Help please - I cannot import any books (pdf, epub or other)

[zuluman]

Hello everyone. I love Caliber! I can’t live without Caliber. After updating to newest Caliber, I cannot import any books (pdf, epub or other). I miss Calibre! Please assist if you can. Downloaded and tried both versions of Calibre – 64bit and 32bit. Please see message below:



I have Windows10 with i7. I have never experienced problems with Calibre. Why now?

Thank you for your kind assistance!

calibre, version 3.40.1
ERROR: Errors while adding: Failed to add any books, click "Show details" for more information


----------------------------------------------------------------------
Failed to add the book: 2555
C:\Users\healt\Downloads\the-works-of-edgar-allan-poe-078-the-raven.pdf
With error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\add.py", line 413, in add_book
File "site-packages\calibre\db\legacy.py", line 224, in create_book_entry
File "site-packages\calibre\db\cache.py", line 63, in call_func_with_lock
File "site-packages\calibre\db\cache.py", line 1557, in create_book_entry
File "site-packages\calibre\db\backend.py", line 845, in execute
File "c:\t\t\apsw-mc0now\apsw-3.27.2-r1\src\cursor.c", line 236, in resetcursor
CantOpenError: CantOpenError: unable to open database file

[theducks]

Look at the bottom line (usually the summary of the error)

Updating Calibre won't fix problems with access to your library (metadata.db).
Most likely culprit: Anti-malware protections. whitelist the entire calibre2 folder.
BTW having exact details of your OS with error reports, really helps narrow things down. eg. The latest W10 anti-ransomware causes all kinds of problems with the location (My Documents) of the Library from older installs. There are many posts on how to fix this.

[zuluman]

Thank you for your prompt and kind reply with assistance.

Tried to do is much as I could do:
I shut off my anti-malware protection
I went into advanced and received an error message
therefore I installed via auto install
I switched the folder from calibre2 to caliber
each time I deleted old caliber files and restarted the computer. Installed new calibre64bit version
still same results as stated previously
I do not where to find OS error reports. Please give me some suggestions. Thank you.
Also I do not know which posts might give me some answers. Please assist.

Thank you and have a nice day.
I’ve been running Windows10 for about six months and never experienced any problems with the reinstallation. Why now?

[theducks]

The database is NOT in the program folder.
That is the the main part current Library. Once installed and used, calibre preferences remembers the location of all the Libraries you have AND tries to open the Last used one.

That location 1)no longer exists. 2)No longer legal (by OS or A/V rules)

Since you refused to answer the basic question of 'What OS', this is my last response.

[DNSB]

You might want to do a search for threads with Windows Defender and/or Controlled Folder access.

Quick and dirty answer would be to make sure calibre is not running. Create a new folder called Calibre in your User folder (C:\Users\username\). Move your calibre library folder(s) from Documents to Calibre. Start calibre and use the Switch/Create Library option under Library with the Use the previously existing library at the new location to connect to your library/libraries at the new location.

[zuluman]

Super! Unbelievable! You’re a genius David! You took something that was impossible and you made it possible! Thank you! I’m back in action! I love caliber and can’t live without it. I enjoy very much taking an epub, kindle or whatever and turning it into a Word document, highlighting what is the most important and then making a summary. Calibre is a great invention! In fact all I do is read e-books and the library thinks I’m crazy! Maybe I am. Thanks David! Thanks Kovid!

I’m just wondering why my problem occurred after so many years of reinstalling Calibre and never once did this problem happen. Thanks again! Have a beautiful day! Mark

[zuluman]

I'd like to thank everybody for their assistance for which I could not do without. Thank you very much for assisting me in solving an impossible problem that I could not solve myself. Mark

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by zuluman

I’m just wondering why my problem occurred after so many years of reinstalling Calibre and never once did this problem happen. Thanks again! Have a beautiful day! Mark

Thanks for the kind words. What you probably ran into is the anti-ransomware capability of Windows Defender (what shows up as Controlled Folder access). The Documents folder is part of those controlled folders by default. That is one of the reasons that calibre around version 3.30 started installing it's libraries outside the Documents folder for a new install.

It makes sense that you don't want to allow random programs to access system folders but I just wish Microsoft had the common sense to have Windows Defender notify the enduser when this capability is activated.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by DNSB

It makes sense that you don't want to allow random programs to access system folders but I just wish Microsoft had the common sense to have Windows Defender notify the enduser when this capability is activated.

Apparently, some ransomware payloads start out at as an email attachment, I guess MS figure that users often stash attachments in Documents, Pictures and/or Music directories.

But I agree a 1000%, they should tell users of changes like that, the possible consequences, and offer an easy way out.

BR

[zuluman]

Super job guys. Thanks for the comments and suggestions. Keep up the good work! YOU'RE GREAT! Thank you very much again and again. I did not have any other place to go and get my question answered and you came thru! SUUUUPER! I cannot live without Calibre.

[zuluman]

PS I also loaded the calibre program while having Windows Defender shut down. It seems like it didn't matter because the problems continued.

[luporpi]

I've had a similar issue. Solved it by deleting all file properties (title, author, ...) before importing.