Bitcoin Forum

Recently upgraded to Windows 10 and reinstalled Bitcoin Core. Virus checker off, defender off. Run bitcoinqt and circle spins for a bit then nothing. No error message, nothing. Details below. Thanks in advance for any help.

Bitcoin Client Software and Version Number: 0.17.1
Operating System: Windows 10
System Hardware Specs: Intel Core i7 2.9Ghz 8GB RAM 240 SSD (but blockchain will be stored on external HDD if I get it working!)
Description of Problem: bitcoinqt wont run
Any Related Addresses:
Any Related Transaction IDs:
Screenshot of the problem:
Log Files from the Bitcoin Client: None

Have you checked if it's still running in the task manager?

Is there anything in the last logs at %APPDATA%\Bitcoin\debug.log?

Thanks

Not running in task manager.

The only logs in debug are from when I ran bitcoind briefly to see if that ran (which it did).

Where did you download the bitcoin core? Make sure that you download the core from official website from here https://bitcoin.org/en/download

Can you try to uninstall and reinstall the core? Before you do that make sure you have backup wallet.dat if you have a wallet created before.

Try a clean install (backup first, then delete and purge all old files from install location, esp wallet.dat). Exact same problem happened to me before on Windows 10 Home (installation worked, but client could never execute, without details in error log). I never found out why it happened, but deleting old wallet files and old data files worked for me.

Thanks

Uninstalled bitcoin and cleared out the files in /Roaming

Re-downloaded from bitcoin.org to be sure.

Clean install and the same issue. Blue circle spins for a few seconds, then nothing.

Very frustrating!

Now that you've started from scratch the log would be very helpful.

Also, have you tried looking in the Windows Error Log?

Have a look in the "Event Viewer", and under the "Windows Logs" section, check the "Application", "System" and "Security" logs... There might be something showing there.

It seems like it might be some weird Windows permissions error... possibly relating to either the install location or the data directory.

Can you try this method below I just found it in bitcoin github while searching this kind of issue.


If this method still doesn't work try to send this issue on their github from here https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues

Yes there is an number of application errors:

Faulting application name: bitcoin-qt.exe, version: 0.17.1.0, time stamp: 0x00000000
Faulting module name: bitcoin-qt.exe, version: 0.17.1.0, time stamp: 0x00000000
Exception code: 0x40000015
Fault offset: 0x00000000012db0c4
Faulting process id: 0x1a68
Faulting application start time: 0x01d4d90f4bb02f9c
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\Bitcoin\bitcoin-qt.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\Bitcoin\bitcoin-qt.exe
Report Id: a003b9a9-fabc-44ec-ad45-348193645913
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

Thanks dude. Tried this, no joy. Checked the windows logs and same application error is occurring.

Thanks for looking though.

No debug file in the usual place. I guess because it never even loaded it didn't create it?

Are you absolutely certain that your antivirus software and Windows Defender are both disabled?

Do you have the correct bit version for your operating system? A 64 bit program won't run on a 32 bit system (although 32 bit will run on a 64 bit system).

Yes just double-checked.

64 bit system. Avast turned off. Defender off.

I tried searching for the error codes which I posted above but didn't turn up anything very helpful. They seem to general application error codes.

I just went the whole hog and uninstalled Avast (this old PC was only meant to be a full node so not risking much)… no joy...

Can you try running bitcoin-qt with the -debug -printtoconsole options from a CMD?

Command line options reference: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Running_Bitcoin

Windows Defender can be a bit tricky to turn off. Here is a guide how to permanently disable Windows Defender just in case you want to do that.
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-permanently-disable-windows-defender-windows-10

tried this - wont run using CMD i'm afraid

Question... I assume you have already tried restarting the computer? It's possible there is a ghost process somewhere screwing things up and preventing it from starting properly.

To be honest, I'm really clutching at straws here :-\

The only other things that I can think of are:
- Permissions problem with Windows... was it an upgrade of an existing installation of Windows? or a clean install of Windows 10 on a formatted drive?
- Corrupt Windows install and Windows is missing some libraries/dlls or something like that. ???

Like I said, clutching at straws...

Thanks, I followed these instructions

Have restarted a number of times.

I think you may have hit on something..

It was an upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10. I think that perhaps it might be missing some dlls because Win7 was playing up so I thought I would upgrade to Win 10 which would solve the problem. Would there be some existing dlls which wouldn't be replaced/upgraded by Win10? If so, how would I go about fixing them?

Many thanks for your help.

Am going to run DISM then SFC on Win10 to try and fix.

About all I could recommend at this stage... would be to try creating Win10 install media (https://www.windowscentral.com/how-create-windows-10-usb-bootable-media-uefi-support)

And then try using one of the "repair" options when booting... I would just make sure that you backup all your important stuff BEFORE you try doing any repairing/restoring... I ran into an issue a while back and attempted to do a "dirty" reinstall, and apparently Microsoft's idea of "will keep all your data" is a bit different to mine! ::) :-\ I lost a bunch of stuff because it wiped certain directories that I didn't think it would...

It might also be worth considering going as far as backing up, then completely wiping the PC and doing a clean install...

Sigh. It didn't work.

Would creating a Windows 10 bootable USB, then formatting laptop, then clean installing it be worth a go?

Yeah, as above... last resort would be to create the media, backup your important stuff, wipe the computer and clean install.

Wait, have you tried to repair the laptop through checkdisk command?
If not do this first, follow this guide below to repair OS though CMD(command prompt)

- How to Run CHKDSK on Windows 10 (https://appuals.com/how-to-run-chkdsk-on-windows-10/)

If it doesn't work your final solution is to reformat the laptop with a fresh OS. I hope that you have a fresh OS not modified/customized one.

Created a Win10 bootable USB, formatted drive and did a clean install...and finally it worked! QT now running and the blockchain is downloading. Thanks everyone for all your help. I will be running a full node soon.

Yeah... I've never really been a bit fan of "upgrading" Windows OS installs... it is usually a lot less hassle in the long run to wipe the computer (or get another harddrive) and start with a fresh install.

Anyway, glad you managed to get it sorted finally! Good luck with the sync ;)

Many thanks - clean install and now QT is running. Blockchain downloading as I type!