There was an error starting Zotero. (I know why)

I got this error just now, and I know what caused it and how to fix it.

In order to make my library portable, I've been storing it on a USB drive. So when I start working on a particular computer, I open FireFox and in my preferences, set my data directory to the one on the drive. This works quite well.

The only problem occurs when I remove my USB key and restart firefox. If I neglect to first set my Zotero preferences to point back to the profile directory, I get the error quoted above. I'm sure I can plug my drive back in and it will work fine.

Since it's possible that I could have lost my USB drive, my concern is that the only way to resolve this startup error would be to re-install Zotero. It seems a better response in the event of failing to locate Zotero would be for Zotero to just start up and then tell me that it can't find its directory. That way I could easily re-direct it to the profile (or whatever).

I don't know how feasible that would be, but anything would be more helpful than "There was an error."

Thanks for listening.

- Zach
  • hi zach,
    thanks for your suggestion. we're about to launch some new documentation on this so that, at least, other users encountering your problem can know more easily what they have to do.

    again, thanks for the helpful feedback.
    -connie
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