*** Bug 407459 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Also happens with V2.1.2 on Windows XP Pro:

   An error occurred while loading or saving configuration information
   for gnucash. Some of your configuration settings may not work properly.
      Details: Adding client to server's list failed, CORBA error:
      IDL:omg.org/CORBA/COMM_FAILURE:1.0
        :

Other Information:  There was no pre-exisiting configuration file since this was a new install; could that cause "loading or saving" errors?

Found that shutting down GnuCash, then running the following command from the bin directory, then restarting worked:

   gconftool-2 --shutdown

Suggestion gleaned from warlord in:

   http://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-user/2007-March.txt.gz

Still not sure why it happens.

The bug occurred again.  Two data points:

   a.  It appears to have gone away permanently after I allowed GnuCash to contact an external IP (the GnuCash site?) on start-up.  It has not asked to contact that site again, and I have not seen the error again.

   b.  I searched on the text of the bug and found it seems to also occur with a variety of other applications:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22An+error+occurred+while+loading+or+saving+configuration+information%22&btnG=Google+Search

Hi, reinstalling did not replicate the error, but starting on a new machine does.  On the new machine, the error went away once I allowed what ZoneAlarm identified as gnucash-bin.exe to access IP 68.142.91.87.

-----

recently installed version 2.2.0 from the gnucash website on Windows XP Pro SP2. I am getting the same error as WMS. However, both gnucash-bin.exe and gconftool-2.exe try to access IPs. gnucah-bin.exe is trying to access an external IP 221.239.63.33; from an IP whois I noticed this is in Tianjin, China. This is really scary. Why is the program trying to contact a chinese IP? Using zonealarm I deny access to this IP; then I get the error stated in the 1st post (above comment #1) gconftool-2.exe is trying to access my own IP address is this common? Any suggestions? I can maybe provide the downloaded file..maybe it's been tampered with.

(In reply to comment #6)
> recently installed version 2.2.0 from the gnucash website on Windows XP Pro
> SP2. I am getting the same error as WMS. However, both gnucash-bin.exe and
> gconftool-2.exe try to access IPs. gnucah-bin.exe is trying to access an
> external IP 221.239.63.33; from an IP whois I noticed this is in Tianjin,
> China. This is really scary. Why is the program trying to contact a chinese IP?
> Using zonealarm I deny access to this IP; then I get the error stated in the
> 1st post (above comment #1) gconftool-2.exe is trying to access my own IP
> address is this common? Any suggestions? I can maybe provide the downloaded
> file..maybe it's been tampered with.
> 

As an extra note. When I work offline, the program does not even start. I get the following error:

Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library
Runtime Error!
Program: C:\Program Files\gnucash\bin\gnucash-bin.exe
This application has requested a Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way.
Please contact the application's support team for more information.

Had forgotten to mention previously that when I allow allow access to only local ip and deny access to external IP, the program loads with out loading any files. I manually must open my saved file. Upon this, the program tries to read the accounts within the file and then it just hangs.

There's nothing in this report related to gconf-editor. Should this be moved to some other product?

Since the behavior of this bug strongly suggests contamination of the Windows installer by a virus, suggest the priority be raised.  Additional details:

On tests I've done on 2 different machines, denying external IP connection
on GnuCash start-ups led to the error message, and once the connection was
allowed the error went permanently away.  Interestingly, subsequent
repeated deinstalls and reinstalls failed to replicate the external
connection attempt or the error message on either machine, indicating the
issue occurs only on machines that have never had GnuCash previously
installed.

This error can only be duplicated on on a new Windows machine that has not previously had GNUCash installed, with a firewall that traps outgoing
connections as well as incoming to see the external connection attempt.

(In reply to comment #8)
> There's nothing in this report related to gconf-editor. Should this be moved to
> some other product?

The original report was about gconf-editor on Fedora.

However, starting with comment 1 through comment 9 seem to refer to GnuCash on Windows and are all duplicates of a known issue,  http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Windows#GConf.2FORBit_COMM_FAILURE

Comments 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 above are not duplicates, they refer to something different, the Windows version requiring contact with external IP's before successfully installing, which on the face of it is virus like activity.  

Two specific IP's are provided in the comments, 68.142.91.87 in my case which I have no other relationship with, and 221.239.63.33 in Manuel's case.  Comment 9 provides instructions on how to duplicate the error on a new machine for anyone's else's independent verification. 

Therefore, since this is not a duplicate of the known issue referenced in Comment 10, perhaps another, higher profile bug report should be opened for this issue separately?  Surreptitious external IP contact during installation sounds kind of alarming, doesn't it...?

I agree with WMS, contacting an external IP is frightening. I have not tried re-installing the software to see if the problem goes away. Sadly I have stayed away from this software due to this bug. I am now using Quicken.

Ok, I'm closing this out here since the original report had no data to work with.

Please advise (a) why would you close a bug that indicates something as serious as hidden external IP connection that no-one has an explanation for (b) what does "no data to work with" mean, since instructions on how to replicate are given above?

(In reply to comment #14)
> Please advise (a) why would you close a bug 

1. You added your comments to the wrong bug: The initial report is about the gconf-editor program, not gnucash. And I already explained this in comment 10 but you didn't react on this.

2. The data that has been provided so far indicates to me this is a DUPLICATE of a known issue, http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Windows#GConf.2FORBit_COMM_FAILURE , and this is being discussed in other bugzilla items already. Hence, this bug must be closed to avoid duplicated discussions.

3. If you think you have discovered a bug that is not yet covered by the bug numbers mentioned in that wiki page, please file this as a *new* item. Thanks.

I will file this as a new item once I find out where.  Please note again this is not a duplicate of the known issue you reference -- that issue does not refer to surreptitious external IP connection as a requirement for operation of the application.