Audacity won't start on my Windows 10 Dell laptop

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

Hi: new to the group and fairly new to Audacity – but I’ve never had a problem with it opening on my Dell Windows 10 laptop UNTIL the last day or so. I made sure I had the most recent version installed. And I’ve uninstalled it several times and reinstalled it again. All I get is the Audacity logo on the screen - but it doesn’t open. Any help is much appreciated!

2

That may be the problem: there seems to be teething-problems with Audacity 3.x.x
Maybe revert to an older version in the meantime … https://www.fosshub.com/Audacity-old.html

Or if you want to persevere with Audacity 3.x.x,
renaming* this hidden folder, (to, say, “audacity-old”), may enable you to start Audacity afresh …

C:\Users\YourNameHere\AppData\Roaming\audacity

[* Rename rather than delete as it contains your data, e.g. your plugins, presets, macros].

3

THANKS very much. I tried an older version of Audacity but had the same problem — and I couldn’t find the folder that you mentioned in the USERS folder with AppData in it’s title.

4

“AppData” is a hidden folder … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_folder

How to show hidden folders in Windows … https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/view-hidden-files-and-folders-in-windows-97fbc472-c603-9d90-91d0-1166d1d9f4b5

The Audacity files in “AppData” persist from one Audacity installation to the next.

5

I found the hidden folder and did what you said — but it still won’t open. I really appreciate your input on this. (I’ll keep looking)

6

Reinstalling Audacity after renaming the “audacity” folder in “AppData” folder should give you a clean start.