Bug when launching LB

[Joulen]

Hi everyone,

I’m running into a persistent issue with a fresh LaunchBox install and I’m hoping someone can help diagnose it.

System details:

Windows 11, build 25H2.

Intel i9-13900K.

MSI AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT.

32 GB DDR5 RAM @ 6000 MHz.

Main OS on C : drive, new NVMe on E: (freshly formatted, NTFS).

What I did:

Installed a brand-new NVMe on E:, formatted it as NTFS, then performed a fresh LaunchBox install on that drive.

Problem description:

LaunchBox started normally on the first run, but on subsequent launches it freezes at the “Populating Games” stage and never progresses from that screen.

If I reboot the PC and start LaunchBox, it works normally for that session. If I then close LaunchBox and try to open it again without rebooting, it freezes again at “Populating Games” and I must reboot the PC to get it working again.

This repeats every time: reboot → LaunchBox works once → close → cannot re-open until next reboot.

Additional detail:

If I set the LaunchBox shortcut to run in Windows 7 or Windows 8 compatibility mode, LaunchBox does open again, but then it cannot launch any games once inside.

What I’ve already checked / tried:

The NVMe is brand new and freshly formatted as NTFS.

LaunchBox is a clean, fresh install with no previous LaunchBox data.

I asked for help on Discord and JoeViking245 tried to assist, but we couldn’t resolve it.

Windows Defender is turned off, and I don’t have any other antivirus, background sync, or cloud service running that could interfere.

No cloud sync or data folder redirection is in use; the install is local to the NVMe.

Thanks in advance for any help - I’d also like to know the refund/return policy if this turns out to be a reproducible software bug.

 

Thanks,
Yan

Edited 1 hour ago by Joulen

[dragon57]

Just as a diagnostic step, have you tried installing on your C drive just to test if the same behavior follows drive/filesystems?

[JoeViking245]

11 minutes ago, dragon57 said:

Just as a diagnostic step, have you tried installing on your C drive just to test if the same behavior follows drive/filesystems?

After 3ish day of messing around, turns out the C drive was the issue.

Though the build was on the E drive, caching is still done on C for [apparently] any app.

Moral of the story, keep your C Drive well OUT OF THE RED.  

[dragon57]

Good advice!

[Joulen]

Joe said everything... Thanks again for your patience Joe... And yep... Keep your C drive out of the red ! (Even if LB is installed somewhere else) 🫡