Cannot open qvw file from QV 11 in QV 12 in QV Desktop

[tpepping]

Hi,
I made an upgrade from QV 11.20 to QV 12.60. Now I try to open in QlikView 12 Personal Edition the qvw files generated with QV11.20. 
First,  in the open-file dialog, QV 12 does not show my (.qvw) files generated in QV 11.20, though the filter is set accordingly and the files are in the folder.
Second, when switching the filter to all files (*.*) and selecting one of my (.qvw) files, QV starts an endless loading process (cursor indicates that the file is going to be loaded).
This happens with all (.qvw) files I generated with the former version. 

Can anybody give a hint what's going wrong? 

[Maria_Halley]

Hi @tpepping

For the first issue, that you can't find the files, this is a known defect and it should be fixed in 12.60SR2

For the open qvw, how long did you wait? Does it work ok with documents created in the new version

[tpepping]

I'm waiting endless, it never opened one of the old qvw file.
However, I didn't create a new qvw file so far.

[marcus_sommer]

What happens if you create a new one and quit QlikView as instance and tries to reopen it? Does it work? If yes, it excludes that there is any popup-window below other windows or beyond your visible screen awaiting any interactions from you (it's not seldom especially within multi-monitor environments).

- Marcus

[tpepping]

I can create a new one qvw and re-open it and I can open the example qvw (e.g. "Movies Database" or "Qlik DataMarket" ), but still can't open a qvw created with the former QV version.
When just making a double-click on the qvw I get the (german) failure message "Fehler beim Öffnen des Dokuments <name>.qvw", but no further details.
I still can't open any of my old documents.

[tpepping]

I upgradet to the latest version QlikView May 2021 SR2, Version 12.60 SR2.
Now I get the qvw files listed in the dialog box, but still cannot open my old qvw documents. I immediately get the failure message "failure when opening the document <name>.qvw". 

My QlikView is running on a virtual machine with Windows Server 2016. 
Could this be an issue?

[marcus_sommer]

Before playing further make sure that you really have access to these files. Seeing them within the explorer doesn't mandatory mean you could open them. Copy them to another folder and/or renaming a file successfully are good signs that the access is given.

You are using the personal edition and here you may have consumed all 5 key's to open your own created files and/or the files are from a different user/machine (each time you open a qvw from another user or there are major changes to your user/machine/release you consumed one key - but each time you will be asked if you really want to do it - you should remember you if you had it had in the past).

In such cases QlikView showed normally not only the described error-message else a second popup with hints to the reason why it happens. Therefore take again a carefully review if there isn't any other popup below any other window and/or on the outside of your screen. It's sometime not very easy to fetch such a popup ... To reset any of the popup-windows positions from QlikView to the default positions you could remove your settings.ini -after a BACKUP. What happens now? Be carefully.   

If the above things don't work you could try to rename an old file with a new created one. Now you could access this file from the QlikView start-window and by using a right click you could choose an opening without data - it would exclude that any data-related stuff caused your issue.

If nothing worked please provide some more information. Was it an installation above the old release or at first a deinstallation and then a new installation? Or is it a complete new installation on a new VM? Within the old files are there any of the following features included: OnOpen macros/actions, prj-folders, section access, direct discovery?  OnOpen measures could be bypassed if you pressed the shift key by opening the file from the windows explorer.

- Marcus

[tpepping]

Thank you for the detailed answer and description, it gives me a better feeling on what happens in the background.
I assume the problem is related to the consumed keys, because I tried to open the files on the old virtual machine with Q 11, and there I got the response that the document cannot be opened due to the limitation of the personal edition.
However, I don't understand why that limitation is blocking me.
The qvw was originally created by another user account, but I cannot open it with my user account nor with the original user account.
What is additionally decreasing the number of keys to open the qvw?
How can I overcome the problem that I don't have access to the own document?

[marcus_sommer · Accepted solution]

The personal edition as a free edition isn't aimed to be used productively and has therefore some limitations which are all related to prevent that the tool could be used productively in the long term - at least not which enough painful disadvantages and risks.

AFAIK the above mentioned keys are stored within the file. If the files aren't originally from you else from another user you might have already consumed the last switch as you got them from this user.

If you couldn't restore the old environment - old VM with the old QlikView release, maybe there exists an appropriate image - you will probably not get access to the files again. Unless you purchase a licence. If there is any valid licence available within your company environment you could ask these guys to open the files and copy & paste the script and some essential screenshots from the UI and maybe from the larger variables/expressions, too to be able to recreate the applications without starting at zero.

- Marcus  

[tpepping · Accepted solution]

The problem is solved!
The reason for the problem was a missing "license lease" in QlikView. After setting up the server connection manually (connect with "qvp://localhost"), QlikView could lease a license and thereafter all qvw files could be opened.
It was not clear to me that I have to establish this connection manually to lease a "named license" for my account.