Overview
This article describes a known issue resulting in an Uncaught exception error that prevents you from opening the CrashPlan app. This error appears when the CrashPlan app log directory has limited permissions.
To correct this problem, follow the steps below.
Affects
Windows, Mac, and Linux devices running the CrashPlan app with limited permissions on the CrashPlan app logs directory.
Considerations
- You must have administrative access to your Mac device or administrative access to your Windows device to change directory permissions.
- Although you cannot open the CrashPlan app, as long as the CrashPlan service runs on your device, your files are being backed up by CrashPlan.
Cause
When permissions on the CrashPlan app log directory are changed by the end user or third-party software, it can result in the CrashPlan app being unable to write to the log files in that directory. When the CrashPlan app runs a check on startup to verify that it can perform all its required tasks, it encounters the problem with being unable to write to the logs. The CrashPlan app then shows the Uncaught exception error that prevents the CrashPlan app from starting.
Diagnose
Verify the problem by viewing the permissions on the CrashPlan app log directory.
- In Windows Explorer, navigate to the parent directory of the CrashPlan app log directory:
- If the CrashPlan app is installed for everyone: C:\ProgramData\CrashPlan\
- If the CrashPlan app is installed per-user: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\<Local|Roaming>\CrashPlan\
- Right-click the log folder and select Properties.
- If an error dialog displays the message You don't currently have permission to access this folder, follow the solution for Windows below.
- Go to Applications > Utilities.
- Open Terminal.app.
- Enter this command:
cd ~/Library/Logs/CrashPlan
Terminal attempts to open the CrashPlan app's log directory.
For example:prompt$ cd ~/Library/Logs/CrashPlan -bash: cd: ~/Library/Logs/CrashPlan: Permission denied - If Terminal reports
Permission denied, follow the solution for Mac below.
- Open Terminal.
- Enter this command:
ls -la ~|grep .crashplan
Terminal accesses the ~/.crashplan directory and lists the permissions assigned to it along with other directory details. The line returned by Terminal is similar to the following:drwxr-xr-x 3 <owner> <group> 4096 Jan 6 21.48 .crashplan
For example:prompt$ ls -la ~|grep .crashplan total 1 drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Jan 6 21:48 .crashplan - If Terminal reports root as the <owner> of the ~/.crashplan directory, follow the solution for Linux below.
Contact Technical Support
If permissions for the log directory appear normal, contact our technical support team for help with fixing the problem of not being able to open the CrashPlan app.
Solution
On Windows and Mac, resolve the issue by changing permissions for the CrashPlan app logs directory. On Linux, resolve the issue by deleting the CrashPlan app logs directory. The CrashPlan app recreates it with the appropriate permissions the next time you launch the app as a user.
- Log in to Windows as a user with administrative access rights.
- In Windows Explorer, navigate to the parent directory of the CrashPlan app log directory:
- If the CrashPlan app is installed for everyone: C:\ProgramData\CrashPlan\
- If the CrashPlan app is installed per-user: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\<Local|Roaming>\CrashPlan\
- Right-click the CrashPlan folder and choose Properties.
- Click the Security tab. (Make sure this shows that the logged-in user has permission to access this folder.)
- Click Advanced.
- Click Change permissions.
- Select Replace all child object permission entries with inheritable permission entries from this object.
- Click Apply.
A warning dialog appears: This will replace explicitly defined permissions on all descendants of this object with inheritable permissions from CrashPlan. Do you wish to continue? - Click Yes, followed by OK.
- Open the CrashPlan app.
- From the Finder, open Applications > Utilities > Terminal.
- Enter this command:
sudo chown -R $(logname) ~/Library/Logs/CrashPlan - Press Return.
- Enter your password when prompted.
The password doesn't appear as you enter it. - Verify that you have changed the directory's permissions by entering this command:
cd ~/Library/Logs/CrashPlan - Press Return.
Terminal opens the CrashPlan app's log directory. - Enter this command:
pwd - Press Return.
Terminal confirms that the ~/Library/Logs/CrashPlan directory is open.
Here's what the series of commands and replies look like all together:prompt$ cd ~/Library/Logs/CrashPlan -bash: cd: ~/Library/Logs/CrashPlan: Permission denied prompt$ sudo chown -R $(logname) ~/Library/Logs/CrashPlan Password: *** prompt$ cd ~/Library/Logs/CrashPlan prompt$ pwd ~/Library/Logs/CrashPlan - Open the CrashPlan app.
- Delete the ~/.crashplan directory.
For example, delete the directory using the rmdir command. You must delete the directory contents before you can delete the directory. - The next time you launch the CrashPlan app, launch it as a user.
For increased security, launch and run the app as a user, instead of as root. When you launch the app as a user, CrashPlan recreates the ~/.crashplan directory with the appropriate permissions.
In rare instances, an issue with the ui.log file can cause an uncaught exception error. To resolve the issue, stop the CrashPlan service, delete the ui.log file (from the UI log file locations listed in the File and folder hierarchy article), and restart the CrashPlan service. After the service starts, a fresh ui.log file is created.