Zotero 7 does not open

dobbsl · February 11, 2025

Hi all. I just upgraded to Zotero 7 because I was having problems with Zotero 6 crashing when I was inserting citations in Word. However, it won't open. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling, restarting my computer multiple times, but to no avail. I also tried reinstalling version 6, which does open but the plugin in Word doesn't seem to work anymore. Has anyone had this problem and successfully fixed it? I have Windows v10, 64 and Office 365.

dstillman · February 11, 2025

What exactly happens when you open it?

Is this on an institutional computer? Are you running any third-party security software?

dobbsl · February 11, 2025

Nothing really happens. The mouse arrow kind of "blips" like it does before it actually opens a program, but then nothing. No Windows spinning circle of death indicating it's trying to open. Just nothing. I tried running as an administrator, too.

It is an institutional laptop. I don't think there's 3rd party security software, unless the university put something on there and I don't know about it.

dstillman · February 11, 2025

The only issue like this we're aware of is a problem with Cisco Secure Endpoint breaking Zotero. This should be fixed by Cisco within the next month or so, but if this is the problem, your IT department can put in a temporary exception.

dobbsl · February 11, 2025

Ah, I do have Cisco Secure Client installed. Is this the same thing? I'll contact IT to get a work-around. I have a grant deadline this week, so I desperately need Zotero to work!

Is there anything specific I should tell IT to do to fix the Cisco problem?

Thank you for your help.

dstillman · February 12, 2025

We can't help with specifics — you can just point them to this thread.

Trinity195 · 2025-03-26T09:24:08+00:00

As d3xbot stated in another post (https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/119702/zotero-7-fail-to-launch-on-windows-11), turning on compatibility mode on and off is a workaround for now. My company also runs cisco secure and this solved it for now.

dstillman · 2025-03-26T09:25:24+00:00

@Trinity195: This should already be fixed in the latest version of Cisco Secure Endpoint:

https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/comment/486950/#Comment_486950

Trinity195 · 2025-03-26T10:23:23+00:00

@dstillman, thanks for letting me know! Seems like my company didn't update, yet.