Anki 25.09 not installing on Windows 11/10 – only Launcher appears

Anki Help
1

Hi, I’m reporting an installation issue with Anki 25.09 on both Windows 11 and Windows 10.

After running the installer, Anki disappears completely and only the Anki Launcher remains. When I try to open Anki, the launcher opens instead, but it cannot install or uninstall anything. The “Uninstall” option does nothing, and no Anki folder is created in C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files (x86).

It appears Like that:

Anki Launcher

1) Latest Anki (press Enter)
2) Choose a version

5) Allow betas: off
6) Cache downloads: on
7) Download mirror: off

8) Uninstall
>

Symptoms:

  • Anki no longer appears in the Start menu or in the installed apps list.
  • Only the launcher opens (black console window).
  • The launcher cannot uninstall or reinstall Anki.
  • No Anki folder is created in Program Files.
  • Reinstalling the 25.09 installer as administrator does not fix it.
  • Same behaviour on two different machines (Windows 11 and Windows 10).

What I tried:

  • Rebooting the system
  • Running the installer as administrator
  • Checking Program Files and Program Files (x86)
  • Attempting uninstall from the launcher
  • Installing an older version (which works normally)

Additional info:

  • Windows 11 (main PC) and Windows 10 (laptop)
  • Antivirus: Avast Premium Security (never caused issues with Anki in many years)
  • Older Anki installers work fine; the problem appears only with 25.09
  • The issue seems related to the new Anki Launcher not being able to install Anki properly.

I needed to reinstall an older version of Anki (Anki 2.1.54 Qt6), which I luckily had saved, and that version works normally.

Let me know if you need logs or further details.
Thanks
Patri

2

Press Enter to have the Launcher install the latest version of Anki.

1 Like
3

With all that analysis, surely they tried to press Enter…

1 Like
4

I’m wondering if they tried to click on the row using the mouse and didn’t try to use the keyboard.

Still: I’m surprised someone would go through so many things but won’t do a simple search on the internet or documentation to get the answer to “just press Enter”. This has been asked hundrets of times already and the answer was always the same, so one’d find a ton of results.