# Unable to load any projects because of 'lookup error'

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/unable-to-load-any-projects-because-of-lookup-error/12758>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Created:** [March 7, 2017, 5:41pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/unable-to-load-any-projects-because-of-lookup-error/12758 "2017-03-07T17:41:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![on371](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c67d28/32.png) [@on371](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/on371)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 5:41pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/unable-to-load-any-projects-because-of-lookup-error/12758/1 "2017-03-07T17:41:43Z")

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I booted up Ignition one day to start working. I logged in successfully to the designer and got to the screen where you select a project. However, when I tried to load a project, it would give me this error:

[quote]LookupError: no codec search functions registered: can’t find encoding ‘utf-8’

Ignition v7.7.2 (b2014121709)  
Java: Oracle Corporation 1.8.0\_60[/quote]

I’ve tried re-installing Java, updating to the latest version available to me, and looked all around the internet but I’ve been unable to fix this issue. All I know is that no projects will load, from the designer or from the Gateway directly running as a client. None of my coworkers have had this issue, and our laptops are all standardized.  
I have 2 questions:  
A: Is there something I did to cause this that I should avoid, or did it just sorta happen (This one is less important)  
B: How do I fix this so I can get back to work? (This one is extremely important)

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**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 6:29pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/unable-to-load-any-projects-because-of-lookup-error/12758/2 "2017-03-07T18:29:43Z")

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1. Does the native client launcher work?
2. Can you get a gateway backup?
3. If you can get a gateway backup, do so, then try to restore it on another system running a clean install of 7.7.8.
4. If that restores successfully and you can launch projects, then I would say to uninstall and reinstall Ignition on your main computer - and while you’re doing that, update to 7.7.8.

I found some internal tickets with the same LookupError related to 7.6 -\> 7.7 migration; nothing that should have occured at 7.7.2 but it’s hard to tell. In either case, a clean install should be the ‘nuclear option’ that resolves things - and as long as you’ve got a .gwbk nothing will be lost.

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**Author:** ![on371](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c67d28/32.png) [@on371](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/on371)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/unable-to-load-any-projects-because-of-lookup-error/12758/3 "2017-03-08T17:14:15Z")

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Native client launchers don’t seem to work, they give the same answer. I’ll try what you suggested the next time we’re shut down for maintenance. Thanks for your help