When this happens, you would normally go ahead and add the mystery entity. Then you could look at the data and see what it real is. If it is nothing, then you would use FN to delete the entity and you would be back to normal.

Before doing anything, back up all your FN data.

It sounds like you may have three problems:

• You are licensed for 10 entities and are using all 10.
• FN is “stuck” because it only wants to start with the bad data.
• FN is trying to open something that is not really good data.

You are licensed for 10 entities and are using all 10.

FN is “stuck” because it only wants to start with the data you don’t want to open.

This is the case unless set of data files is specified in the shortcut or there is a set of data in the FN program folder.

If this recent set of data is not found then it will prompt with the Open screen. Since you aren’t seeing the Open screen, FN has found some data.

Let’s look at each of these possibilities.

> Data files specified in the shortcut

1. Right-click on the FN icon on your desktop.
2. Select Properties from the pop-up menu.
3. On the Shortcut tab, review the contents of the Target field. This field contains the path to the location of your FN program file, a space, and perhaps the path to the files you wish to start with every time. For example, Target may contain the following :

“C:\Program Files\FN\fnwin81.exe” C:\FNdata\Jones.05\

This means that the FN program file is located in C:\Program Files\FN\ and the data files you use every day are located in C:\FNdata\Jones.05\. FN always opens with the Open screen on the Jones.05 files.

Note: The space between the two paths is very important. In addition, the quotation marks are required if there are any spaces in the path. In this case, the path includes “Program Files,” which has a space, so quotes are used.

4. If you find a path to the data (anything after “fnwin81.exe”) in your shortcut’s Target, delete it. In the example, you want the Target to have just “C:\Program Files\FN\fnwin81.exe.”
5. Select Apply to save these changes.
6. Start FN.

If the Open screen appears, you can now use FN. You can now go back and change the Target in the shortcut to point to data you use most often, if you like.

If FN is still asking to add an entity with no name, you may need to delete the Recently Used File list.

> Delete the Recently Used File list

You can tell FN to “forget” the last set of data. This will allow FN to start with the normal Open screen, so that you can choose the correct data.

To delete the recently-used-file information from FN:

1. Open Windows Explorer (Start | My Computer).
2. Use Windows Explorer to open the Windows folder on your C: drive (C:\Windows).
3. Find the file FNWIN.INI (C:\Windows\FNWIN.INI).
4. Double click to open FNWIN.INI.
5. If you get a prompt asking how to open that file:
   1. Select Notepad.
   2. Select Always use this program to open files of this type.
   3. Select OK.
6. In notepad, locate the line something like:

RecentFile1=C:\FNdata\Smith05

7. Delete this line and any other RecentFile lines.
8. Save.
9. Exit Notepad.
10. Start FN. You should see the Open screen.

> Data in the FN program folder

Sometimes, an entity accidentally is created or copied to the FN program folder itself. The data files are not contained in a folder unique to that entity-year. This can cause FN always to open that data instead of the data you want. You can fix this by putting these “loose” data files in a temporary folder.

To clean up loose data files in the FN program folder:

1. Open Windows Explorer (Start | My Computer).
2. Use Windows Explorer to open the FN program folder, typically C:\Program Files\FN\. If you are not sure where FN is located, look at the Target of you desktop shortcut, as explained above.
3. Select File | New | Folder to create a new folder in the FN program directory.
4. Rename the folder from New Folder to Mystery FN Data
5. Drag any loose DAT files in the FN folder to the Mystery FN Data folder.
6. Start FN. You should see the Open screen.
7. Make sure all your entity data is there for each year.

To open the Mystery FN Data you may need to either license more entities or delete an existing entity, if you are already using all the entities on your license. Note that deleting an entity deletes that entity-years data, so be sure to backup the data first.

FN is trying to open something that is not really good data.

It is helpful to list all the data folders that FN can find.

To list FN data folders:

1. Start FN.
2. Select File | New.
3. Enter C: in the Enter drive and folder for data text box.
4. Select List (one of the buttons on the bottom of the Open screen).

It may take a few minutes to search your entire hard drive.

5. Select Print.
6. Review the list and investigate any unexpected data folders.
7. Repeat steps 3-6 for any other drive letters that may have data, for example, a shared network drive.

Congratulations

Related Forum posts that may be helpful:

Deleting entity with data: Removing an entity or Unused entity - won't let me use it

Deleting entity without data: Deleting entities

Delete recently used file list: Put data disk in drive using file: FNW80EN.ENT

Working with Target in shortcut: How do I start FN with most-used data files? and Opening data folder when FN starts

Change entity name: Unused entity - won't let me use it