Zotero crashes at launch
Hi, I'm having a problem with Zotero since last week (I haven't used it since two months ago, so I don't know exactly when this problem started).
When I open Zotero, I can see for one second a blank window, and then it closes. Nothing else happens.
I have uninstalled Zotero, reinstalled, uninstalled and deleted my library, reinstalled again, etc and it is still not working. I also checked, according to another post, that the uft-8 option was disabled in the Region options of the Control Panel.
I am running Windows 10 Version 10.0.18362 Build 18362 in a HP ProBook 470 G0, and everything is up to date. I haven't made changes in my system since the last time that I used Zotero.
Any help will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
When I open Zotero, I can see for one second a blank window, and then it closes. Nothing else happens.
I have uninstalled Zotero, reinstalled, uninstalled and deleted my library, reinstalled again, etc and it is still not working. I also checked, according to another post, that the uft-8 option was disabled in the Region options of the Control Panel.
I am running Windows 10 Version 10.0.18362 Build 18362 in a HP ProBook 470 G0, and everything is up to date. I haven't made changes in my system since the last time that I used Zotero.
Any help will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work. I saw the blank window again that closed after one second. Nothing else.
-P
?But now I tried again (just in case) and something changed. Now the blank window is smaller and is called "Zotero - Choose user profile". But it also closes after one second.
And then you should try in a new OS account. This obviously isn't a general problem, so it's likely something unusual on your system that's causing this, and it's possible it's limited to your current OS user account.
I also tried deactivating Windows Defender, with the same results.
It is very strange, because Zotero worked perfectly until a few weeks ago, and I don't remember installing or uninstalling anything that could have made a conflict with Zotero, or any other changes.
https://www.zotero.org/download/client/dl?channel=release&platform=win32-zip&version=5.0.77
https://www.zotero.org/download/client/dl?channel=release&platform=win32-zip&version=5.0.78
https://www.zotero.org/download/client/dl?channel=release&platform=win32-zip&version=5.0.82
I tried the three previous versions that you listed, and all of them gave the same result: a small blank window called "Profile missing" that also disappears.
I also restarted the computer (just in case, because I have been having this problem for a few days and I turned the computer on/off several times during this time).
Is there anything else that I could try?
But since this happens with Zotero 5.0.77, that means that something else on your system has changed recently across user accounts, and I'm afraid you'll need to figure out what that is, since Zotero 5.0.77 was released last October and this isn't a general problem.
Thanks again for all your help.
You can try right-clicking on the shortcut and changing the compatibility mode in the Compatibility tab to Windows 7 or Windows 8 (though Zotero obviously runs fine on Windows 10 in general).
You can try running as an administrator, though in general we strongly discourage that. (If you try that, do it in the new account so you don't mess with the old one.)
You can see if Firefox 60.9.0 ESR, on which Zotero is based, works on your system, though even if it does that doesn't give us much to go on. You can also try to find people who have reported similar issues with Firefox, since the cause is likely to be the same.
I'm afraid I don't really have much to suggest beyond that.
OK, I guess that I'll have to launch it holding shift every time, and hope that it will keep working.
Thank you very much for all your help!
Most likely cause of that is probably your graphics card drivers. Try updating those if possible.
If you're not able to fix it that way, you can try disabling hardware acceleration in Zotero. With Zotero closed, go to to your Zotero profile directory, open prefs.js in a text editor (e.g., Notepad), and add these lines:
user_pref("gfx.direct2d.disabled", true);
user_pref("layers.acceleration.disabled", true);
Then see if Zotero starts normally. If it does, close it, open prefs.js again, and try removing one or other of the lines to see which helps.
I updated the graphic drivers, and the problem persisted.
But Zotero launches if I add the "user_pref("layers.acceleration.disabled", true);" line to the prefs.js file. OK, I'm going to leave it.
Thanks again!
Just provide a solution here. I changed my laptop power plan yesterday to run every app via the descrete graphic card. Just restore the default power setting that run zotero via integrated graphics, the problem can be solved well.