The following code produces and access violation when loading the NULL shared_ptr. Is this an issue of not having registered the type pointed to? What would I need to do to appropriately handle this situation? #include <boost/serialization/shared_ptr.hpp> #include <boost/serialization/string.hpp> #include <boost/archive/text_oarchive.hpp> #include <boost/archive/text_iarchive.hpp> #include <boost/archive/binary_oarchive.hpp> #include <boost/archive/binary_iarchive.hpp> #include <boost/archive/xml_oarchive.hpp> #include <boost/archive/xml_iarchive.hpp> #include <fstream> typedef std::string tName; class PointedToClass { tName mName; friend class boost::serialization::access; template< class Archive > void serialize( Archive &ar, unsigned int version ) { ar & boost::serialization::make_nvp( "Name", mName ); } public: ~PointedToClass(){} PointedToClass():mName("def"){} }; typedef boost::shared_ptr<PointedToClass> tPtr; class SomeClass { tName mName; tPtr mPtr; friend class boost::serialization::access; template< class Archive > void serialize( Archive &ar, unsigned int version ) { ar & boost::serialization::make_nvp( "Name", mName ); ar & boost::serialization::make_nvp( "Ptr", mPtr ); } public: SomeClass():mName("abc"),mPtr(){} }; int main( int argc, char* argv[] ) { SomeClass lSomeClass; { std::ofstream lOut( "SomeClass.archive", std::ios_base::out | std::ios_base::trunc ); if( lOut.good() ) { boost::archive::xml_oarchive oa( lOut ); oa & boost::serialization::make_nvp( "SomeClass", lSomeClass ); } } { std::ifstream lIn( "SomeClass.archive" ); if( lIn.good() ) { boost::archive::xml_iarchive ia( lIn ); ia & boost::serialization::make_nvp( "SomeClass", lSomeClass ); } } return 0; }