File does not exist.

John 0

I was updated from 8.7 to 8.7.4. Since then whenever I try to open any file larger than 1500 kb I get an error says “%filename% doesn’t exist. Create it?” This happens to any user in our org who gets the update or installed new. I can get the files to open if I install the Big File - Open very large files plugin, but it will only open so many lines.

PeterJones

@John-0 ,

You haven’t really given us much to go on.

Many of us open 1.5Mb (1500kb) files on a daily basis (without using the Big File plugin – that plugin only really becomes useful at >100Mb).

Maybe one of your other plugins is interfering somehow (sharing the ?-menu’s Debug Info will let us know which plugins you are using, among other useful information). Or maybe it has nothing to do with the file size, but the way that you’re opening the file: if you are using Windows Explorer and either right-clicking or double-clicking, maybe the file association passed in a bad argument %filename% rather than the actual name of the file (normally the file associations would use %1 or similar under the hood).

But you’ll have to be more specific, telling us the exact steps you are using, otherwise there’s little hope that we’ll be able to figure out what’s going wrong for you.

xomx

@John-0 said in File does not exist.:

This happens to any user in our org who gets the update or installed new

Are you all using some type of network storage in your org?

Are you experiencing the same issue when using a local drive for the same files?

John 0

It happens when trying to open from within Notepad++ or from File Manager. The files reside on a network drive. I copied a file to my desktop and C:\temp and it would open. But then when trying to open it again a 2nd time it gets the error. I tried it on a newly imaged laptop which had a fresh install and not an upgrade. It opened a large file once and then after closing it and reopening it gets the error. If I go back to Notepad 8.7 everything works fine. Below is my debug info. There is one person who has had no problems since the upgrade. The only difference I found is that DirectWrite says Off on hers. I changed that on mine, but it didn’t resolve the issue.

Notepad++ v8.7.4 (64-bit)
Build time : Dec 4 2024 - 23:50:05
Path : C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe
Command Line :
Admin mode : OFF
Local Conf mode : OFF
Cloud Config : OFF
Periodic Backup : ON
Placeholders : OFF
DirectWrite : ON
Multi-instance Mode : monoInst
File Status Auto-Detection : cdEnabledNew (for current file/tab only)
Dark Mode : OFF
OS Name : Windows 11 Enterprise (64-bit)
OS Version : 23H2
OS Build : 22631.4460
Current ANSI codepage : 1252
Plugins :
BigFiles (0.1.3)
mimeTools (3.1)
NppConverter (4.6)
NppExport (0.4)

Terry R

@John-0

In your first post you referred to “org”. So I take it this is being used in a business situation. Is it possible there may be some other “security” or “protection” software interfering with the ability to open multiple times in quick succession?

I do recall a post some time back where there was a piece of software that tried to do exactly this. I’m attempting to find it, and if I can, I will post the link. I’m just mentioning this in case it jogs someone else’s memory.

Terry

PS I found 2 threads. Possibly unlikely they will help but have a read, maybe something might jog your memory.
File edits not changing file status
and
Replacing text in shortcut.xml reverts to original version

John 0

The problem turned out to be caused by Teramind. I disabled it on two computers and large txt files opened with no issues.

xomx

@John-0
Thanks for you report.

AV-like annoying intrusive SW as always, sigh. I could write a blog post rant or FAQ about all that N++ issues caused by such a thing.

Alan Kilborn

@xomx
Perhaps a dream wish: AV being used in Debug Info

xomx

@Alan-Kilborn

I can easily add that info there (extracting that info by WMI is universal, for Win7+ from the local computer’s “\\ROOT\SecurityCenter2”, there you can query for the comp’s standard “AntiVirusProduct”, “AntiSpywareProduct” and “FirewallProduct”). I guess ~20 lines of code for N++ (using COM for it). You can even get more details about the AV there (enabled/disabled, signatures up-to-date, path to its signed executable, etc…)

But don’t know if this standard Windows way also works for such spy crapware (Teramind). Moreover there are even worse SW in the wild, e.g. remember this bank-rootkit issue (which took me a time!), for which the detection techniques are completely beyond the scope of a text editor like N++.

xomx

@John-0

Are you willing to test a new Notepad++.exe binary?
I have currently fixed another problem, which might help you with yours.

That Teramind evidently plays MITM (it handles/scans/whatever all the files opened by N++). The larger is the file, the greater is then the IO delay introduced by Teramind when opening the file.

From v8.7.1 the N++ is capable of interrupt of some WINAPI IO by using a threaded WINAPI calling (to be able to not hang when a network resource has been suddenly inaccessible). So it could be that the Teramind stuff is taking too long to complete, which will cause the N++ to terminate its IO thread and cause some weird error message you’ve seen.

Below is a link to an as-yet-unreleased Notepad++.exe x64 binary (will be in the v8.7.5) that, among other things, extends the timeout given for such IO threads. You can switch back ON the Teramind and replace your current C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe by:
https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/actions/runs/12406197176/artifacts/2341376115
Then re-test on the same larger files as before and let us know if it helps.

Edit: For downloading that binary above, you have to be logged in to your GitHub account.

Mark Olson

BTW my HugeFiles plugin is more feature-rich and actively maintained than BigFiles.