TechNote (Archived)

Dreamweaver crashes when performing a task related to site definitions

Issue

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Dreamweaver crashes when performing a task related to site definitions. For example, this crash may occur when performing any of the following tasks:

• Launching Dreamweaver
• Switching sites
• Opening a site
• Adding or editing a site definition

Reason

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One or more of the following may be true:

• The Dreamweaver site cache file (.dws file) is corrupt.
• The site definition is corrupt in either the registry (Windows) or in the Site Prefs file (Macintosh).

Solution

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If you can see that Dreamweaver is trying to load a particular site definition in the Files panel, target that site definition in the following steps. If you cannot see the site definition in the Files panel, try to remember which site you were working on last, before Dreamweaver started to crash.

• Windows
• Macintosh

Windows

Delete the .dws site cache file

Delete the site cache for the last site you were working on. For Windows 2000 or Windows XP, navigate here:

C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\Macromedia\Dreamweaver MX 2004\Configuration\SiteCache

Look for "mySite.dws", where "mySite" is the name of the site you were last working on. Delete the mySite.dws file, then launch Dreamweaver to see if the problem is resolved. If things are working, just rebuild the site cache for that site.

Delete the site definition in the registry

If deleting the .dws file does not solve the problem, the registry entry describing the site definition of the last site you were working on may be corrupt. You can test this theory by temporarily hiding all of your site information from Dreamweaver. Launch the Registry Editory by clicking the Start button, choose Run, then type "regedit". In the Registry Editor, navigate to this folder:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Macromedia\Common\2004\Sites

Rename the "Sites" key to "SitesOLD" then launch Dreamweaver. This will hide all of your site definitions from Dreamweaver.

Warning: Editing the Windows Registry incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require reinstalling your operating system. Macromedia does not guarantee that problems caused by editing the registry incorrectly can be resolved. Edit the registry at your own risk.

If Dreamweaver is able to launch, then perform the following steps:

1. Exit Dreamweaver.
2. Go back into the Registry Editor (Start button > Run > type "regedit").
3. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Macromedia\Common\2004\SitesOLD.
4. Rename the registry key "SitesOLD" back to "Sites".
5. Export the Sites registry key so you have a backup (File > Export). Write down where you save the .reg file.
6. Go into the Sites registry key and find the registry key that matches the problematic site. You will have to explore each registry key named -Site0, -Site1, etc. to find the correct one. Look for the "Site Name" attribute to identify the site.
7. Delete the -SiteX registry key that corresponds to your site (Edit > Delete), where "X" is the number that corresponds to the problematic site.
8. Launch Dreamweaver.
9. You should now have one blank entry in the list of sites, for the site you just deleted in the registry. Edit that site definition and re-enter your site information.

If Dreamweaver worked when renaming "Sites" to "SitesOLD", but you are not able to quickly isolate the problematic site, then it may be best to start from scratch by renaming "Sites" back to "SitesOLD" and recreating all of your site definitions. Hopefully you have backed up your site definitions using Site > Manage Sites > Export.

Macintosh

Delete the .dws site cache file

Delete the site cache for the last site you were working on. The site cache is located under your Home directory:

Mac HD : users : <user> : Library : Application Support : Dreamweaver MX 2004 : Configuration : SiteCache

Look for "mySite.dws", where "mySite" is the name of the site you were last working on. Delete the mySite.dws file then launch Dreamweaver to see if the problem is resolved. If things are working, just rebuild the site cache for that site.

Delete the site definition in the Site Prefs file

If deleting the .dws file does not solve the problem, then the site definition may be corrupt in the Site Prefs file. You can test this theory by temporarily hiding all of your site information from Dreamweaver. The site definition information is stored in the following file:

Mac HD : users : <user> : Library : Application Support : Macromedia : Common : 2004 : Sites : Site Prefs

Move the Site Prefs file to the desktop, so that Dreamweaver will automatically generate a new Site Prefs file the next time you launch it.

If Dreamweaver is able to launch, then perform the following steps:

1. Exit Dreamweaver.
2. Make a backup copy of your original Site Prefs file.
3. Open the original Site Prefs file in TextEdit and do a Find on the site name for the last site you were working on.
4. At the top of the code block where you find your site name, it should say something like [SITES\-SITE0] (instead of SITE0, it may say SITE1, SITE2, etc.).
5. Do a Find for all of the code blocks that refer to that site number and delete those blocks.
6. Move the modified Site Prefs file back in to the Sites folder mentioned above.
7. Launch Dreamweaver.
8. You should now have one blank entry in the list of sites, for the site you just deleted in the Site Prefs file. Edit that site definition and re-enter your site information.

If Dreamweaver worked when moving the Site Prefs file to the desktop, but you are not able to quickly isolate the problematic site in TextEdit, then it may be best to start from scratch by dragging the Site Prefs file back to the desktop and recreating all of your site definitions. Hopefully you have backed up your site definitions using Site > Manage Sites > Export.

Troubleshooting

Additional Information

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If you are getting a "Server Busy" error message when accessing sites, refer to Error when accessing sites: Server busy ... the other program is busy ... choose 'Switch To' to activate (TechNote tn_16485).

If this TechNote does not solve the problem, refer to Troubleshooting Dreamweaver for Windows (TechNote tn_15481).

For more information on backing up site definitions, search theDreamweaver Knowledgebase using the keywords "site export".

Search Support

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