Are you encountering errors while using HomeGauge? Don't worry; we're here to help you resolve them. Below, we'll discuss some common errors and their solutions to get your HomeGauge software back on track.

Errors Occur When Installing

Error: "Extract: error writing to file..."

Occurs when: installing Desktop Report Writer

Why it happens: This error typically occurs when trying to install Desktop Report Writer on a new computer with OneDrive.

Solutions: 

To resolve this issue, OneDrive needs to stop backing up. To learn how to do this, visit this article Troubleshooting: OneDrive.

Error opening file to write(...)

Occurs when: installing or updating Desktop Report Writer

Why it happens: Desktop Report Writer is running and must be closed to complete the operation. Note: Desktop Report Writer might be running in rare instances but is not visible on your taskbar.

Solutions: 

1. Close Desktop Report Writer if it's currently open.
2. If Desktop Report Writer is not open, open your Windows Start menu and type Task Manager. Click the result from the list to open your Task Manager.
3. Look for homegauge5.exe in the list, click it, and click End Task. If you don't see it, click More details at the bottom and follow the same steps.

Errors Occur When Opening Desktop Report Writer

Cannot create empty file in folder 00000000

Occurs when: opening Desktop Report Writer

Why it happens: The Desktop Report Writer has a folder in your Documents\HomeGauge\Reports folder named 00000000. This folder must be present for the software to function. This error can happen for a few reasons.

1. Most common: The HomeGauge Data folder (usually Documents\HomeGauge) itself was moved or deleted. This can happen if you move the folder to another location for convenience or remove files from it to save space. When this happens, HomeGauge does not know where its files are and has reset to its own installation folder which will cause this error.
2. Less common: The 00000000 folder specifically was deleted, or moved out of the Reports folder, for instance when attempting to manually move all of your reports to free up space or back up.

Solutions:

1. If you moved your Documents\HomeGauge folder to a different location, move it back to Documents, then re-download and run the HomeGauge installer. Note that running the HomeGauge installer does not delete any of your existing reports or data.

This is an advanced troubleshooting step. We recommend contacting HomeGauge Support.

Error: HomeGauge cannot open report folder

Occurs when: opening Desktop Report Writer but the software cannot locate the data folder

Why it happens: the HomeGauge Data Folder may have been removed, renamed, or moved, which causes the software to encounter an error when loading

Solutions: 

1. Close down Desktop Report Writer if you have it running 
2. Right-click on the HomeGauge icon and choose Run as administrator
3. Desktop Report Writer should start normally. Go to the menu Options > Advanced Folder Option
4. Click on Reset To Default Location
5. Click OK and follow the onscreen directions
6. Close and restart HomeGauge normally 

HomeGauge Cannot find a Date Folder which is Necessary to Continue

Occurs when: opening the software.

Why it happens: The HomeGauge data folder is missing.

Solution:

To resolve this issue, you have several options. Take note of the folder name under "It was previously located at:"

• If you recently moved the HomeGauge data folder to another location such as another hard drive, move it back to the location specified in the error, then click Exit HomeGauge and start it again.
• If you recently moved the HomeGauge data folder but do not wish to move it back, click Browse for Data Folder and browse to the location you moved the folder to. Please note that HomeGauge does not function well with external hard drives, networked drives or other non-permanent hard drive locations, so we recommend using only a physical internal hard drive on your computer to store HomeGauge.
• If you recently deleted the folder by mistake, check your recycle bin. If you see a folder named HomeGauge in your recycle bin, right click the folder and click Restore

If none of these options solve your problem or you are not sure what happened to the HomeGauge folder, you can try searching your computer for HomeGauge by clicking Start and typing This PC. Click This PC when it appears.

In the window that appears, click the Search This PC bar at the top right and type HomeGauge. It may take some time to search your entire computer, but if it finds a folder called HomeGauge, right click it and click Open folder location. This will take you to the folder, you can then look at the address bar in Explorer to see where the folder is located.

Internal error: unable to start report

Occurs when: opening the software.

Why it happens: The HomeGauge data folder is missing.

Solution: Follow the steps above.

There is no disk in the drive. Please insert a disk into drive (drive name)

When it can happen: When opening Desktop Report Writer

Why it happens: This is a generic Windows error that can affect many programs. When the software was installed, Windows mistakenly believed that a connected device such as a thumb drive or external hard drive was the installation medium for HomeGauge. As a result, it believes that device needs to be connected for HomeGauge to run.

