article Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows: Binary load fails with General Script Error when using app binary instead of .qvf in Official Support Articles

Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows: Binary load fails with General Script Error when using app binary instead of .qvf

Andre_Sostizzo — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 14:26:24 GMT

A binary load command that refers to the app ID (example Binary[idapp];) does not work and fails with:

General Script Error

Binary load fails with error Cannot open file

Before Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows November 2024 Patch 8, the Qlik Engine permitted an unsupported and insecure method of binary loading from applications managed by Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows.

Due to security hardening, this unsupported and insecure action is now denied.

Binary loads of Qlik Sense applications require a QVF file extension. In practice, this will require exporting the Qlik Sense app from the Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows site to a folder location from which a binary load can be performed. See Binary Load and Limitations for details.

Example of a valid binary load:

Binary [lib://My_Extract_Apps/Sales_Model.qvf];

Example of an invalid binary load:

"Binary [lib://Apps/777a0a66-555x-8888-xx7e-64442fa4xxx44];"

Environment

Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows November 2024 Patch 8 and any later releases

Re: Binary Loads in Qlik Sense, Binary load fails with error Cannot open file or General Script Error

duschking — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 12:58:57 GMT

hallo, ich habe ein ähnliches problem...

unsere apps befinden sich im freigebenen ordner c:\qlikshare\apps.. (es sind alle notwenigen berechtigungen vorhanden)

es gibt dort keine extension.

ich will nun dieses file in einer app als binary load verwenden.

binary [lib://Apps/da9378f1-8321-49a2-a20b-ff3591dcd14f];

das interessante ist aber. wenn ich das file in windows umbenenne und die extension .qvf dranhänge umd im binary das auch so lade funktioniert es..

was ist hier falsch - bitte um hilfe, da ich sonst weiter auf qlikview bleibe und sense so nicht brauchen kann.

Re: Binary Loads in Qlik Sense, Binary load fails with error Cannot open file or General Script Error

mariusbirk — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 12:29:57 GMT

We have the same issue. After update to Qlik Sense November 2024 (Patch 9) a binary load of a qlik sense app (without file extension) didn't work anymore. Patch 7 & 8 same procedure (i only tested these two version additionally).

But in IR it works.. So it is a bug in the version November 2024 Patch 7,8,9

Re: Binary load fails with General Script Error when using app binary instead of .qvf

luciano_pw — Wed, 28 May 2025 16:53:21 GMT

Tive o mesmo problema executando da seguinte forma:

BINARY [lib://Apps/bb1affd0-bbe0-4022-824b-4732c7d9d3ff];

Após mudar para o formato abaixo (sem a lib), funcionou perfeitamente:

BINARY [bb1affd0-bbe0-4022-824b-4732c7d9d3ff];

Re: Binary load fails with General Script Error when using app binary instead of .qvf

LeeSmithBtn — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 12:13:12 GMT

Well this is a pretty big mess!!
so i have apps binary loading across servers, which now i cannot seem to get anything to work.

I have upgraded to May 2025 and i need to test out binary loads between 2 apps.
app1 is on test server and app2 is on dev server...

i am trying to binary load app1 into app2. however i cannot find anything to get this to load.

the server only contains App_Ids not names and they all state they are a (file) type. how do i get this to be a QVf and how can i binary load between the 2. i cannot find anything online and this user guide is pretty pointless considering the binary has to be the first line in the code, yet this is showing how to load from a QVD not a binary load between apps

LIB CONNECT TO 'DataFiles';
  LOAD * FROM [YourFile.qvd]

any support / help identifying a fix on this mega issue would be appreciated, as currently all my process would now fail.

i just seem to get this error:

The following error occurred: FileSize for \\X.X.X.X\d$\QlikResources\Apps\a05d2edc-c911-4957-8c77-f4799b687cde.qvf failed: boost::filesystem::file_size: The system cannot find the file specified [system:2]: "\\X.X.X.X\d$\QlikResources\Apps\a05d2edc-c911-4957-8c77-f4799b687cde.qvf": no such file or directory

Re: Binary load fails with General Script Error when using app binary instead of .qvf

luciano_pw — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 12:22:02 GMT

@LeeSmithBtn, I tested with binaries on the same server. In this case, from what I understand, it's no longer necessary to provide the path - only the app ID (binary [a1b2c3d4e5f67890]). However, I have no idea how to read from another directory. If you find any way, please share it with us.

