access Error with Karen’s Replicator, (I can not remember the solution - contact their support) though I am puzzled why you mention both with this issue as the VEEAM image covers everything on disc
8./ I am not certain what you mean by NFR download, if with eMC it is not a facility that I know though @Gary will
9./ Is it in fact a normal download but with a License file ‘Not for Resale’? (If this is with eMC you can allocate NFR to a particular installation with file manager and if you are unable to do this probably @Gary will help)
10./ It is possible for a copied eMC Backup or other file to be held in memory causing file in use error, reboot computer and try again; if it still does not work try with a different file. (make a copy and MOVE not COPY)
11./ The first reason for question #3; Have you tried a VEEAM/Karen’s Replicator restore to a different computer?
12./ The second reason for question #3; As you have a problem with the restore, to eliminate meantime eMC restore issues…
Carry out a Clean install of Windows 10 then install eMC but do NOT setup, at this point place your most recent eMC Backup in Documents/emclient then run restore (Menu ->File ->Restore). This is not restricted to Win 10 you can carry out the same procedure with Win 11 (It works OK with both) - The purpose of this is to get you up and running with eMC email and nothing else
13./ Given all of the above and more so as you are a reviewer, have you thought of creating another image from your Backup computer and using this to restore to your computer where there is the eMC issue? This assumes that you will have Backup system
14./ As a test, this morning, I have just created and restored using VEEAM a complete image of a high spec Lenovo laptop (Win 10 Pro Workstation/Xeon W-10885M vPro Processor) including eMC to an old Vaio Laptop with Win 10 on an HDD (just to force the issue and make it speed limited) it worked perfectly
In conclusion I do not believe your issue is a specific fault with eMC or eMC Restore, it is a corruption of your VEEAM or Karen’s Replicator image or both or some issue with your target computer.
¡Suerte!
skybat
¡Los mejores desde Valencia y mantente a salvo!
Hablo español, luego portugués, inglés, francés y alemán
con conocimiento de varios otros idiomas.
Thanks Skybat. I’m going to have to read your response in more detail, but a quick answer is that since the 1980s I have been a freelance journalist and written reviews and articles and sometimes regular columns for major Australian newspapers and magazines. I’ll just post a response to @Gary and then I have to deal with another crisis. Ironically, email down for a couple of weeks is not my most pressing tech issue.
Hasta luego
I tried moving the backup .zip file to the folder that I assume you meant. To default location of emC data. When I restarted emC I got the same error. File in use, but no name of the file.
System.IO.IOException: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.
at System.IO.FileSystem.MoveDirectory(String sourceFullPath, String destFullPath)
at System.IO.Directory.Move(String sourceDirName, String destDirName)
at MailClient.DbBackup.FormBackup.Restore(String backupFile, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at MailClient.DbBackup.FormBackup.Restore(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at MailClient.DbBackup.FormBackup.<>c__DisplayClass27_0.<MainForm_Load>b__0(Object a, DoWorkEventArgs b)
at System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker.OnDoWork(DoWorkEventArgs e)
at System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker.WorkerThreadStart(Object argument)
The location of the backup files should be C:\Users\yourusername\Documents\eM Client\ . So in your regular Documents folder.
The location of the database should be C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Roaming\eM Client\ .
You can’t have the backup zip file in the database directory. If you try to restore it from there you will get an error.
But if the backup zip file is in another folder, and you get this error that it is being used by another process, you might want to check if some security app has blocked access to the file. Also, the backup zip file shouldn’t be in a cloud synced folder, because the sync utility may block access to the file while it is being synced.
I have been using emclient for ages. I have the dbase in f:\mail, a dedicated drive which is independently backedup every 3 hours to the cloud. The emclient backups go to c:\data\backups\emclient from which they are copied to a NAS so that I have every .zip since I started using emclient. This has never before presented any problems during running or rebuilds. I am a professional IT person, I would never dump real mission-critical files in with the rubbish dump of temp files and downloads and who knows what that slack developers throw randomly on the system drive without any care for backup strategies or good, tight system matintenance.
Until now I just restored the image, ran emclient’s restore without letting emclient download anything, and off If went. This time emclient reports some unnamed file is in use and despite not being in my startup, the emclient backup has been running. Until a week or so ago, it made identical backups every time, but now it too is erroring.
Worse still, I asked my techie to follow your instructions above and try his luck. He @#$%^& didn’t, proudly reporting that he let emclient run and didn’t look at your instructions or attempt to restore. I now have
And yes, journalists and editors don’t need to subscribe to newsletters to receive hundreds of press releases a day, so that 18K is not spam.
Is the situation as bad as it feels?