Backup conversation crash to a gray screen after 100%

[Transisto]

Desktop,

This is what the process does then it stops.

According to the progess bar there is ~350k messages to save, at the last step the process crash and Wire turn gray

Should I try an older version of wire to see if it goes through?

[tlebon]

This sounds possibly related to Windows bug where the app turns grey (in different situations) that we have been struggling to reproduce lately. Try the previous release, but I am not confident that will solve the issue here. Backups often slow down at the last step regardless of OS.

Follow up with any progress from your side please 👍

[Sledge-Hammer]

I have the same problem with a similar amount of messages when I haven't restarted the PC in a few months.
It usually fixes itself after a reboot.

From my observations the reason might be either that I'm running the PC without a page file or something related to Windows' GPU acceleration (or a combination of both) because I'm also getting odd behavior in other apps after running non-stop for more than a month or two (mostly in Firefox).

[Transisto]

This sounds possibly related to Windows bug where the app turns grey (in different situations) that we have been struggling to reproduce lately. Try the previous release, but I am not confident that will solve the issue here. Backups often slow down at the last step regardless of OS.

Follow up with any progress from your side please 👍

I really need to have a better access to searching conversations, I was gonna use backup to then use the extract to PDF software.

Is there a way to get some userful verbose logs?

Also if I could know what files in my OS need backuping I could copy that while this is getting resolved.

BTW I left it run for a long time after, the process dies and nothing more happens.

[tlebon]

@Transisto this is PC correct? what version of the app are you using?
if it is PC you can open the application from the command line with debugging enabled

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\wire\Wire.exe --devtools=1 --enable-logging

if it doesn't appear verbose restart the app again and you should see full logs.

[MacGurus]

on Windows app select backup conversation it runs through messages goes to gray screen - the app isn't crashing fully because a second account can be clicked and is operating normally - fortunately quitting and restarting brings you back to messages again but there is no way to actually run a backup with this issue presently

[MacGurus]

i tested this with a less used account with a much smaller message database and it properly goes to SAVE FILE in green -- this might be an issue related to the size of the message DB - I will try to investigate further

[MacGurus]

i ran the backup on primary account (large message DB) and let it stay at the grey screen 20 to 30 minutes - it never makes it to SAVE FILE dialogue -- this leads me to suspect it's an issue related to the size of the database

[Transisto]

Everything you wrote match my problem, It seems like each account is a separate sub process, and that's what crashes.

[MacGurus]

Everything you wrote match my problem, It seems like each account is a separate sub process, and that's what crashes.

It appears that it's becoming hung at the final processing to export the messages - I don't recall the exact # of messages in the first account I tested it on but it was nowhere near 350k messages as yours but IIRC over 200k. The only other tidbit I can add is that backup was running fine for larger databases 3 or 4 months ago and seems to work properly if the database size is below some threshold as yet to be determined

[MacGurus]

I have the same problem with a similar amount of messages when I haven't restarted the PC in a few months. It usually fixes itself after a reboot.

From my observations the reason might be either that I'm running the PC without a page file or something related to Windows' GPU acceleration (or a combination of both) because I'm also getting odd behavior in other apps after running non-stop for more than a month or two (mostly in Firefox).

I tried backup after a fresh reboot only to end up with the same grey screen after it counts through the messages.

[drewmnoel]

This seems to be related to a memory issue in 32-bit Electron or something. If the size of the exported conversation data is more than around 32 MB when stringified, the process crashes (at this line).

I was able to resolve this for myself by rebuilding with a 64-bit version by switching this line from "ia32" to "x64":

wire-desktop/bin/build-tools/lib/build-windows.ts

Line 40 in de508fa

architecture: ArchOption = 'ia32',

[MacGurus]

issue persists in latest update 3.30.4368 web 2023.03.07.08.22

[Sledge-Hammer]

Any chance of this being fixed anytime soon?
I haven't been able to make a backup in the past few months.

[MacGurus]

update april 11, 2023 the issue persists on release web 2023.04.11.09.39 (3.30.4368)

[nostitos]

Update, Support for android has been officially dropped.
Issue section closed. There are no more issues.

wireapp/wire-android#3743 (comment)

[MacGurus]

todays update 2023.05.30.13.55.09 Win Desktop 3.31.4421 backups are still not operational for larger message history with same gray screen results as outlined in the thread here

[zstomp]

This seems to be related to a memory issue in 32-bit Electron or something. If the size of the exported conversation data is more than around 32 MB when stringified, the process crashes (at this line).

I was able to resolve this for myself by rebuilding with a 64-bit version by switching this line from "ia32" to "x64":

wire-desktop/bin/build-tools/lib/build-windows.ts

Line 40 in de508fa

architecture: ArchOption = 'ia32',

It does fix the backup, but it can't restore.

[tlebon]

This is indeed related to an issue with 32-bit electron. This will be fixed in the next desktop release.

[MacGurus]

This is indeed related to an issue with 32-bit electron. This will be fixed in the next desktop release.

just got update 3.32.4459 2023.10.19.08.33.56 - same results- runs through preparing then crashes to gray

[MacGurus]

this is still broken - further it appears something similar is happening when you have a large database of messages when you do a search it crashes in similar fashion - other logins remain operable -

[Sledge-Hammer]

Definitely not fixed yet, which is a problem since version 3.32.4459 is supposed to be the last one for Windows 7/8/8.1
I also encountered the search issue once so far.

[MacGurus]

Just got around to testing on the update today Aug 2024 and with a database of nearly 300K it backed up without issues!
Maybe someone with a larger database can test it to verify and if so then this issue is resolved

[tlebon]

As this is apparently fixed, i will close it for the time being. If it reappears please reopen it.