Re: Binary load fails with General Script Error when using app binary instead of .qvf

LeeSmithBtn — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 12:24:45 GMT

@luciano_pw - as soon as i find a solution i will of course post it here...

Currently, i am finding no way at all in many combinations to binary from an alternate path. if i bring the app to current server, it works fine.

but it would be a huge process to migrate all apps an potential open issues with moving apps around to binary load from.

i cant believe there is not a work around, as this must be a normal process for many companies

Re: Binary load fails with General Script Error when using app binary instead of .qvf

Sonja_Bauernfeind — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 12:24:56 GMT

Hello @LeeSmithBtn

Please contact our Support to review this together with you. Feel free to cite this article.

All the best,
Sonja

Re: Binary load fails with General Script Error when using app binary instead of .qvf

LeeSmithBtn — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 12:32:06 GMT

thanks @Sonja_Bauernfeind - have raised a support ticket.

Now kind of stuck not being able to reload anything. ill await the contact from support

Re: Binary load fails with General Script Error when using app binary instead of .qvf

LeeSmithBtn — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 16:12:40 GMT

@luciano_pw -

I have had an update from support, that there is now no way to binary load from a source app / ID of an app on an alternate server...

apparently this is less secure and actually exporting apps and moving them around locations or even saving data to QVDs taking up more resource and cost is a better alternative and more secure i assume...

my apps are currently stored in secure locations, with strict access rules attached. so i am now going to have to break this secure chain, because there is now no way to binary load from server to server.

this should have been an option for the user / management to switch off binary loading to stop files being locked, not to remove the whole feature that has been around for as long as i can remember and is actually extremely useful.

not sure how many customers upgrading to a newer version of sense will be aware of this, as this could cause major headaches for large organisations who may utilise binary loading.

perhaps this needs a huge warning adding to users when upgrading because i am now on a newer version and going to have to spend hours trying to unravel this mess.

Re: Binary load fails with General Script Error when using app binary instead of .qvf

luciano_pw — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 16:40:24 GMT

Thanks for the information, @LeeSmithBtn. I haven’t seen whether there was any official announcement besides this post about the removal of this feature, but it’s a shame. If there wasn’t, it’s going to catch a lot of people by surprise.

Re: Binary load fails with General Script Error when using app binary instead of .qvf

_Anders_ — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 08:43:30 GMT

So this has been an option for as long as Qlik Sense has been on the market. Even though we do not use binary load as best practice there are a lot of our customers using this method. The fix at the moment we consider is running a powershell script exporting the apps we previously binary loaded from. Would you have any other recommendations @Sonja_Bauernfeind and @Andre_Sostizzo ?

Re: Binary load fails with General Script Error when using app binary instead of .qvf

Sonja_Bauernfeind — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 12:11:29 GMT

Hello @_Anders_ , @LeeSmithBtn , @luciano_pw

I'm reaching out internally to have the right subject matter expert eyes on this for you.

I have also corrected the typo in the example, which was meant to reference a .qvf, not a .qvd.

All the best,
Sonja

Re: Binary load fails with General Script Error when using app binary instead of .qvf

ericschmid — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 21:22:21 GMT

There should be a flag override that allows you to disable this security feature at a minimum so the risk Qlik is mentioning can be assessed and either accepted or rejected by individual companies, especially those that have come to rely heavily on this feature over many many years and complex deployments.

