Moneydance won't run after moving to new computer
I am changing my home computing to Ubuntu Linux (foreseeing this was one reason I chose Moneydance in the first place). I am a retired computer programmer, reasonably facile with both operating systems, though with less and less recent *nix knowledge.
I downloaded and installed Moneydance on the Ubuntu computer without much problem. It would start up and display its introductory window, with the option to start up with its most recent file or to that window. I installed it to /opt/moneydance rather than to a directory under /home; I also had it put its symlinks into /opt/moneydance/symlinks rather than a directory under /home. After this much installation, I started it up again, and the intro screen still appeared.
Then I copied files from Windows /.moneydance to the Ubuntu machine /home/.moneydance. I kept the Ubuntu versions of the config.dict and errlog.txt files and allowed merge of the rest (copied over files that didn't conflict); there were no file conflicts in the copy process.
Now when I start Moneydance, I get nothing: no window, no error message, nothing at all. I tried both starting from the Show Apps (gnome on ubuntu) .desktop file (created with the provided script and copied into /usr/share/applications), and through the command line by executing the Moneydance executable. In neither case do I get any response I recognice. I looked at the errlog.txt, nothing there.
I renamed the ~/.moneydance directory and created a new one, then copied config.dict and errlog.txt into the new one and created archive, Documents, fmodules, python, scripts, and tmp directories in the new one and left them empty. Moneydance still won't start.
How can I get my Moneydance installation running again?
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1 Posted by rcook on 07 Dec, 2025 11:29 AM
I forgot to mention that I did follow the instructions on your site about moving to a new computer; the steps I followed are mostly in the discussion text, but I had not said that the Infinitekind site is where I got them.
I also failed to mention version: 2024.4 (5253) on both machines.
2 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 07 Dec, 2025 11:53 AM
Can you try to launch it from a terminal and firstly try with -v and what do you see? Then try again with -d
3 Posted by rcook on 07 Dec, 2025 12:20 PM
I did do that much.
from /opt/Moneydance, entering "./Moneydance -v" again displays nothing.
"./Moneydance -d" again displays nothing.
And by that, I mean that the command prompt redisplays within a second after entering the command, and nothing else appears on the screen. I have the command window covering perhaps a quarter of the laptop screen, so that something being displayed will show up and not be behind another window.
4 Posted by rcook on 07 Dec, 2025 12:22 PM
I just noticed, too -- errlog.txt has nothing in it from my 7:21am execution line. Shouldn't it have messages about setting look and feel and loading fonts?
5 Posted by rcook on 07 Dec, 2025 12:39 PM
Another thing I thought about, since this started after I copied data files into place: I have not yet entered my key into the Ubuntu installation of Moneydance, in fact have seen no where to do so. I don't know what happens with the introductory version that limits transactions if you try to open a file with more transactions. But it's refusing to open at all now, even with the database files in a renamed directory (so that MD shouldn't know where they are).
6 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 07 Dec, 2025 01:36 PM
The registration / key is not needed.
Try with
Put a valid path name etc.Any luck?
Also if you launch Java does that work?
7 Posted by rcook on 07 Dec, 2025 01:43 PM
java -version gives:
./Moneydance -d &>~/mdErr.txt produces the same no-op result, and puts nothing in the mdErr.txt file.
I'm beginning to think of uninstalling, then re-installing, MD.
8 Posted by rcook on 07 Dec, 2025 01:46 PM
Could the non-default pathnames to symlinks cause any difficulty? I specified a different place because I dislike littering up my personal dir tree with stuff from applications. I don't know what the "symlinks" do, read that it has something to do with cooperating processes or something.
9 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 07 Dec, 2025 01:53 PM
Defo reinstall MD and DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING. See if that works first.
10 Posted by rcook on 07 Dec, 2025 02:04 PM
I'm sorry, but I want to follow your instructions correctly -- what does "defo" mean in this context? And what method of installation would you suggest?
11 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 07 Dec, 2025 02:25 PM
defo = definitely
12 Posted by rcook on 07 Dec, 2025 02:41 PM
ok, do I just run the install program again? Do I delete anything first? There is an uninstall script, do I start with that? I just want to get the uninstall right, including possibly letting us figure out what went so wrong. Of course I want it to work, but if we can figure out anything useful I'm willing to take some extra trouble.
13 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 07 Dec, 2025 02:57 PM
Not sure on Linux.. I would delete all the folders that were created in this process and just reinstall again...
14 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 07 Dec, 2025 02:58 PM
PS - I would NOT copy the moneydance data files over later manually. I would use file/export backup, copy the xxx.moneydancearchive file over, then file/restore from backup, YES retain sync settings... But only after you have a working MD
15 Posted by rcook on 07 Dec, 2025 03:17 PM
Well, now I'm really puzzled.
Ran the uninstall script. Removed files and directories for the executable, the simlinks, and the data. Ran the install script, chose the same directory for the executable (/opt/moneydance) but used the default for the symlinks (on second look it appeared it might be in a path or something).
But I get the same results trying to run it from the command line -- nada.Same with -v and -d options.
16 Posted by rcook on 07 Dec, 2025 03:29 PM
Ok, running again.
I again ran the uninstall program, then again cleaned up the .desktop file and removed created directories. Then I ran (the same) install again, only this time installed to /usr/local/bin , which was the default, and took the default directory for symlinks. Now I get the intro screen again. I'm about to do a backup, move the backup file, and try to restore from that.
17 Posted by rcook on 07 Dec, 2025 03:40 PM
The move now appears complete. I did an export backup on the old machine, carried it over with a flash drive, and restored it to the MD on the new machine. Things start up and show my accounts and balances, etc., even after I removed the flash drive.
Again, thanks for your help. I realize we didn't exactly find a problem and fix it, but having someone else look over my steps and be willing to suggest things is a help too, even without discovering the cause. I'm now a little suspicious of the option to install to a different directory, or perhaps it's just the option to put the symlinks somewhere else. If it were my program, I'd look into that.
Happy Holidays to you and yours.
18 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 07 Dec, 2025 04:12 PM
👍
19 Posted by sprimost on 10 Dec, 2025 01:03 AM
From: sprimost
Your symlinks were the issue. I think you got into permission problems
across directories.
On 12/7/25 11:12 AM, Stuart Beesley (Mr Toolbox) wrote:
20 Posted by rcook on 10 Dec, 2025 02:46 AM
Thanks for the tip -- it's one of the things one should get used to checking on movng from Windows to Linux. It's a little odd to me it's an issue on Linux and not Windows, but that's the way it seems to be.
21 Posted by dwg on 10 Dec, 2025 03:38 AM
There is no sign of Moneydance using the equivalent to symbol links on Windows.
As far as I know the Sym link used on Linux creates a pointer to the Moneydance script.
This is the note I made after testing the use of the archive kit some time ago.
To make starting Moneydance from the command line easier, you can create a symbolic link that points to the Moneydance startup script:
cd /usr/local/bin
ln -s /usr/local/moneydance/moneydance moneydance