Affinity won't start on Windows 11

[PatrickRg]

Hello,

I have used Affinity Designer and Photo on Windows 10 without any problems. On my new Notebook with Windows 11 both programs won't start properly. After the loading-screen the program opens very shortly and then closes again.

I have updated drivers and reinstalled several times. It did not change.

Thank you for your help!

d8009ead-b43d-4c9f-9fe1-ff897c5dd4bb.dmp

[Pauls]

tried holding control key down when starting - do you get to the reset data screen?

[Mshun]

I'm in the same situation. The title appears when trying to start and closes immediately. Please tell me the solution.

[Ron P.]

On 1/24/2023 at 6:07 PM, Mshun said:

I'm in the same situation. The title appears when trying to start and closes immediately. Please tell me the solution.

Welcome to the forums

Did you try what Pauls wrote in the post just prior to yours? It's called Control Run up. Press and hold the CTL key while launching the program. Do you get the Clear User Data Screen? If so press the Clear button at the bottom.

[deannab]

same problem. won't start after reinstalling several times. hoped the new update would fix it but no. i did the CTRL thing. no luck

[Elvio Moura]

The same to me too. 

[mwt]

I also have this issue and have since the release of v2. Holding down the control key does allow it to launch once. However, it must be cleared every time you launch the application. More importantly, the application will crash immediately if you attempt to open a document or create a new document in designer/photo.

I've also tried deleting the %APPDATA%/Affinity folder as well as wiping my computer clean and only installing Affinity Designer. Nothing works.

Edited December 12, 2023 by mwt

[Kamil B]

Hello. I have the same issue on the fresh installation of Windows 11 Professional. This is not cool. I think that this is first time I have issues like this with any Windows app. Have some problems with 16 bit apps in the past and dos ones but never with the win32/win64 app. If this is the way You try to force the v2 version to users this is not a good way. I understand that v2 is Your priority but I have full pack (Photo/Designer/Publisher) and don't want to spend to much money for v2 version if I don't need it. If there will be 75% off for the people who have whole pack - maybe. But right now I don't see reason for that.
This is the event logs:

Application: Designer.exe Framework Version: v4.0.30319 Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception. Exception Info: System.AccessViolationException at <Module>.GlyphsInspectorNode.MakeSample(GlyphsInspectorNode*, Kernel.Counted<Raster::Buffer<Raster::Red8,Raster::Green8,Raster::Blue8,Raster::Alpha8,Raster::X5> >*, Kernel.NonCounted<GlyphsInspector>*) at Serif.Interop.Persona.Data.Glyph.Render() at System.Threading.Tasks.Task`1[[System.__Canon, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089]].InnerInvoke() at System.Threading.Tasks.Task.Execute() Exception Info: System.AggregateException at System.Threading.Tasks.Task`1[[System.__Canon, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089]].GetResultCore(Boolean) at Serif.Interop.Persona.Data.Glyph.OnRenderComplete(System.Threading.Tasks.Task`1<System.Windows.Media.ImageSource>) at System.Threading.Tasks.Task.Execute() Exception Info: System.AggregateException at System.Threading.Tasks.TaskExceptionHolder.Finalize()

Application: Publisher.exe Framework Version: v4.0.30319 Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception. Exception Info: System.AccessViolationException at <Module>.GlyphsInspectorNode.MakeSample(GlyphsInspectorNode*, Kernel.Counted<Raster::Buffer<Raster::Red8,Raster::Green8,Raster::Blue8,Raster::Alpha8,Raster::X5> >*, Kernel.NonCounted<GlyphsInspector>*) at Serif.Interop.Persona.Data.Glyph.Render() at System.Threading.Tasks.Task`1[[System.__Canon, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089]].InnerInvoke() at System.Threading.Tasks.Task.Execute() Exception Info: System.AggregateException at System.Threading.Tasks.Task`1[[System.__Canon, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089]].GetResultCore(Boolean) at Serif.Interop.Persona.Data.Glyph.OnRenderComplete(System.Threading.Tasks.Task`1<System.Windows.Media.ImageSource>) at System.Threading.Tasks.Task.Execute() Exception Info: System.AggregateException at System.Threading.Tasks.TaskExceptionHolder.Finalize()   Application: Photo.exe Framework Version: v4.0.30319 Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception. Exception Info: System.AccessViolationException at <Module>.Raster.Buffer<Raster::Red8,Raster::Green8,Raster::Blue8,Raster::Alpha8,Raster::X5>.Clear(Raster.Buffer<Raster::Red8,Raster::Green8,Raster::Blue8,Raster::Alpha8,Raster::X5>*, Boolean, Boolean*) at Serif.Interop.Persona.UserInterface.FontCellControlHelper.CreatePreviewBitmap(System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker) at Serif.Interop.Persona.UserInterface.FontCellControlHelper.EnumFontsW(System.Object, System.ComponentModel.DoWorkEventArgs) at System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker.OnDoWork(System.ComponentModel.DoWorkEventArgs) at System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker.WorkerThreadStart(System.Object) Exception Info: System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException at System.ComponentModel.AsyncCompletedEventArgs.RaiseExceptionIfNecessary() at Serif.Interop.Persona.UserInterface.FontCellControlHelper.OnRunWorkerCompleted(System.Object, System.ComponentModel.RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs) at System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker.OnRunWorkerCompleted(System.ComponentModel.RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs) at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean) at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean) at System.Threading.QueueUserWorkItemCallback.System.Threading.IThreadPoolWorkItem.ExecuteWorkItem() at System.Threading.ThreadPoolWorkQueue.Dispatch()

