Could you either copy and paste the full text or, if that's not possible, take a screenshot of the error, upload it somewhere (Dropbox, imgur, etc.), and provide a link here?
Hi, I have the same problem as chiuluk. I have just updated my old Zotero to the latest version. Unfortunately, I got the same error message when the new Zotero is restarted. So I can't do anything now with Zotero as it requires me to check update but this is already the newest version!!!! Please see the attached link for a screenshot. And please help!!!! Thanks! https://www.dropbox.com/s/7hqo90qmdj0asvf/Zotero error page.jpg?dl=0
I tried to find the Debug ID or Error Console following the instructions on the link you provided, but I still got the same error message, no such information pupped up as you requested.
You're sure you tried the -jsconsole flag? That should really cause the Error Console to pop up before anything else happens (even before the Zotero window loads).
I installed Zotero in early 2016 and did not update much until Aug 2017. So I just updated it a few days ago to the latest version and then came the problem I presented here. I did not move the data directory before the update.
We don't normally recommend this, but have you tried simply uninstalling Zotero and then reinstalling it? Uninstalling won't affect your data (as long as you don't check the checkbox to delete your data).
I have just tried uninstalled Zotero, downloaded the latest version on this website and reinstalled it twice,using both the default setting up option and personalised option. I had also rebooted my laptop (Win 10 system) but the same error persisted. OMG, it's really frustrating.
Could you email the file C:\Program Files (x86)\Zotero\zotero.jar to support@zotero.org with a link to this thread? (This is part of the application and doesn't contain any of your data.)
So the file this error says contains an illegal character is unchanged from what it should be, so something else is going on here. I'm not sure how this would cause problems, but can you try creating a new Zotero profile and seeing if that helps? You can follow the same steps as for Firefox, but use C:\Program Files (x86)\Zotero\zotero.exe instead of the firefox.exe line. See if you can at least start up to an empty Zotero library in a new profile.
Thank you. The new profile method does work! I can start Zotero program normally now with an empty library. So how can I recover my previous library files?
Do you have a custom Zotero data directory location set in the original profile? If you point the new profile at the same data directory, does it work, or does the same error occur?
OK, if anyone is still seeing this, we tracked this down to a corrupt Firefox preferences file when Zotero was trying to migrate preferences from Zotero for Firefox. This should be fixed in the latest 5.0 Beta, and the fix will be included in 5.0.19. (If you use the beta, you can switch back to 5.0.18 after upgrading.)
Warning: unreachable code after return statement
Source File: resource://gre/modules/commonjs/toolkit/loader.js -> resource://zotero/bluebird/util.js
Line: 201, Column: 4
Source Code:
eval(obj);
Error: illegal character
Source File: chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/dataDirectory.js
Line: 406
Source Code:
Error: NS_ERROR_UNEXPECTED: Component returned failure code: 0x8000ffff (NS_ERROR_UNEXPECTED) [nsIPrefBranch.getIntPref]
Source File: chrome://global/content/bindings/findbar.xml
Line: 376
Does your Windows username include extended characters?
Warning: unreachable code after return statement
Source File: resource://gre/modules/commonjs/toolkit/loader.js -> resource://zotero/bluebird/util.js
Line: 201, Column: 4
Source Code:
eval(obj);
Warning: unreachable code after return statement
Source File: resource://gre/modules/commonjs/toolkit/loader.js -> resource://zotero/bluebird/util.js
Line: 201, Column: 4
Source Code:
eval(obj);
Error: illegal character
Source File: chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/dataDirectory.js
Line: 406
Source Code:
Error: NS_ERROR_UNEXPECTED: Component returned failure code: 0x8000ffff (NS_ERROR_UNEXPECTED) [nsIPrefBranch.getIntPref]
Source File: chrome://global/content/bindings/findbar.xml
Line: 376
[error removed — D.S.]
So the file this error says contains an illegal character is unchanged from what it should be, so something else is going on here. I'm not sure how this would cause problems, but can you try creating a new Zotero profile and seeing if that helps? You can follow the same steps as for Firefox, but use C:\Program Files (x86)\Zotero\zotero.exe instead of the firefox.exe line. See if you can at least start up to an empty Zotero library in a new profile.