1

Operating system

Windows

Joplin version

2.14.20

Sync target

Joplin Cloud

What issue do you have?

Hi,
I'm receiving error message: "An error occurred: Renderer process gone." I receive the error immediately when Joplin is started and I have to Quit or Restart in Safe Mode. Safe Mode has the same behavior. I'm unable to pull bug reports via the usual debugging process or access any menus because Joplin will not fully load.

I read posts on the topic (sorry, I can't include links in this post but I did read some).

Laurent mentions in one of them a fix in the next 2.14 patch. I had thought that was 2.14.19 but I had this error on 2.14.20.

The problem first started when Joplin struggled to sync a note to Joplin Cloud. Joplin never recovered from that. The note wasn't anything elaborate, just an old email that was forwarded to Joplin.

Is there any way to work around this error in order to access the notes, even if it's in raw form? I entered in some very important data in the past hour or so and need to access that data. I'm not overly concerned with anything prior to today as I backup daily but the data I entered is very important and somewhat timely. Any thoughts on accessing it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

2

Joplin stores notes in C:\Users\YourUserName\.config\joplin-desktop\database.sqlite as an SQLite database. It should be possible to recover the relevant notes from that file.

I suggest:

  1. Making a copy of C:\Users\YourUserName\.config\joplin-desktop\database.sqlite and storing it in a safe place.
  2. Checking whether disconnecting from the internet/similar approaches fix the issue:
    • To verify that this isn't an ongoing sync issue with Joplin Cloud, try disconnecting from the internet and starting Joplin.
    • To make sure that this isn't a low-memory issue, try restarting the computer, making sure that no other applications are running, then starting Joplin.
  3. If the above doesn't work, you might try:
    • Making another copy of C:\Users\YourUserName\.config\joplin-desktop\database.sqlite and opening it in Notepad. Search for text that should appear near/in the same note as the information that was lost with ctrl-f. (This might not work: Joplin databases are very large and not the type of data Notepad is optimized for reading). If this fails, this post may be related.

To help us prevent this from happening in the future, the following information might be helpful:

  1. When Joplin crashes, it should create files with names similar to joplin_crash_dump_20240319T171500.json in C:\Users\YourUserName\ (or a similar folder — I'm currently on a different OS and can't easily double-check).
  2. C:\Users\YourUserName\.config\joplin-desktop\ should contain a log.txt file that may contain information about the crash (perhaps near the end of the file).
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Thanks for this info. The offline idea partially helped - I was able to load Joplin and get to those notes. So it looks like it could be a Joplin Cloud sync issue.

Making a copy of C:\Users\YourUserName.config\joplin-desktop\database.sqlite and storing it in a safe place.

Done.

Checking whether disconnecting from the internet/similar approaches fix the issue:
To verify that this isn't an ongoing sync issue with Joplin Cloud, try disconnecting from the internet and starting Joplin.

Huge thanks for this! This solved the issue of retrieving the data I needed. That also allows me to work offline in Joplin although obviously that's not ideal and not viable long term.

I also exported the questionable note and deleted it. When I tried to reload Joplin online, the Renderer error is gone and replaced with: "An error occurred: Window Unresponsive". I'm again given the choice of Quit or Restart in Safe Mode. Safe Mode gives the same error and Joplin notes, menus, etc. are inaccessible.

To make sure that this isn't a low-memory issue, try restarting the computer, making sure that no other applications are running, then starting Joplin.

Can confirm this is not an issue.

When Joplin crashes, it should create files with names similar to joplin_crash_dump_20240319T171500.json in C:\Users\YourUserName\ (or a similar folder — I'm currently on a different OS and can't easily double-check).

I searched .config and subfolders for .json files - none are similar to that filename and I don't see any referencing crash dumps.

C:\Users\YourUserName.config\joplin-desktop\ should contain a log.txt file that may contain information about the crash (perhaps near the end of the file).

I do have this file. I took a quick glance at it specifically around the time of the initial crash but nothing glaring popped out though admittedly I don't know precisely what to look for.

I guess the issue now is to get Joplin up and running again. I did try an in place reinstall hoping it would replace any problem files but that did not work. Since I have the info I need, I've held off on a complete uninstall/reinstall in hopes to maybe get to the root of the problem. If it's an account sync issue how could I troubleshoot that?

