Worked on a song, saved song in a new folder. Closed BB Went to folder opened song from the new folder by clicking the BB file Song comes up with a blank chord window. Closed program. Opened BB program Chose song from file list Opens song with correct chord window Also went to file “open” and got the correct chord window.
What has happened to just clicking of the saved file in a folder? Each time I try to open a file from BB I get a new blank Chord sheet and an Untitled Song. This never happened before. What has changed? This happens now whenever I want to open any save song I have been working on.
I've just tried it and I got the same result as Richard and jpatty49.
On further investigation, though, it seems that this problem is something to do with Windows User Account Control and its subsequent computer protection (not Band In A Box). When I took that into consideration, the file opened fine.
What I did....
1. Closed BIAB.
2. Restarted BIAB in administration mode by right-clicking on the BIAB shortcut and selecting 'Run as administrator'.
3. Used CTRL+T to return to the 2016 chordsheet view.
4. When BIAB opened, I then clicked on "File | Utilities | Associate files types with Windows". (See below image.)
5. Then I closed BIAB and double-clicked on a BIAB sgu/mgu file in File Explorer. The song now opened correctly within BIAB.
Try running through the procedure that I outline above and see if that makes a difference.
Also, do you run BIAB in admin mode? (That is right-clicking on the BIAB shortcut and setting the "Properties | Compatibility" to 'Run as administrator.)
Try running through the procedure that I outline above and see if that makes a difference.
Also, do you run BIAB in admin mode? (That is right-clicking on the BIAB shortcut and setting the "Properties | Compatibility" to 'Run as administrator.)
As an experiment, try setting your BIAB startup to run in Admin mode permanently. It might be that, at the moment, after double-clicking to open a file, the program reverts to non-admin mode.
To set admin mode permanently....
1. Right-click on \bb\bbw.exe.
2. Select 'Properties'.
3. Select 'Compatibility' tab.
4. Set the option... "Run as administrator" and OK to exit.
4. When BIAB opened, I then clicked on "File | Utilities | Associate files types with Windows". (See below image.)
5. Then I closed BIAB and double-clicked on a BIAB sgu/mgu file in File Explorer. The song now opened correctly within BIAB.
Hope this helps, Noel
Thanks Noel, I was already running bbw.exe as administrator so I followed steps 4 and 5 and the song opened as expected. I restarted the computer and it still continued to work properly.
Tried all the above but mine still does not work. I'm getting an error that says it can't write to registry and something about user set to true in user account. Windows 10 won't let me change my user account to admin. When I run in admin mode it seems to allow for file association, but then does not work when I double click file.
TLMelvin, you should have been asked during the BIAB setup to associate BIAB extensions. Perhaps you did not? There is a command to do so. I don't recall the exact place - perhaps in the Options menu, or File Utilities. Find and run that, reboot, and try the double-click again.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
For whatever reason, it seems like whenever I associate files during the installation process, it never seems to take; however, when I do it after installation from within the program, it works fine.
That being said, Windows sometimes forgets this setting and you have to do it again. I suspect (but could be wrong) that it might happen whenever we upgrade to a new patch, as Windows probably sees the new BIAB EXE file as a different file signature.
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA
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