Sign In:     

Forum: VirtualDJ Technical Support

Topic: Crashing ~5 seconds after launch
Windows version. Everything was running fine, got an update notification and updated, but the newer version just closes on its own a few seconds after startup.

I have no controllers connected, and no plugins that don't ship with VDJ. On this PC I strictly use VDJ for music catalog/search.

I have tried both available versions at https://www.virtualdj.com/download/build.html and the problem remains. I have done a full uninstall/reinstall and the problem remains.

Is there a crashlog saved somewhere? How do I begin to debug this?
 
Posted yesterday @ 5:15 am
Try renaming your settings.xml with VDJ closed as it will create a new one on startup. See if that clears the crash.

You can find it here:
 
Thanks! That resolved the crash on startup. But now it crashes a few seconds after I search for a song.
 
VDJ doesn't recover after the crash?
unfortunately it doesn't look like any crash was logged
 
~~Unfortunately it doesn't recover, I have to relaunch it manually. It doesn't crash with a message, the virtualdj.exe process just ends.~~

Edit: Just realized something, I've never logged in on that instance of VDJ as I only use it to catalog and search my library. I just logged in and provoked the crash again. Can you see if it was logged this time?
 
Unfortunately not

Edit: Given that it crashed earlier on startup and now on search, it seems like it might be a specific folder or file that triggers it.
If you still have the crashing settings.xml, perhaps check lastSelectedFolder
 
On my computer sort of the same is happening since yesterday. I am using the pre-fluid beat upgrade on windows 11 (b9005) as I occasionly use SoundSwitch. Unfortunately the computer got into the the long awaited MS update process, notorious for problems with midi controllers. I have manually delayed this for 8 weeks but now I was too late and the system updated after starting up. :(
After updating Virtual DJ seemed to launch normally. Even my midi controllers, except for virtual loopMIDI tool connecting stuff.

After I tried to end 'Windows midi services' at headed in Services>Systems Virtual DJ did not respond on any command or keyclick after opening, resulting in a close down.

After some more restarts, stop 'Windows midi services', and restart the same 'Windows midi services'. And reinstall Virtual DJ, Virtual would open and respond again, during the whole gig.. But today it won't open again. I guess I was really lucky yesterday. Now I'm attempting again and behavior is quite the same. Virtual DJ just doesn't respond after opening.

>Tried renaming the .XML file
> Reinstalling b9005, updating to the latest version.

When I open 'System' and look in Windows midi services'. The status of service is: 'Starting up'. And after many restarts today this status doesn't change.
This procedure of restarting once worked for me on a different computer that previously went through some early updates messing up my loopMIDI tool: https://forums.steinberg.net/t/tool-loopmidi-for-virtual-midi-interfaces-stopped-working-win11-solved/1026745

Perhaps it's better to open a different topic for this problem? Not sure if the Topic Starter was only updating Virtual DJ..

Thanks..
 
Update on the message above.

After a new update (kb5083631), released on april 30th, 'Windows Midi Services' status is active again (or no longer in 'starting up' status). Virtual DJ now is launching normally again. Fortunately.
I updated Virtual DJ to the latest version and checkmarked 'disableMidi2' in Virtual DJ's Performance settings. Meanwhile I was trouble shooting I uninstalled loopMIDI and try to install again. Hopefully it will function again just before I was forced in to this long series of MS updates..

Sorry for the off-topic..
 
Adion wrote :
Unfortunately not

Edit: Given that it crashed earlier on startup and now on search, it seems like it might be a specific folder or file that triggers it.
If you still have the crashing settings.xml, perhaps check lastSelectedFolder


This was exactly it. It was crashing on the most recent folder I added to my library (the folder for April 2026). I was able to confirm this by selecting it in the Folder List, which then crashed the program.

That folder has 853 subfolders and about 76k files within the folder and its children (I have an extremely large library, over 50 TB of mp3 files which VDJ usually handles like a champ).

On a hunch it was some Unicode character or string in a filename that was making it crash, I wrote a PowerShell script to search through the folder tree for names with non-ascii characters and rename them, and it solved the problem. No more crash! Thanks Adion!
 
I suppose your script didn't keep a log of what it did?
Would have been useful to find and actually fix the issue
 
MacGyverGear wrote :
I occasionly use SoundSwitch

They've released a version now that's compatible with fluid grids.
 
groovindj wrote :
MacGyverGear wrote :
I occasionly use SoundSwitch

They've released a version now that's compatible with fluid grids.


Oh.. that's great news!! I visited the Facebook group a week ago.. will do the update for upcoming weekend. Thanks!! :)

btw.. no announcement on Facebook yet. https://www.facebook.com/soundswitchdj
 
 
Adion wrote :
I suppose your script didn't keep a log of what it did?
Would have been useful to find and actually fix the issue


It did! What's the best way to get it to you? It may be an invisible character so probably best for me to send it as a text file in utf-8.