Anki launcher crashing

Anki Help
1

Last time I used Anki was before this summer. My new semester started so I wanted to use it again. When I opened the app, it told me there was a new update, not surprised I went to download it.

Everthing was fine with the launcher, it installed it no problem. But when I tried to open the app, a command prompt opened for a second then closed back again. Since then. everytime I try to open it the same thing happens everytime.

I tried to restart my PC: Didn’t change anything

I tried to uninstall and reinstall Anki in different places to see if it would change something : It didn’t

Although I know I never used add-ons, I tried to open it holding ‘‘shift’’ : It didn’t change anything

I can’t check the database because I can’t open the app.

I can’t change the video driver either because I can’t open the app, and when I tried to enter the prompt in the cmd ( the one in the troubleshooting page) ‘‘echo software > %APPDATA%\Anki2\gldriver6’’ it told me ‘‘The system cannot find the path specified’’

Can’t change the window size, because again, I can’t open Anki

I don’t know what other thing I could do.

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2

Can you say more about what happened there? Did you install the launcher, run the launcher, select the latest version, and wait through it downloading lots of files?

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4

I downloaded the launcher on the website, then I launched it, chose a location to install it, and clicked on ‘‘install’’

When I did that the installing process went from 0% to 100%

Then the launcher closed, then I guess it tried to open anki, because as usual, the anki console/cmd opened and crashed..

5

Based on what you’re describing, I think that means it’s crashing before you get to this screen –

image
image278×211 5.05 KB

– is that right?

Or are you getting to that screen, and it’s crashing after this?

2 Likes
6

Ah yeah you’re right, I definitely didn’t get that screen @Danika_Dakika

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7

Okay, that means you’re not even reaching the launcher that would install the latest version.

Let’s have you try a completely fresh install –

  • Through Windows settings, uninstall any versions of Anki you have installed.
  • Then go to these locations – Managing Files - Anki Manual – and delete the Anki and AnkiProgramFiles folders.
  • Run that anki-launcher-25.09-windows.exe file that you downloaded again, to re-install the launcher – and then run the launcher.
8

I did everything you said, but the same thing happened sadly. The launcher crashed after going to 100% :confused:

9

What do you mean by that?

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10

If you still cannot reach this window

try to open your terminal first (I guess that is cmd.exe in your case?) and then launch the anki launcher from there.

11

When I start the launcher installation I get this pop up, and it goes to the full 100%, then the terminal open for a second and close back. This give me the anki app on my PC, but it also crashes when I try to open it

Screenshot 2025-09-25 173431
Screenshot 2025-09-25 173431525×357 13 KB

12

This window is installing the launcher. It hasn’t installed Anki yet.

If this finishes to 100% – and then you click Close/Exit/OK (or whatever the button in this window says) – and that gives you an icon that wasn’t there before from a previous install of Anki – and then double-clicking that icon causes something to pop-up and then close – you’ve got a problem running the launcher.

Right-click on that icon/shortcut – open Properties – copy the text from the “Target” field. What is it?

I’m also curious what version you are trying to upgrade from. Your AnkiWeb account shows that you’ve connected to it with version 25.09.2 on Windows. Are you sure you don’t already have this installed?

13

I’m also seeing this, trying to install Anki on a new computer. I’m seeing exactly this behavior: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Anki\anki.exe and anki-console.exe both start up a cmd window which then immediately vanishes. I see this error in event viewer:

Faulting application name: OpenConsole.exe, version: 1.17.2308.7001, time stamp: 0x64d12aa5
Faulting module name: OpenConsole.exe, version: 1.17.2308.7001, time stamp: 0x64d12aa5
Exception code: 0xc0000094
Fault offset: 0x0000000000010453
Faulting process id: 0x0x4CC
Faulting application start time: 0x0x1DC31B184428744
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_1.17.12191.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\OpenConsole.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_1.17.12191.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\OpenConsole.exe
Report Id: b0b53b1b-5967-4a67-a2be-27c34081fd1a
Faulting package full name: Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_1.17.12191.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
Faulting package-relative application ID: App
14

A workaround appears to be changing to use Windows Console Host instead of either Windows Terminal or "Let Windows decide for me” under Settings→System→For developers→Terminal. This causes the launcher to use conhost.exe instead of wt.exe, and that appears to fix the crash and it installs and launches normally after.

2 Likes
15

That’s very useful information! Thank you for posting that!

16

I wonder if updating Windows Terminal from the Microsoft Store can fix this (@333fred has an old version). Probably something to suggest to affected users next time @Danika_Dakika

1 Like
17

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