Zotero freezes at startup

dstillman Zotero Team
This discussion was created from comments split from: Zotero will not open Mac OS Monterey.
  • opacct
    edited July 22, 2022
    The latest Zotero download, on Mac 12.4 freezes on startup... it gives an error. On restarting, it is working.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    edited July 22, 2022
    It certainly doesn't in general, and that's not related to the thread you posted to, so splitting this off.

    Make sure you're running Zotero 6.0.11, and try restarting your computer.

    Beyond that, what do you mean by freeze? What exactly happens?

    What happens if you start it from the command line?

    https://www.zotero.org/support/reporting_problems#reporting_startup_errors
  • opacct
    It wouldn't start and I am using Monterey, that is why I posted on that thread. I then reinstalled and it again wouldn't start so I followed your instructions on the other thread and downloaded beta, at the same time I forced quit multiple times, and recorded the freeze:

    Command: zotero
    Path: /Applications/Zotero.app/Contents/MacOS/zotero
    Identifier: org.zotero.zotero
    Version: 6.0.11 (6.0.11)
    Team ID: 8LAYR367YV
    Architecture: x86_64
    Parent: launchd [1]
    PID: 506
    Time Since Fork: 180s

    Event: hang
    Duration: 163.96s
    Duration Sampled: 3.90s (process was unresponsive for 160 seconds before sampling)
    Steps: 39 (100ms sampling interval)

    After restarting again (not beta), it froze again but then loaded. It appears to function properly now.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    edited July 22, 2022
    It was just performing a backup at startup in order to do a database upgrade, and you were force-quitting it in the middle. Based on previous threads, you have a very large database. A delay like this is much more likely if you have your data directory on an external drive, or if this is an old computer with a spinning disk.

    This isn’t related in any way to the issue in the other thread, which as noted there is already fixed in 6.0.11.
  • lgcuervo
    Having the same issue in Catalina. It freezes and requires frequently Force quitting. Lately, it doesn't show any screens even though it says it is running, and it is no longer being solved by restarting the computer.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    edited August 3, 2022
    @lgcuervo: If you're referring to a freeze at startup, it's the same answer — you're likely just not waiting long enough for an automatic backup. This is particularly likely if you have your data directory on an external disk or network drive.

    If you're referring to something else, please start a new thread.
  • lgcuervo
    Thanks @dstillman. How many hours is reasonable waiting?
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    Is it freezing at startup? Is your Zotero data directory on an external disk or network drive? How large is your zotero.sqlite file?
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