4

Here are a few things to try:

  1. Setting "attachment download behavior" to manual, then connecting to the internet and syncing. To do this, go to settings > synchronization, click "show advanced", then change "attachment download behavior" to "manual":
    screenshot: Attachment download behavior dropdown in advanced synchronization settings, "manual" selected
    screenshot: Attachment download behavior dropdown in advanced synchronization settings, "manual" selected1117×887 85 KB
  2. Re-uploading Joplin's data to the sync target. To do this, go to settings > synchronization > advanced, then click "Re-upload local data to sync target":
    screenshot: "Re-upload local data to sync target" highlighted.
    screenshot: "Re-upload local data to sync target" highlighted.1117×887 105 KB
  3. If that doesn't work, it may be possible to reset Joplin Cloud and re-upload everything. To do this,
    1. Create a new Joplin profile (File > Switch Profile > New profile).
    2. Connect to the internet.
    3. Use the Victor plugin to reset the data on Joplin Cloud.
      • It may be necessary to connect the new Joplin profile to Joplin Cloud for this.
5

I'm still unable to access any menus or load Joplin so I can't attempt those suggestions right now. Even offline it now gives the error: "An error occurred: Window Unresponsive" and I have to quit since Safe Mode has the same behavior.

With Joplin being unusable in its current state, I did an uninstall/reinstall and removed the joplin-desktop folder. It installed properly and the program loads but it's having trouble syncing. I receive the following sync status:

Completed: 11/04/2024 09:39 (266s)
Last error: Error: Error 504 Gateway Timeout: 504 Gateway Time-out

504 Gateway Time-out

nginx/1.18.0 (Ubuntu)

I've re-enabled the Joplin Cloud account and entered my encryption master password but it keeps failing to sync.

I was going to go through the lengthy process of importing the backup but I'm concerned I'm going to have duplicates of everything. Currently the Android app is displaying my notes properly (aside from the original problem note) so if I import them on Windows I'm expecting it will duplicate them which would be a nightmare (I have about 10k notes).

Suggestions?

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For those who come across a similar situation where Joplin is simply inaccessible (ie cannot access plugins, options, etc.), I listed in brief how I resolved it. Thanks to @personalizedrefriger for some direction on file locations and troubleshooting.

For reference I'm using Joplin Cloud so I can't speak to Dropbox etc. success/failure. I also uninstalled and reinstalled Joplin prior to these steps but I don't believe it's necessary.

  1. Navigate to C:\Users\YourUserName.config and copy the \joplin-desktop folder to a safe location as a precaution.
  2. Afterwards, delete that original \joplin-desktop folder.
  3. Open Joplin and sign in with your account info if using Joplin Cloud.
  4. In my case Joplin simply refused to sync so I restored a local backup. Restore took a long time because of the amount of data I have so expect a lengthy wait time if you have a large data footprint.
  5. Check your Synchronization & Encryption settings and re-enter as needed.
  6. I chose to wait on the sync to complete before using Joplin again. There were significant time delays and it took more than a week to sync everything. If you have the time and patience, then I recommend it. The sync results showed multiple errors on notes that previously didn't have issue so allowing Joplin Cloud to sort it out seemed like a smart move.

Eventually Joplin Cloud finished the sync but had a lot of difficulty resolving decryption errors. The app just continued to attempt decryption and fail. After a couple additional days it resolved itself to where a few notes were isolated as unable to decrypt and I simply deleted them (less than a dozen notes which were all old but previously had no issues).

I can't say for certain what occurred originally but the combination of errors, delays and decryption problems point to Joplin Cloud.

Tip: If you really get into a pinch you can create a new profile and restore your local backup offline to ensure it doesn't get locked in a sync error cycle and crash the program. This allows you to access the notes.

Notes:

  • I strongly recommend creating backups if you're not already doing so.
  • The backup options recommend a single .jex file to prevent the loss of folder structure and note links. This is important to me so I follow that directive. However, I'm going to look at singularly backing up folders that are of higher importance so that I can restore and access them quicker should something like this happen again. In my case it makes a lot of sense to pick specific data to restore in a crash type scenario when time is an issue.

Hope this helps.

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