It seems not. I have tried copying both the pictures and the project file to my desktop and loading the program from there but it makes no difference. The only Media Offline help the Sony manual gives is to change the options in Preferences to ensure that the checkbox for 'Close Media Files when not the application' is unticked. I have looked on the internet and have found that several other people are floundering with the same problem as myself when moving data from one computer to another.

The person working with me has now found that when he tried to load the program from the memory stick to his own computer after trying to work on mine he got the Media Offline message on that, as well.

Do you know how to relink the media to your project?

When you first open your project, you should see a prompt that your media files are offline. If you select the option to manually relink them, you need only relink one file. If the other media files are in the same location, the program will see them and automatically relink them all.

If you are not seeing this prompt, it is because one of you selected the option to ignore the media offline message and then saved the file with those preferences. And that can be messy.

A thousand thanks, Steve. This is not the first time that you have helped me out. We did not really understand the manual relink option and thought that 'Search for missing file' meant that the search operation would have to be repeated for every single file, which would have been very time consuming.

Now that you have explained that having found one file the program will search for the other files in the same location, everything has fallen into place and files which seemed lost have reappeared and are behaving properly. I could not find this information anywhere I looked on the web, so I'm really grateful for the assistance - bambino.

Great to hear I could help, Bambino!

For what it's worth:

I used to cringe at the idea of ticking the 'Copy media with project' box at the bottom of a 'save' window. mostly because I thought it would take up too much disk space and be redundant. But after so many types of problems opening files after moving media, changing hard drives, losing files or finding corrupted files, later - I strongly suggest people make use of that feature. If you come back after some time to a project or after working on many projects, and there's some missing link, you will lose more resources trying to find it or replace it.

I know it can take up a lot of storage space. Personally, I try to keep double the storage space of my anticipated projects and media sizes anyhow.

Maybe it's just my workflow and poor memory and bad luck - but, I just tried this week to reopen 100 project files created in 2011 to 2013, and found missing resources for almost 20 of them. And I kept kicking myself for not using the 'Copy media with project' option.

It may not exactly have prevented the problem of the Original Poster, OP, if they hadn't copied their files between memory media; but, at least all the files would have been together when they had.

Thanks for the tip, Doc Satori. In view of your suggestion we have now saved both the Vegas project and the photos on a memory stick, activating the 'Copy Media with Project' before saving. Problems have dissolved like the morning mist and the project can now be produced on any computer at will.

It is a pity that Sony Vegas, a program with such a lot to offer, does not provide more detailed, user-friendly instructions. I feel lucky that people on these forums are so willing to share their expertise to help flounderers such as myself.

I am getting the same message but my program crashes when I choose any of the options - I can't ignore the file, I can't replace the file - I get the message Movie Studio has stopped working. I've uninstalled and reinstalled the program and have the same problem with my project. I would replace or delete the offending file if I could just get in the darn program. So frustrated!!! :( :( I have many hours in on this project and hate to abandon it now.

Any advice?

Aside from not hijacking threads, I would suggest a clean reinstall. See instructions in the knowledge base.

LInk for Win 7 64 bit

Seriously? Isn't hijacking is when you change the subject of someone's post. Wouldn't it make sense for people with the same problem to combine posts?

Whatever. If I need to start a new post, I will.

Just a suggestion. The same error could be caused by different reasons.

Did you try a clean install?

Not yet but I will. Thank you.

This is my first project after buying this program and after the learning curve I was finally getting the hang of it and now this. So I am frustrated, but I appreciate your help.

Completely understand. We've all been there. Hang in there and keep using using the forum.

As MSmart says, "The search function in the forum is your friend".

Lots of very helpful and knowledgeable people around.

One more thought..You can reset the program to its defaults (you will lose any presets, but no work)...

Hold control + shift while opening Vegas. See if that helps.

:(
I tried this first, then the clean install...and the same problem both times. WHen opening it identifies a missing file (offline), and no matter what option I choose (search for missing file, ignore, etc.) the program stops working and shuts down.

I guess I will need to start over, but I'm a bit worried that will result in another disappointment.

Did you try selecting a photo or clip (even though it may be wrong) just to help coax the program past this? VMS is really a stable NLE.

Yes, I did. I figured if I could just get into the program I could delete the missing one because it identified exactly which file, but I couldn't get past the shut down. Not sure what I will do.

Perhaps open a support ticket?