Forum Discussion

stevef86's avatar
stevef86
New Member
10 hours ago

Empty MDS file

Hi, wondering if anyone ran into this. We have a test suite that has been in use for years but we found that we haven't been able to open TestComplete. Looking at the event viewer, we have this:

The program TestComplete.exe version 15.80.1.7 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed. To see if more information about the problem is available, check the problem history in the Security and Maintenance control panel.
 Process ID: 45f0
 Start Time: 01dca1d8eb983a1c
 Termination Time: 4294967295
 Application Path: C:\Program Files (x86)\SmartBear\TestComplete 15\x64\Bin\TestComplete.exe
 Report Id: a13358c9-1ccf-4211-a485-429e095bfce2
 Faulting package full name: 
 Faulting package-relative application ID: 
 Hang type: Cross-thread

And the .MDS file has a Last Updated date/time stamp of 4:12 PM and file size of 0.

My questions:

1) We believe we have backups of this directory and will try to recover, any advice?
2) Any way to know what happened so we can prevent in the future?

I found this thread but not sure if that's what happened or not.

 

2 Replies

  • Hassan_Ballan's avatar
    Hassan_Ballan
    Icon for Champion Level 3 rankChampion Level 3
    5 hours ago

    The key issue here is the .MDS file being 0 KB.

    The .MDS file stores the project suite metadata. If it becomes empty, TestComplete cannot load the project and will typically hang during startup (which matches the Cross-thread hang you're seeing).

    A 0 KB file usually means the file write was interrupted while TestComplete was saving. Common causes include:

    • Application closed or terminated during save
    • System restart while open
    • Disk interruption
    • Antivirus locking/scanning the file during write

    Antivirus is a common culprit — real-time scanning can lock the file mid-write and leave it truncated.

    Recovery

    If you have a backup, restore the .MDS file (or the project folder). Unfortunately, a 0 KB .MDS file cannot be rebuilt manually.

    Prevention

    • Exclude the project folder from antivirus real-time scanning
    • Avoid forced shutdowns while TestComplete is open
    • Maintain regular backups or use version control

    If this happens again without interruption or AV involvement, consider opening a Support ticket for further investigation.

    "If this resolves your scenario, marking it as the solution helps future readers find it quickly."

  • rraghvani's avatar
    rraghvani
    Icon for Champion Level 3 rankChampion Level 3
    9 hours ago

    Always use a file repository (TFS, GitHub, etc) when working with source files. If files become corrupted on your local machine, they can be recovered from the repository.

    I have experienced project files becoming corrupted while upgrading from TC v14 to v15 (long time ago), and many users reported similar issues with v15 and its early minor releases.

    The crash you experienced can only be properly investigated by SmartBear. If it occurs frequently, it would be worth opening a Support Ticket.