Solution: We are unsure of a guaranteed solution for this as it is not a HomeGauge-specific error, but we recommend uninstalling HomeGauge and then reinstalling it with no thumb drives, external hard drives, or devices such as phones or cameras connected to your computer.

What Profile do I Want to Use?

When it can happen: When starting Desktop software

Why it happens: This is due to an Outlook Integration.

• This feature is considered legacy and will be removed in future versions.
• HomeGauge integrates with Outlook 2007 only. We do not recommend using this feature.

Solution:

In the HomeGauge software:

1. Click Office Calendar  
2. Calendar Options
3. Uncheck Use Outlook Integration box.

Errors Occur When Opening a Report

Error opening report (ID) (file path) Line: # Char: #

Occurs when: opening a report

Why it happens: The report file contains invalid characters that the software cannot interpret. Certain laptops, such as the HP Envy, have been known to add these characters occasionally.

Solutions: HomeGauge Support will need to repair the file for you to remove the invalid characters. When this error occurs, it often means the template used to write the report may also have invalid characters. Please call 828-254-2030 between 9-5 EST Monday through Friday when you are at the computer experiencing an issue with an internet connection. We will connect with you, retrieve the affected files, repair them, and send them back to you so you can access your report again.

Error opening report. The following tags were not closed: report, template(...)

Occurs when: opening a report

Why it happens: This error often occurs when the device used to write the report is low or out of storage when the report was saved. Check your computer or Companion's free space and free up more as necessary to avoid the issue.

Solution: You will need to first free up space on the device (such as your Companion device or your computer) and then restore a report backup. To learn how to restore a backup of the report, visit Report Writer Desktop: Manage Reports.

The template that was used to create this report...

When it can happen: When opening an old report

Why it happens:

When you save a report, the template is merged into the report so that the template as it was that day stays the same, in other words no changes you make to the standalone template will affect that finished report.

The reason the software prevents you from editing the template of an older report is to prevent your current templates from being overwritten. For example: You fine-tune your template exactly how you want it. You then write a report using your template. Over the next month, you make further changes to your template. You end up needing to open the report you wrote a month ago, and try to make edits to the template. If the software allowed this, the entire month that you've spent improving your template would be overwritten with this older report's version of the template.

Solution:

You can absolutely still edit the template that was used to create this report. To do so, you'll need to by save a copy of the template and give it a new, unique name.

1. Open the report that contains an older version of a template that you want to edit.
2. Click File  Save Template As.
3. Give it a new name (if you use the name of an existing template, it will overwrite it. Just add a date to the name, e.g. John's Template 09-08-2017)
4. You'll see that you are now able to fully edit the template without running the risk of overwriting your current templates. Any changes you make will impact only the new template you've just named.

Errors Occurs When Previewing/ Publishing Report

Error creating PDF file (file location)

Occurs when: generating a PDF preview of a report

Why it happens: An antivirus program has blocked a component of the Desktop software called PrinceXML from generating the PDF.

Solution: Open your antivirus software and navigate to the location where you can add exclusions. You will need to exclude this file: C:\Program Files (x86)\HomeGauge5\appdata\Engine\bin\prince.exe

Every antivirus program is different, and they update frequently making it difficult for us to maintain a comprehensive list of instructions for excluding files. You will want to seek out support from your antivirus software provider directly if you are unable to exclude files.

If your antivirus software allows you to exclude entire folders, we always recommend excluding both your Documents\HomeGauge folder as well as C:\Program Files (x86)\HomeGauge5.

Error creating the zip file for upload.

Occurs when: while trying to upload a report

Why it happens: Either an attachment is missing (the Desktop software cannot find the file to attach it properly), or there is a missing photo (HomeGauge knows a photo should be present for one or more inspection items, but it cannot find the file.) This can happen if you create a report, assign photos or drawings to your items, and then manually remove the images from the Report folder in Windows Explorer. We suspect it can also happen if you have backup software such as Dropbox or Microsoft OneDrive monitoring your data folder.

Solutions: Though this error is most commonly seen with missing photos, you'll want to rule out missing attachments first.

