What it says in the title. I’m not talking about “this file is too big” or “the format is wrong” because I can’t even get that far. I click File > Import > and everything is normal, but as soon as I click any further, the program closes. I see the menu I want to import from for a fraction of a second before it all shuts down. The same thing happens when I try to open a project. File > Open, INSTANT CRASH. I can open from recent files but the second I click the regular “Open” option, that’s it. I tried updating Audacity to 3.7.8 to see if procrastinating on updating was the issue, but it didn’t change anything.
Of note: I literally worked on a project yesterday, not even 24 hours ago. I haven’t updated anything in my system since then, the only thing I’ve even done on my computer between then and now is play a video game, and not one with any microphone requirements.
I still use Windows 10 and I’m not a professional in any capacity, I’m just doing voiceover work for fun and quality is secondary to my having a good time. I’m not terribly computer literate, I know the basics but I have no knowledge of coding and limited knowledge of the deeper workings of a computer beyond basic menu navigation.
You didn’t say which kind of computer you’re using.
Yes, you did.
Have you ever done a clean computer shutdown?
Koz
Sorry, Dell OptiPlex 5060
Just tried another clean shutdown, still no change.
Posting Race.
When Windows Restarts or Shuts Down, It doesn’t actually stop or clear everything. It leaves stuff running to make you happy by restarting rapidly. The problem comes when something goes wrong and it gets stuck wrong.
https://umatechnology.org/full-clean-windows-10-11-shutdown/
Scroll down to where it says: Method 1: Using the Start Menu
This may take a lot longer than it normally does, particularly if you have something stuck, so make coffee.
Koz
How much clean space do you have on the drive? Are you using an internal drive?
Koz
Let’s see, Windows…
When was the last time you did a thorough Virus Scan? The one you start before you go to bed?
Koz
When strange stuff happens it often helps to reset preferences.
The first is to use the Tools > Reset Configuration menu item
If that doesn’t work, find where Audacity’s preferences are stored and delete the audacity.cfg file. Note that this will lose an custom key-bindings, and any non-default preferences you have set.
Tried both of these methods, didn’t do anything sadly
And one forum note. If you do find a solution, do post back and say how you did it. This is a forum with users helping each other, not a help desk.
Koz
All virus scans are normal, and yes, I’m using an internal drive, I have over 400GB of space on it, at least according to the My PC page
Describe your filenames. I use only “safe” legacy filenames. Upper Case Letters, lower case letters, numbers, dash ,and underscore. No Spaces.
This is a fragment of an actual filename.
CS3-HighSierraThumbnailsScreenShot2020-08-03
How well do other applications work? Can you record your microphone in Audacity?
Describe the game you were playing.
Koz
That is a clue. It appears that it is the invocation of the File Open dialog that is causing the crash, which is consistent with your description.
Can you open files by double-clicking them in the Explorer?
I have this exact problem, Audacity generates an Exception Access Violation Write report and crashes when either using Open File or Import Audio. Solved the problem (after a fashion) by running Audacity as Administrator, these now both work. I am not sure whether that is a recommended fix but it’s the only way I can do it now!
That did it! Thank you! Perhaps not a permanent solution, but if it works it works!
I wanted to share a solution for an issue where Audacity crashes instantly when using the File > Open or Save dialogs (showing an EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION_WRITE inside COMDLG32.dll) despite working fine when run as Administrator: on my system, the culprit turned out to be WPS Office—specifically its background cloud sync service, which was frozen and crashing the native Windows file picker when it tried to load shell extensions. Uninstalling WPS Office completely fixed the issue, but if you don’t use WPS, look into similar background applications that hook into Windows File Explorer, such as other cloud sync tools (OneDrive, Dropbox), PowerToys preview handlers, or audio/display overlays (like Sonic Studio, Nahimic, or GPU software), as force-closing or disabling them should resolve the crash.