Separately, I would appreciate a more detailed, technical explanation of how making the binary connection to the qvf is more secure than connecting to the app binary. How are companies really meant to make large scale architectural decisions in some cases without understanding how qvf connections are more secure than what they were doing before?

Re: Binary load fails with General Script Error when using app binary instead of .qvf

Sonja_Bauernfeind — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 07:56:03 GMT

Hello @ericschmid

This feedback is great, thank you! Could you log this as an idea in our Ideation section? I have already passed it on, but Ideation is the correct place to have it properly documented and available for voting and feedback from others.

@_Anders_ @mlee and @lucy

I've updated the article after discussing it with our experts. In addition, here is general advice given by one of them:

It was always best practice not to binary load from the app folder, and Qlik Services would suggest a process to copy apps to a separate folder and append the .qvf extension to it. Services previously implemented solutions such as not only appending the .qvf extension, but to renaming the app to an English name, making it easier to work with from a development perspective.

We understand this is not an easy undertaking.

Referring back to @ericschmid; I recommend voting on Eric's idea and leaving your feedback on it accordingly.

All the best,
Sonja

Re: Binary load fails with General Script Error when using app binary instead of .qvf

LeeSmithBtn — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 08:10:09 GMT

hi @ericschmid :

please find attached some instructions left on linkedin regarding this issue that i raised on there to a very wide audience raising this issue...

however someone came back with a workaround, by changing some settings, that has fixed the issue and allows binary load as per previously was. not sure why this is not being mentioned by anyone in support. but i assume its because at your own risk....

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7339231435372847104?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28activity%3A7339231435372847104%2C7340367834188787712%29&dashCommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A%287340367834188787712%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7339231435372847104%29

basically this:
1.stop services
2.please tray to disable the security feature it in the engine's system.ini located C:\ProgramData\Qlik\Sense\Engine with

[Settings 7]
EnableQvfPathValidation=0

also mentioned here under point QB-29696:

https://community.qlik.com/t5/Release-Notes/Sense-Enterprise-on-Windows-release-notes-November-2024-Initial/ta-p/2494603

Fixed security issue where Engine would try to read and write to any path specified against Engine API. Solution of the fix adds path restrictions (with whitelisted folders) on e.g. OpenDoc and ExportApp, and restrictions to how relative paths are used in folder connections and lib references in the script. Relative paths should not be allowed to point outside of the scope set. It's not recommended to disable this fix, but can be disabled in case of emergency. To disable the fix, you need to add EnableQvfPathValidation=0 into Engine's Settings.ini file.

hopefully this helps, until feature is also removed.

Re: Binary load fails with General Script Error when using app binary instead of .qvf

ChristofSchwarz — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 14:33:56 GMT

It caught me by bad surprise and it breaks a tool I wrote. Is there a way in Qlik Sense Client-managed to refresh only the App Design (without touching data)? If I used "publish + Replace" feature in QMC, the target app (which is a app with prod data) would get demo data (used in the development app).

Re: Binary load fails with General Script Error when using app binary instead of .qvf

LeeSmithBtn — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 14:42:49 GMT

@ChristofSchwarz -

This is a workaround on client managed sense…

1.stop services
2.please tray to disable the security feature it in the engine's system.ini located C:\ProgramData\Qlik\Sense\Engine with

[Settings 7]
EnableQvfPathValidation=0

3.Start services

which I have had clarification that this will

not be removed and therefore will keep working on binary load going forward.

Re: Binary load fails with General Script Error when using app binary instead of .qvf

luciano_pw — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 14:11:16 GMT

Thank you very much, @LeeSmithBtn. It worked perfectly.

Re: Binary load fails with General Script Error when using app binary instead of .qvf

Tool_Tip — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 06:34:56 GMT

We have upgraded to May 2025 from Nov 2024 and we are facing same error for all the binary with app id.

Please let us know if we should use the above workaround or is there any permanent solution on this?