1. Click Template > All Attachments. Look for any attachments that are highlighted in red. This means the file is missing. To remedy this, close this screen and go to Misc > Attachments and click the paperclip symbol. Remove any missing attachments here by clicking it and then clicking the red X symbol to remove them. Optionally, if you do want this attachment to be present and know where the file is located, click the orange plus symbol and navigate to the file you wish to attach. As this is a template change, be sure to click Save T when done.
2. Check for missing photos. There are several ways to determine whether a photo is missing. Regardless of the method, if you believe the photo should be there, re-add the missing photos after removing the empty placeholder.
1. Next to Find Unanswered, click the Find First button. This will cycle through all items in your report that are not completed. It will search for the item that is missing a media files and bring you to that item. You'll want to look for photos that appear blank (gray). Remove any that you encounter.
2. Generate a PDF preview of the report. Missing photos will appear as empty boxes with a border. Make note of the item numbers of any missing photos, then go to those items in your software and find the blank photo and remove it.
3. Go through each item, checking all photos including those in itemized items. Remove any blank (gray) photos encountered.

Error retrieving HG Cloud report data. Error: posted content length of # exceeds limit of #

Occurs when: uploading a report to the cloud

Why it happens: The report exceeds the 200MB Cloud Transfer limit

Solutions: 

1. First, find out what's causing the report to be so large as a full report is usually well under this limit. Click Report > Display Report Data Sizes. A window will appear that lists the size of everything in the report with a total at the bottom. Look at Total Video File Size, Total Photo Size, Total Attachment Size, and Total Photo Locker Size. If any one of these has an unusually large number next to it (such as several hundred MB), that's the culprit.
1. If Total Video File Size is unusually high, trim or remove videos in your report to lower this total.
2. If Total Photo Size is unusally high, you may need to remove some photos.
3. If Total Attachment Size is unusually high, go to Misc > Attachments and remove any unneeded attachments.
2. If Total Photo Locker Size is very high, you may need to tell HomeGauge not to uplod the photo locker. To do this:
1. Click File > Printing Options
2. Click the Misc tab.
3. Uncheck the Upload Photo Locker option at the bottom of this page.
4. If this does not solve the issue, we have seen rare instances where HomeGauge includes the photo locker even when being instructed not to. To work around this, go to Documents\HomeGauge\Reports and look for the folder matching the report you're uploading. Open it, and look for the folder called photolocker. Move this folder to your desktop (right click it and click cut, then right click a blank area of your desktop and click paste.) Then try uploading again. Move the photolocker folder back to its report folder when done.

Error retrieving HG Services tier data. Error: Username and password must be provided.

Occurs when: uploading a report.

Why it happens: HomeGauge does not have your correct username/password or has the wrong version cached.

Solution: Go to HG Services > Enter HG Inspector Username and re-enter your login information.

Error while attempting to do a network operation. (...)

Full error message: "There was an error while attempting to do a network operation. Please make sure to connect to the Internet first. If you are connected then please also check any possible firewall setings like Norton Internet Security that you may have installed on your computer. Error: The connection with the server was reset."

Occurs when: uploading a report.

Why it happens: There is an issue connecting to the HomeGauge servers

Solution: Make sure that your internet is active and functioning correctly (if you reached this page successfully from the same computer that has the error, it should be.) Next, exclude HomeGauge from any antivirus software you have running.

Every antivirus program is different, and they update frequently making it difficult for us to maintain a comprehensive list of instructions for excluding files. You will want to seek out support from your antivirus software provider directly if you are unable to exclude files.

If your antivirus software allows you to exclude entire folders, we always recommend excluding both your Documents\HomeGauge folder as well as C:\Program Files (x86)\HomeGauge5.

HouseMaster Users:

Why it happens: There is an issue connecting to HouseMaster's servers

Solution: HomeGauge is typically unable to address this, and HouseMaster would need to be contacted directly. You may also try excluding HouseMaster from your antivirus.

jwplayer is undefined

Occurs when: uploading or previewing the report.

Why it happens: HomeGauge 5.2 or later is installed, and you are using restored templates and settings from an older version such (5.1 or older.)

Solution: Download and run the HomeGauge installer. You can find this on your Dashboard by clicking Install HG5 on the left-hand menu. Note: Running this installer will not remove or alter your reports, templates or other files.

Unable to find Format #

When it can happen: When previewing the report

Why it happens: HomeGauge is missing stylesheets needed to generate the report preview correctly. This can happen if the files were manually deleted.

Solution: Download and run the HomeGauge installer from your HomeGauge Dashboard using the Install HG5 link on the left hand menu. Note: None of your existing reports, templates or files will be removed.

