After Effects won't open in Windows 11 but it will in Windows 8. Why?

[Black Barrow]

Hi,

When I open After Effects v25 in Windows 11, nothing happens. The program appears in my task manager, but the splash screen never appears. 

When I set the compatibility mode to Windows 8, it launches fine.

I have updated my drivers and reset my preferences. I don't have any plugins installed. It still gives me an option to migrate preferences from v20 even after I reset them. 

Why is this happening? Why does it run on Windows 8 but not 11? 

[Jessica McMillan]

Hello @Black Barrow,

Could you share your system specifications? OS version (maybe an OS update is needed?) and hardware? 

You mention that the splash screen doesn't show up, but the migration dialog does? Is that when you launch in compatibility mode or not?

All the best,
Jessica 
AE Engineering

[Black Barrow]

Hi Jessica,



Details below for my desktop:



- Edition: Windows 10 Home
- Version: 22H2
- OS Build: 19045.5011
- Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8700 CPU @ 3.20GHz 3.19 GHz
- RAM: 32.0 GB
- Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050



I can run all other Adobe programs – including Premiere Pro and Media
Encorder - without any issues



Details below for my laptop:



- Edition: Windows 11 Home
- Version: 23H2
- OS Build: 22631.4317
- Processor: 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-11800H CPU @ 2.30GHz 2.30
GHz
- RAM: 16.0 GB
- Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop GPU



When I launch AE in compatibility mode, the splash screen appears, then it
asks me about migration, then the program launches and runs without issue.



When I launch AE without compatibility mode, the splash screen does not
appear. When I open task manager, AE appears on the ‘apps’ or ‘background
processes’ list but nothing ever appears on my screen.



This happens on my laptop and desktop.



Regards,



Daniel Di Manno

*Director*

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[Jessica McMillan]

Hello @Black Barrow,

When you launch v25 on Windows 11 without compatibility mode, in the task manager, could you create a dmp of the application? Right click on AE in the processes list and choose "Create dump file"

It will create the file and give you the option to open your explorer to the file location. I don't think the forums allow you to upload dmp files, but if you could upload it somewhere and then DM me a link, it would help us to see where the application is getting stuck in the loading process.

Thank you for your time and working with us through this issue.

All the best,
Jessica
AE Engineering 

[Black Barrow]

Hi Jessica,

Link to dump file below:

https://www.transfernow.net/dl/20241105ncPtaVvy

AE appears in the background processes list in the task manager after launch without compatibility mode, but nothing else happens.

[Jessica McMillan]

Hello @Black Barrow 

Thanks for putting together the dmp for us.

We will pull down the file and see if it can point to where things are getting stuck. I have created an internal bug ticket and am putting the dmp in it for triage.

All the best,
Jessica
AE Engineering

[Black Barrow]

Thank you. Much appreciated. 

[jenkmeister]

The dump information indicates something to do with the themeing system on your computer. Do you have anything related to the OS theme or desktop background functionality installed? 

[jenkmeister]

We've found one reference to an app called "Advanced System Care" that seems to cause the same sort of issue for other apps. Can you check if you have that installed and perhaps uninstall it and see if that resolves your issue?

[Black Barrow]

Hi,

I don't have any themes installed, any apps installed or running called Advanced System Care or anything remotely related to that. My windows theme is set to 'dark mode' - that's as much as I've changed from the default settings. The issue happens on my laptop as well, and I haven't customised that any more than I have my desktop.

[jenkmeister]

Well that's unfortunate. I'm not sure there is much we can do here. The dump file clearly indicates the hang is something on your system, unrelated to After Effects, other than After Effects is trying to create the main window and the uxtheme library is hanging and stopping AE loading. Our guess on why it works in compat mode is that the uxtheme library is not being used in compat mode and that's why things work. 

I would suggest looking through any installed applications to see if any modify the UI of the OS, or the task bar, or are running in the background and try removing those apps.