Help! Saved file won't open

• Sep 19, 2010 - 17:53

I've been working on a score for a couple of weeks and every time I would save it and open it again, the file would open. Last night i saved a file and this morning it won't open at all. Sometimes i even get an error message saying "failed: Bad file descriptor". Is there anyway i can recover my file and open it somehow? I'm new to musescore so i don't know where the session directory or anything is. Please help!

Attachment Size
Main Themes.mscz 10.41 KB


In reply to by xavierjazz

a mscz file is basically a compressed file. When opened with a zip or tar, it shows a text file with extension mscx with is somewhat similar to a xml file (you can check that with another file).

The mscz file you attached doesn't open with zip or tar software. That's a situation I met previously, and that's why I told that it's empty......your only hope being if you made some backup (or export to xml)

It seems to me that this happens when Musescore is closed hastily or forcibly, perhaps due to an internal problem.

You know that in preferences there is an option to save at regular intervals of time.....but, as far as I know this doesn't create local backups (this happens with the commercial software Pizzicato, which conserve always two previous saved files....)

In reply to by robert leleu

robert leleu,The latest versions of MuseScore actually do save automatic backups in a separate file. If MuseScore crashes or is forced to quit without a chance to ask if you want to save your file then MuseScore will offer to restore the last auto-saved version the next time you start MuseScore. This is a new feature in version 0.9.6 and later versions.

csantiago11, MuseScore also keeps a backup copy of your previously saved file. Look for the file named ".Main Themes.mscz," (notice the period at the front and the comma at the end). It should be in the same folder as the main file. Go ahead and attach a copy of this backup file so we can look at it.


I've got the same problem. There is a new file with the period at the beginning and the comma at the end. I've already removed the period, but how can I get rid of the comma at the end???

It belongs to this mscz, so I can't delete it.

Pleeease I need some help's very urgent! I need this file, because if I can't recover it, it's gone....

In reply to by peace

You get rid of the comma and period the same way you would rename any file on your computer - it's just a plain file, nothing special about it. Whatever facility your OS (Windows, MacOS, Linux) provides to rename files, that's how you do it. What OS is it? On Windows, you normally right click a filename in Windows Explorer and then a menu pops up with "Rename" on it.

Note this file is the *backup* file, and that's why it is named strangely. Your actual file is the one without the period and comma. Presumably you are asking about the backup file because something has happened to your original?

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Okay.. I did it like that, but if I right click and click on capacity (is it called like that?!) then there it is still a MCSZ, file
with the comma. And although I've changed the name like you said, it won't open :(

I don't know what actually had happened to my file, but suddenly it didn't open anymore and there was this backup file.

In reply to by peace

I've never heard of "capacity" (maybe a mistranslation of "Properties"- are you not using an English version of Windows)? But in any case, what you are asking about - how to rename files - is a general windows issue, not anything to do with MuseScore. You can probably find someone around you with some computer experience who can help with that. Once you have the file named correctly, MuseScore should be able to open it if it is not corrupt. But if your main file is corrupt and won't open either, there is no guarantee the backup isn't corrupt as well. Posting them would help; then others could see if they can open them.

In reply to by peace

If you look at the file contents in a HEX viewer you will see that they have become entangled with some other files. The Zwolftonstuck files are now EXIF (pictures) from what appears to be a Panasonic DMC-FX3 camera. The other one starts with USBC and mentions DVDVIDEOSOFT.COM. They are definitely not MuseScore files anymore.

In reply to by peace

I wonder if the problem is more serious, as Marc suggested. Possibly a serious file system corruption or faulty hard disk, something worth getting checked. I've not seen this type of corruption since the DOS days.

You could look in c:\users\username\appdata\Musescore (or MusE) and check the backup files in there.

In reply to by schepers

I can't find any backup files there...but I think there can't be any or?! Because I've had and already have the files on a usb stick. I think that's even the problem why they are damaged now....I think once somebody took him without turning it out.. :(
But I don't understand then why it happened to this file -.- I've got another one, which was/ is on the usb stick as well and there it still works perfectly.

In reply to by peace

When a disk (including a USB stick) fails, it doesn't necessarily fail all at once. When it starts to go bad, you start seeing random problems like this. So I'd say it sounds like it's time to retire that device before it ruins any more files. Assuming that really is the problem, and the failure isn't on your computer. But I'd at least try a different USB stick before worrying about replacing your hard drive. Either way, unless you saved another copy of your score somewhere else, I'm afraid you will probably need to redo it.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Okay the stick is the problem, as I realized yesterday....I created a new folder and immediately there were some strange folder in it.. So I think I won't use the usb stick anymore. And finally we have to compose a new Zwölftonstück :(

But thanks for your help :)

My file will not open, & I found the backup , but there was so much lost still. Is there anyway to fix the whole bad file descriptor thing.