Zip error in opening/closing "filepath\\photolocker.zip"

When it can happen: When doing a print preview 

Why it happens: The software is looking in the wrong location for the report file and needs to be manually corrected.

Solution: HomeGauge Support will need to modify the print directory of the software in the Windows registry. As this is an advanced troubleshooting step we recommend calling us at 828-254-2030 between 9-5PM EST so that we can connect to your computer with you to resolve the issue. 

Errors Occurs When Adding media

Error: Failed to convert video

Occurs when: video is in a different format than .mp4 format. Specific camera devices like iPhones use HEVC or .3gp format.

Why it happens:  If your computer does not have the correct codec, Windows cannot convert the video to the .mp4 format that Desktop Report Writer uses.

Solutions: 

Download Microsoft Codec

1. Click the following link to download the Microsoft video converter on your computer:
   https://www.microsoft.com/store/productid/9NMZLZ57R3T7?ocid=pdpshare
   
   
2. Download the affected report from the cloud again and the videos will convert correctly.
   
   
3. All future videos will convert normally.

Errors Occurs When Using HG Services

Error retrieving settings backup

Occurs when: downloading Templates and Settings on Dashboard version 5.5.13 or newer.

Why it happens: There are no Templates and Settings uploaded

Solution: First upload your Templates and Settings from the computer or device you're sending from, then use HG Services > Download Cloud Templates & Settings again. For multi-inspector firms, the owner can assign Templates & Settings to other inspectors in the company from their Dashboard under My Reports > Cloud Transfers.

Error unpacking templates and settings file

Occurs when: downloading Templates and Settings on Dashboard version 5.5.12 or older.

Why it happens: There are no Templates and Settings uploaded

Solution: First upload your Templates and Settings from the computer or device you're sending from, then use HG Services > Download Cloud Templates & Settings again. For multi-inspector firms, the owner can assign Templates & Settings to other inspectors in the company from their Dashboard under My Reports > Cloud Transfers.

Errors Occurs When Adding Customer/ REP

Failed to Create Customers Account 2 different users are already using the supplied email addresses for this one person

Occurs when: creating a customer username in the Desktop Report Writer

Why it happens: When updating a user to use a different e-mail address, the software may be prevented from saving that change due to antivirus interference which can cause this message. 

Solution: Exclude your Documents\HomeGauge folder and your C:\Program Files (x86)\HomeGauge5 folder from your antivirus. If you cannot exclude folders, exclude C:\Program Files (x86)\HomeGauge5\HomeGauge5.exe and Documents\HomeGauge\people4.csv

Every antivirus program is different, and they update frequently making it difficult for us to maintain a comprehensive list of instructions for excluding files. You will want to seek out support from your antivirus software provider directly if you cannot exclude files.

Software cannot open people4.csv for writing (message may vary)

When it can happen: While trying to add or edit a contact in the software

Why it happens: An antivirus software, especially AVG's ransomeware protection module, has blocked certain functions within HomeGauge.

Solution:

1. Close HomeGauge
2. Open AVG's settings and create an exception or whitelist for your Documents\HomeGauge folder as well as C:\Program Files (x86)\HomeGauge5.
3. Re-open HomeGauge an attempt to do the action that caused the error again. AVG should prompt you to block or allow the action. Allow it and AVG should not prompt you again.

Every antivirus program is different, and they update frequently making it difficult for us to maintain a comprehensive list of instructions for excluding files. You will want to seek out support from your antivirus software provider directly if you are unable to exclude files.

If your antivirus software allows you to exclude entire folders, we always recommend excluding both your Documents\HomeGauge folder as well as C:\Program Files (x86)\HomeGauge5.

Errors Occurs When Writing a Report

OLE database error (of any kind)

Occurs when: clicking through sections of the report.

Why it happens: An antivirus program, especially Trend Micro, prevents HomeGauge from functioning correctly.

Solution: Open your antivirus software and navigate to the location where you can add exclusions. You will need to exclude this file: C:\Program Files (x86)\HomeGauge5\HomeGauge5.exe

Every antivirus program is different, and they update frequently making it difficult for us to maintain a comprehensive list of instructions for excluding files. You will want to seek out support from your antivirus software provider directly if you are unable to exclude files.

If your antivirus software allows you to exclude entire folders, we always recommend excluding both your Documents\HomeGauge folder as well as C:\Program Files (x86)\HomeGauge5.