[Komatös]

Hi @Kamil B and welcome to the forums.

Please try the .NET repair tool.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/microsoft-net-framework-repair-tool-is-available-942a01e3-5b8b-7abb-c166-c34a2f4b612a

[Elvio Moura]

On 12/11/2023 at 12:22 AM, Elvio Moura said:

The same to me too. 

I fixed it. The cause of the issue was the folder ".affinity", it was occult. I turned off the occult mode and all the apps back to work perfectly.

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, Elvio Moura said:

I fixed it. The cause of the issue was the folder ".affinity", it was occult. I turned off the occult mode and all the apps back to work perfectly.

"Occult"?

That's not an English term that applies to files or folders. Perhaps "Hidden"? Or could you provide a screenshot of the setting you changed?

[Elvio Moura]

Sorry, my Windows is in portuguese, it was a slip.
My ".affinity" folder was set as a "Hidden" folder. So I undid this in the Windows folder settings and the applications returned to normal.

[mwt]

Where is the .affinity folder? I don't have one in %appdata%

[Elvio Moura]

5 minutes ago, mwt said:

Where is the .affinity folder? I don't have one in %appdata%

>This PC > Local Disk (C:) > Users > "your name" > .affinity

[mwt]

2 hours ago, Elvio Moura said:

>This PC > Local Disk (C:) > Users > "your name" > .affinity

Interesting. I don't even have that folder.

[walt.farrell]

1 minute ago, mwt said:

Interesting. I don't even have that folder.

You would only have it if you installed using the default (MSIX) method.

Otherwise, if you installed using the EXE method, you will have information in %AppData%\Affinity instead.

[mwt]

Interesting. I'll try this MSIX installer and see if that fixes everything.

[walt.farrell]

8 minutes ago, mwt said:

Interesting. I'll try this MSIX installer and see if that fixes everything.

You should uninstall the version you have, before you do that.

[mwt]

Just now, walt.farrell said:

You should uninstall the version you have, before you do that.

Yeah, I've been clean installing Windows every few days while trying to debug this anyway.

[mwt]

I can't find these MSIX installers. I only have exe installers under:

• Your Affinity downloads & product keys (serif.com)
• Affinity Photo Updates (Windows) (serif.com)
• Affinity Designer Updates (Windows) (serif.com)

Is there even an MSIX installer for V1? If not, @Elvio Moura's post must have been about V2.

Quote

Hi @Kamil B and welcome to the forums.

Please try the .NET repair tool.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/microsoft-net-framework-repair-tool-is-available-942a01e3-5b8b-7abb-c166-c34a2f4b612a

I've done this, @Komatös. This is also a fresh install that I've made on multiple Windows 11 releases over the last few months on two different computers. So, I don't think there is anything wrong with the environment. Most likely, V1 is broken on Windows for everyone and has been since the release of V2.

[walt.farrell]

28 minutes ago, mwt said:

Is there even an MSIX installer for V1? I

No, but didn't you start out saying you've been having this problem since V2 was released? 

 

On 12/12/2023 at 9:28 AM, mwt said:

I also have this issue and have since the release of v2.

 

[mwt]

Yes, V1 stopped working for me a few weeks after V2 came out.

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, mwt said:

Yes, V1 stopped working for me a few weeks after V2 came out.

Thanks for clarifying. As the applications are completely separate, V2 would be irrelevant to your V1 issue, except for creating confusion because you mentioned it.

[mwt]

Yeah, it's only relevant because V1 is supposedly not being updated since the release of V2. So, I'm not hopeful that there will be a fix.

[Kamil B]

.NET fix tool didn't helped at all.

That's nice. I support Affinity ideas since the Designer beta came out. Bought all 3 products to replace Adobe software... And the funny thing is that the Adobe CS 5.5 that I owned years ago is still working after so many years even on Windows 11... I know that this is not a modern software.. But right now, because of the Serif software don't want to run on Windows 11  - the only I can use. I even downgraded to Windows 10 just to check if Affinity can run on older OS - It can't. It doesn't run on current Windows 10 or Windows 11 fresh install. 

 

Edited December 20, 2023 by Kamil B