Saving error:"Unable to create intermediate backup"
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#249 Saving error:"Unable to create intermediate backup"
I just ported my PWsafe dat file from PWsafe running under XP to a new Win7 based PC. I just installed PWsafe today on this PC and it seems to run fine. It open the PWsafe date file and added a new entry without any obvious problems. However when tried to save and closeout PWsafe I got the following error message: "Unable to create intermediate backup." It want's me to rename the file but that did not seem to help either. I have no idea what all this means or what the issue is. What I do know, is that I can't seem to add new passwords to the existing PWsafe file and that is a huge problem making PWsafe of little value until we can fix this problem. I also tried instead adding a new very simple dummy entry into PWsafe to see if it might be what I added to PWsafe but I got the same problem, so I don't think the data I entered into PWsafe is the problem. Please help me ASAP. Thank you.
Hi Arthur,
Sounds like a file or directory access permission issue.
Could you check and let me know in what directory PasswordSafe's trying to save the database in? File->Save As.. should show you the directory.
As a workaround, you might want to change to a directory in which you have write access, such as My Documents.
I'm having the same problem. I'm running Windows XP and have the password safe in a LAN directory sharable by my teammates. I have "Save database immediately After Edit or Add" and "Create intermediate backups (.ibak) before saving" both checked. When I add a new entry, I get:
Clicking OK gives:
Oddly, the new entry is added to the password safe database - it's only the backup that fails. The properties on the shortcut have the "Start in" directory set to the same location as the password safe file. I've confirmed that I am in the active directory group that has modify, read&execute, list folder contents, read and write permissions to the directory containing the safe. I've also rebooted my desktop to ensure that my privileges have been refreshed - no change.
When I do File > Save As, the default directory is in My Documents which I have full permissions on. In summary, the software appears to work EXCEPT for the intermediate backup option which I've disabled.
Oddly, this function did work a few weeks ago when I had domain admin access. Once I lost domain admin, I lost the ability to use the intermediate backup. In addition, when I had domain admin, on startup Password Safe would tell me which other users had the safe open. It no longer tells me this - I'm not sure if it's related or not.
Ken
I've just started having a similar problem using PWSafe v3.26 (4333) under Wine 1.2.2 on Ubuntu 11.04; I never saw anything like it under Ubuntu 10.04. Periodically PWSafe pops up a window saying, "Unable to create intermediate backup." Then it asks me to save the file. When I try to save it to the original location, I get a window showing me the full pathname and saying, "File is currently locked by" (that's the whole message—apparently the user name is null).
This has been fixed and will be in the next release.
See: Bug Report: 3380714
David
Right click, Run as administrator
If you have to run as Administrator, then you have put your database in a directory that requires that authority to write to it. It is best not to run applications with this privilege if you can. I therefore suggest that you move your database to a directory to which your user has full access rights without having to run as Administrator.
David
This may be related to bug report #1063 as I just came across the same thing in v3.29. So I know this is a response to a relatively old question, but I believe the bug has traveled throughout the different versions.
If it is related, this may be able to be closed once a fix is implemented.
I have the same symptoms with 3.33. The file is being accessed over a windows share and is installed on a windows 7 machine. Also currently only one machine is accessing it.
I got this error when trying to save the safe to iCloud (on my Mac). The solution for me was to disable iCloud storage for Documents & Data (System Preferences > iCloud > un-check "Documents & Data"). Once that was done, PasswordSafe started working properly. Oddly, when I re-enabled iCloud, everything continued to work. It must have been a glitch in the matrix but mine has been problem free for months now.
Unfortunately, if you're not trying to safe to a cloud service, then this likely doesn't help you. I just thought I'd mention it. It appears, based on my experience, this error indicates a problem writing the file. Maybe try creating a text file in the same directory as your password safe just to see if that works. I couldn't create a file on iCloud which is how I figured out what my problem was.
Ken
The problem is that an invalid backup filename is being generated.
In src/core/PWScore.cpp
(gdb)
981 Format(cs_newname, T("%s%03d"), cs_filenamebase.c_str(), nnn);
(gdb) p cs_filenamebase
$11 = L"/home/ellson/.pwsafe/pwsafe"
(gdb) p cs_newname
$12 = L""
(gdb) n
984 size_t num_found = file_nums.size();
(gdb) p cs_newname
$13 = L"/_002"
So it is attempting to write to /_002 ( + .ibak which is added later)
I'm sorry, but my C++ foo isn't good enough to know what is wrong with the use of Format().
Somehow an underscore was lost in the above paste from gdb, It should read:
981 Format(cs_newname, _T("%s_%03d"), cs_filenamebase.c_str(), nnn);
ie with an underscore between %3 and %03d
Also, this was on Fedora-21 with passwordsafe-0.94.1-1.gitfea11aa.fc21.x86_64
and its debuginfo.
This was fixed in 0.95.