Adding any termbase in Trados Studio throws the following error : general massive catastrophic system failure

Article Number:000001737 | Last Updated:3/28/2023 8:54 AM

Scope/Environment

Trados Studio 2022
Trados Studio 2021
Trados Studio 2019
Trados Studio 2017
Trados Studio 2015
Trados Studio 2014

Symptoms/Context

Whenever you want to add a file-based or server termbase in Trados Studio you get the following error message:

general massive catastrophic failure

User-added image

General error occurred: This document already has a 'XmlDeclaration' node."

Unexpected XML declaration. The XML declaration must be the first node in the document, and no white space characters are allowed to appear before it. Line 1, position 24.

or

General error occurred: There is an unclosed literal string. Line 1, position XXX.

Resolution

Rename settings.xml

Close Trados Studio and go to the following path:
- For Trados Studio 2022: C:\ProgramData\Trados\MultiTerm\MultiTerm17
- For Trados Studio 2021: C:\ProgramData\SDL\SDL MultiTerm\MultiTerm16
- For Trados Studio 2019: C:\ProgramData\SDL\SDL MultiTerm\MultiTerm15
- For Trados Studio 2017: C:\ProgramData\SDL\SDL MultiTerm\MultiTerm14
- For Trados Studio 2015: C:\ProgramData\SDL\SDL Trados Studio\12.0.0.0
- For Trados Studio 2014: C:\ProgramData\SDL\SDL Trados Studio\11.0.0.0
Rename settings.xml to old_settings.xml
Restart Trados Studio and try again.

NOTE: The MultiTerm folder mentioned above is created even if MultiTerm Desktop has not been installed on the computer yet.

Root Cause

Settings.xml file used by Trados Studio has corrupt or duplicate data.

The issue may also be caused by third-party applications, like the SentinelOne Endpoint Agent.

Reference

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