Bitcoin Forum

I downloaded the latest version of Electrum but it is not working, I tried to reinstall and it still doesn't work.  Can someone explain what this means:

:The application failed to start because no Qt platform plugin could be inititialized. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem"

"Available plugins are minimal, offscreen, webgl, windows."

You didnt mention which OS you are using, are you maybe using Vista? If so, it is possible that you are getting that error because Vista is not supported.

Have a look at this topic with a similar issue.
https://github.com/mmozeiko/RcloneBrowser/issues/59

Another user built a binary with Qt 5.6 and it was reported to be working by the OP on the above thread that I posted. Be careful of what you download to your PC though. I ran the URL through VirusTotal and it came back clean but use it at your risk.


Source: https://github.com/mmozeiko/RcloneBrowser/issues/59

Ya I'm using vista (too poor to afford new computer)

i don't know about windows Vista but i had the same problem with Electrum on windows 7 and installing the latest windows updates worked. specially this particular update (KB2999226):
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2999226/update-for-universal-c-runtime-in-windows

it has something to do with the Windows C++ redistributable which you need to update.

if nothing worked then maybe it is time you start thinking about switching to Linux which is free. a distribution like Ubuntu is friendly enough and  you can easily install Electrum there since it comes with python 3+ already.

I can't help you with your problem as I never came across that error but I'm going to chime in. Please update your operating system to Windows 10. You don't need a new computer to do so; though this depends on your actual hardware specifications. Vista and other older versions of Windows are hugely insecure; and the fact that you're installing a bitcoin wallet on your Vista device, is a huge no no.

If your computer can't run Windows 10, go with Linux. It might not be as stable as Windows, but it's stable enough in my opinion. Take a look at Linux Mint and Ubuntu.

This might be why Electrum doesn't work on your machine. You can download this update either from the Windows Update or directly from the official Microsoft website (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49088).

Edit: It looks like @BrewMaster mentioned exactly the same issue.

I've had the same problem recently, did I do something wrong on the installation process? I hope we find a solution here.

most probably not. it is usually because your computer lacks the necessary libraries installed on it that are needed to run the application and they are not included in the package either. and developers usually drop support for older versions of windows because they are outdated and even Microsoft is no longer supporting them.
so you'll have to either do some sort of update like what i explained above to solve it or simply switch your OS to a newer version or better yet, to Linux.

https://mobile.twitter.com/electrumwallet/status/952495415655653376

I had been suffering from the same problem for a long time but after installing the new operating system which is windows 10 now I am free to form this weird problem. Currently, my 'Electrum' has no problem at all.

I don't know if possible, try search all updates for your OS and update if possible, and can you try install windows 7? What specification has your PC? Do you have a smartphone if is not possible to buy a new PC? You can install electrum on mobile if you have one.