PText 8: Type initializer threw an exception [SOLVED]

Question

Wife is longtime user of PT7.5, wants to upgrade to PT9.

We installed PT9 and then realized that we needed first to install PT8. She received the necessary registration info for PT8/9 and downloaded the “Paratext 8 0 100 1 InstallerOffline” file from the PT site (dated 04/06/2017 9:46 a.m.).

PT8 installation seemed to go well, but on launching we get these two error messages, one after the other:

Error Msg #1
<<
The type initializer for ‘Paratext.InternetAccess’ threw an exception. The XML in a file (C:\Users\Kathy\AppData\Local\Paratext80\InternetSettings.xml) is corrupted.
at Paratext.InternetAcess.get_Status().
at Paratext.Program.CommonSetup(String[] args) in
C:\aPtw80Base\Paratext\Program.cs:line 279
at Paratext.Program.Main(String[] args) in C:\aPtw80Base\Paratext\Program\Program.cs:line
111

Error Msg #2
<<
The XML in a file (C:\Users\Kathy\AppData\Local\Paratext80\InternetSettings.xml) is corrupted.
Please look in Help for "Corrupted File"in order to solve this problem.

We did an uninstall, re-downloaded the same PT8 installation file for the PT site, re-installed. Same errors appear.

We then did a repair of the installation using the the Apps & Features Modify option from Windows Settings. Same errors appear.

The help for “Corrupted File” says to ask for a replacement file from our project admin or get one from project history. This is a brand new PT8 installation, so I don’t believe an earlier file exists, at least not for PT8. (I checked PT8 Help on another machine.)

FWIW, after we installed PT9, the program launched just fine. We’ve since uninstalled PT9, however.

Thanks for any ideas!

Answer 1

Try deleting the file C:\Users\Kathy\AppData\Local\Paratext80\InternetSettings.xml. Before you do so, could you upload it here so we can take a quick look at it to see if there is something we need to fix?

Also, did you install any updates before or did you just run 8.0.100.1?

Comments

Thank you very much, FR. Deleting the InternetSettings.xml and re-launching PT8 did the trick. Then we were able to move to PT9 with no trouble.

I’ve uploaded the earlier version of that file for you to look at. (If there’s any identifying or location info in the file, it would be best for it not to be left here. Thanks.InternetSettings.zip (287 Bytes) )

On our previous attempt, we had not installed any updates before initial launch of PT8.

Thank you again, especially for taking care of this problem so promptly. My wife says to tell you “Thank you so much” (with a bit of a Southern U.S. drawl to that “so”).

---

I just checked the contents of the problematic version of InternetSettings.xml. I’m wondering if the line

< PermittedInternetUse > VpnRequired < /PermittedInternetUse >

was causing PT8 to choke, since that’s perhaps a PT9 feature. (Note: horizontal spaces added in code line to permit proper display.)

If so, then our mistake was to install PT9 without having earlier installed PT8, and then backtracking and trying to install PT8. People who read the manual wouldn’t make this mistake, since the installation docs say that projects must first be migrated to PT8 before installing PT9. This user’s husband sometimes doesn’t read instructions before use. (Excuse: user approached user’s husband before the latter had coffee.)

Verdict: user error – or, rather, user’s husband’s error

Right?

Thanks again.

-anon059953

---

Hi,

I made the request to have Paratext block Internet access unless a VPN is detected if being used from certain sensitive countries a few years ago. It was supposed to have been implemented in Paratext 8.1.

Alan

---

anon210135:

It was supposed to have been implemented in Paratext 8.1

Yes, it was implemented in 9.0 (8.1 became 9.0 during development).

anon059953:

was causing PT8 to choke, since that’s perhaps a PT9 feature.

Yes, that is likely the problem. When Paratext runs for the first time, it finds the latest Paratext settings from another version of Paratext and copies them to use. I’m guessing since 9.0 was installed first, when PT8 was looking for settings, it found the settings for PT9 and attempted to use them - and then failed.

Answer 2

I have just had this exact error happen to me, and I don’t understand why. Paratext 8 opened just fine this morning, and I didn’t do anything on it except copy a couple of verses to my clipboard and then exited.

image2370×543 27.6 KB

I tried deleting the InternetSettings.xml file as suggested in the thread above and re-launching, but it didn’t make any difference. I tried turning off my VPN in case that was affecting it, but that also didn’t make a difference.

I have Paratext 9 but I still nearly always use 8. Anyway, Paratext 9 opens alright, so it seems to be a problem with 8. I have had both 8 and 9 on this computer for months without a problem.

Suggestions, please??

Comments

The error isn’t data related, but caused by Paratext not being able to load a DLL.

My guess is that the DLL is a system generated DLL used to read the InternetSettings.xml file.

Could you have recently changed your Windows user name? My searching suggests that some characters in the name could cause this problem.

The error is happening before logging to the file is started and before errors can be sent to our tracking system. You could try opening a command window and then Paratext from it - easiest to change to “C:\Program Files (x86)\Paratext 8” first - you may get more details in the command window.

John+Wickberg
Paratext Support