Darktable not opening

[realbigi (Michael Bigler)]

I recently moved to a new laptop and installed darktable on it. I am running windows 11, it is an ROG Flow X 13 and everytime I start it it doesn’t open. I see a command line opening and closing but I am not able to get the application open.

Any clues to why?

[pehar]

First step : follow the instructions in I can't get Darktable to work anymore to generate more detailed information (log file).

[kmilos]

@paperdigits Maybe merge the topics?

Something crossed my mind: Windows 11 23H2 update started rolling out recently, could have something to do with it.

[Terry (Terry Pinfold)]

because you are having troubles make sure you open DT itself rather than clicking on an image in windows explorer and telling it to open in DT. You may already be doing this in which case I apologise about the noise I add to this conversation. In the past I have seen issues with open CL causing crashes with DT. Disabling open cl in those cases resolves the problem of DT opening. Then in my case updating GPU drivers resolved the real problem.

[realbigi (Michael Bigler)]

How does this article help me? It only states how someone else can’t start darktable. Where does it mention log files?

[kofa (István Kovács)]

You can read the comments.

I can't get Darktable to work anymore

Most software originating from Linux stores its configuration and data in a directory, which is not removed when the software is uninstalled (there is no registry like in Windows). Darktable is the same in this regard. Reinstalling darktable rarely helps (only if the software itself gets damaged, e.g. due to a hard disk failure). As @MStraeten said, this directory is C:\Users<username>\AppData\Local\darktable; if you rename that directory (e.g. to darktable.backup), it will be re-created with d…

However: recently many people on Windows reported issues.
The solution is usually to remove the “Microsoft OpenCL compatibility pack”.

darktable - driver timeout + black jpeg with blurs module

What version of darktable you are using? The current master has a significant number of improvements with OpenCL. Also, do you have Microsoft OpenCL compatibility pack installed (it could be installed by default)? I had to uninstall mine.

[realbigi (Michael Bigler)]

I ran the cmd command but I can’t find my log file at all.

I had a look at the Open CL thing but I didn’t see how I could de install it… There was no option to.

[kofa (István Kovács)]

Try starting darktable like this:

1. Press Win+R on your keyboard
2. Paste this into the popup:
   %ProgramFiles%\darktable\bin\darktable --disable-opencl
   
3. Click on OK (or simply press the Enter key).

If that works, you can modify the darktable shortcut on your desktop. In case you do not have a desktop shortcut, create it (skip the following if you already have it):

1. Open Explorer
2. Paste this in the location bar:
   %ProgramFiles%\darktable\bin
   
3. Press Enter
   It will show something like this:
   
   
4. Right-click on darktable.exe, select Create shortcut:
   
5. Let Windows create it on the Desktop:
   
   

If you have the shortcut, or you created it just now:

1. right-click and select Properties:
   
2. Add --disable-opencl to the end of the line (you need a space before --disable-opencl).
   

Hope that works.

More help:
These are the uninstallation instructions for the Microsoft OpenCL Compatibility Pack on Windows 10; I have no idea if they work with Windows 11:
https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupport/comments/13qctv4/how_to_remove_openglcl_compatibility_pack_windows/?rdt=50123

A Google search returns more results than the forum’s own search facility. Try this: https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Adiscuss.pixls.us+microsoft+opencl+compatibility+pack