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How to solve: Skype crashes and won’t start again

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There is strange things going on with Skype since Microsoft took over it. Weirdly, while using, it crashes and will not launch again. And it happens to a lot of people. Probably a problem with Ubuntu. Any ways, since there is no standard solution available, one cannot wait for the new updates from Skype (if any). So folks, here is a quick and dirty trick to solve this problem.

In your home/your_user_name (or simply call it ~ directory), there is a hidden Skype directory. It contains few files and shared.xml is one of them. Either delete this file or rename it. Use either of these commands:

mv ~/.Skype/shared.xml ~/.Skype/shared2.xml 
or 
rm ~/.Skype/shared.xml

After this, start Skype again, enter your login details.

If the problem still persists, try removing this file as well by using this command:

rm ~/.Skype/shared.lck

On Windows:

As suggested by a reader Arri, the same problem can be solved by removing the same shared.xml file from the following location:

C:Users{YOUR_USERNAME}AppDataRoamingSkype

Hopefully this works for you all! Questions, suggestions and feedbacks are welcomed.

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  • Isabella

    GREAT ! Thank you, your post is very useful as always. Keep up the good work!

  • meer

    hi,how do you go to the skype hidden directory,i cant find it,im using windows 7

    • http://computerandu.wordpress.com Abhishek Prakash Chaturvedi

      I have added info for Windows as well…Hope it will help you…

  • arri

    Legend works in windows 7

    was a mission ot find, hehehe didn’t read properly

    C:Users{USERNAME)AppDataRoamingSkype

    thanks

  • Jason Morris

    This worked just fine for Ubuntu 10.04 desktop /32 bit.

  • http://www.genectiva.com Joao Correia

    Thanks this worked for Ubuntu 11.04

    • http://computerandu.wordpress.com Abhishek Prakash Chaturvedi

      You are welcome….

  • Mat

    Thanks! That worked for me on Windows 7.

    • http://computerandu.wordpress.com Abhishek Prakash Chaturvedi

      wow…works for windows as well…did not think about it…thanks for telling…..

  • Martin

    This is by far the best post!
    Thank you very much!!!

    • http://computerandu.wordpress.com Abhishek Prakash Chaturvedi

      thanks martin ..for finding it best….:P

  • http://www.howtotectips.com Udeshika

    Thank you very much but it is still not working

    • http://computerandu.wordpress.com Abhishek Prakash Chaturvedi

      Hmm…I’ll take a look at the information and suggestion provided by Skype community this weekend.

      • http://computerandu.wordpress.com Abhishek Prakash Chaturvedi

        try deleting shared.lck file as well…