Error when firing up BaseCamp

Sounds like you still have an invalid short-cut to a map somewhere. Check the default location (where you successfully installed the map). Is there still a short-cut laying around?

Sounds like you still have an invalid short-cut to a map somewhere. Check the default location (where you successfully installed the map). Is there still a short-cut laying around?

Interesting thought. Thanks. Well, considering my installation is apparently hosed, maybe someone who has a working installation can tell us where shortcuts are supposed to be?

ETA: Am searching my HD for all shortcuts. Will see if any show up in a garmin folder of some kind.

BaseCamp only looks in 3 destinations for maps:

Its own installation folder, that would be something like C:\Program Files (x86)\Garmin\BaseCamp\Maps. (The Global Map is in there)
The Program Data folder, that is C:\ProgramData\Garmin\Maps for me.
And the App Data folder, that is %APPDATA%\Garmin\Maps (C:\Users\falagar\AppData\Roaming\Garmin\Maps for me).

I believe the installer usually sticks things in the ProgramData one. I'd wager the short-cut is in there.

Note: when the installer allows you to install to a different location, it will still stick a short-cut in one of the locations above, or BaseCamp would not be able to find the maps.

Note 2: the paths above are for Windows 7 (or Vista, or 8). If you run XP they will be different.

Thanks, that's good info! I will look in those places. I did allow the install program to use program defaults for installation. Didn't change a thing there.

In the meantime, I searched all my drives for type:shortcut + gmap and got nothing relevant to the topo map set the error mentioned.

By default maps are located in .gmap folders in

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Garmin\Maps (Win2K & WinXP)

C:\ProgramData\Garmin\Maps (Vista, Win7, Win8)

That said one can create shortcuts to .gmap folders in other locations or one could use a shortcut or hard link to redirect the whole Maps folder to a different location. Now if a shortcut points to a non-existent location you'll get an error.

For example some people install maps to a network location and later change the network drive letter and/or path. In that case the shortcut must be edited or recreated.

So...

Found "TOPO U.S. 24K Southeast v2.gmap" shortcut in C:\ProgramData\Garmin\Maps\ so, I browsed to it and selected it when that error message came up. BaseCamp then opened and SE topo info was displayed. Then, I closed BaseCamp and re-started it. Guess what, same error message, and when I clicked Browse, it remembered where I had been and so I selected "TOPO U.S. 24K Southeast v2.gmap" again.

So, apparently, it is looking for it somewhere else. I wish I knew where that somewhere else was.

Right click on the shortcut and select properties. That should tell you where it points.

It's quite possible, if you've re-installed a map product, that you have an actual .gmap folder and a shortcut (invalid or otherwise) to the same map product folder somewhere else (e.g. from the initial install). You either have to delete the shortcut or fix it and delete the .gmap folder.

Right click on the shortcut and select properties. That should tell you where it points.

It's quite possible, if you've re-installed a map product, that you have an actual .gmap folder and a shortcut (invalid or otherwise) to the same map product folder somewhere else (e.g. from the initial install). You either have to delete the shortcut or fix it and delete the .gmap folder.

That was it! The path shown in the properties was to a folder on a drive letter that I think the PC assigns to either my Zumo or Montana when connected. Since it was not connected, it was not finding it. So, the error message was somewhat misleading. It ought to have said that the shortcut target was not found instead of the shortcut itself not being found. I edited the shortcut target to "C:\ProgramData\Garmin\Maps\TOPO U.S. 24K Southeast v2.gmap" (the folder) and when I re-started BaseCamp, no more error message!

Thank you so much for your thoughts!!!