Launchbox only works Once

[quakemarine20]

I recently upgraded my CPU, was forced to reset my Windows Pin after the first bootup but did not appear to lose anything at all after the Pin reset. I mention this because it's the only thing I can think of responsible for this behavior.

I was able to open LaunchBox after my CPU upgrade, I did not have any problem. Fast forward a day and it will not open, restoring backups was not helping nor reinstalling. 

I was able to identify that if any file was present inside the Data Folder then Launchbox will refuse to populate games. It's worse than just all my backups are corrupted, Launchbox will only work 1 time! Once I close LaunchBox there are files inside the Data folder so it will not open again until those are removed.... I've tried installing to different folders, different drives, I can not seem to make launchbox re-open without something in the data folder going corrupt. 

[JoeViking245]

1 hour ago, quakemarine20 said:

Once I close LaunchBox there are files inside the Data folder so it will not open again until those are removed...

Check if your virus detection software is blocking something.

If you have a 3rd virus software app running, try [temporarily] disabling it. If you have only Windows Defender, try adding an exception to your LaunchBox folder [and its subfolders].

[quakemarine20]

14 minutes ago, JoeViking245 said:

Check if your virus detection software is blocking something.

If you have a 3rd virus software app running, try [temporarily] disabling it. If you have only Windows Defender, try adding an exception to your LaunchBox folder [and its subfolders].

I only have Windows Defender and have added an exclusion to the LaunchBox install path. I've also tried with Defender off entirely, and reinstalled with it off... Same behavior, it will start and populate games but if the program is closed it will no longer reopen until the data folder is cleared entirely...

I do mean entirely, not a single file can remain within the data folder or LaunchBox will not load.

Edited 21 hours ago by quakemarine20

[JoeViking245]

33 minutes ago, quakemarine20 said:

I do mean entirely, not a single file can remain within the data folder or LaunchBox will not load.

I assume you're using LB version 14.0.1. Correct?

After deleting the /Data/ folder, starting LB, letting it finish populating your Steam games (not sure if it does other storefronts at his time as I don't have any others), I believe you indicated everything seems to run fine.

When you then exit LB and it finishes doing its showdown process, in the /Data/ folder, are there just the 8 files and 2 folders (10 items)?

[quakemarine20]

2 hours ago, JoeViking245 said:

I assume you're using LB version 14.0.1. Correct?

After deleting the /Data/ folder, starting LB, letting it finish populating your Steam games (not sure if it does other storefronts at his time as I don't have any others), I believe you indicated everything seems to run fine.

When you then exit LB and it finishes doing its showdown process, in the /Data/ folder, are there just the 8 files and 2 folders (10 items)?

That's correct, it just populates the folders and files but will not relaunch until those are deleted. 

[JoeViking245]

15 minutes ago, quakemarine20 said:

That's correct, it just populates the folders and files but will not relaunch until those are deleted. 

• I imagine during all this, at some point you have restarted your PC?  You know... "Have you tried turning it off and back on again?"  
• (have to ask...) you are closing LB by clicking the "X" in the upper right corner?  Not closing it via Task Manager?
• When you close LB, are you seeing the LaunchBox is Closing window ("saving....", "finalizing...", et.)?
• You indicated you tried reinstalling into different drives and also different folders.  Were these all on a local SSD/HDD?  (vs. a LAN drive or cloud or an external drive)
• And for sure, after closing LB (and it's done 'finalizing'), there are just the 8 files under /Data/?
• Is your Windows up-to-date?  No updates pending?  Had this just the other day...
  • "I had to install a Windows update and the reboot is now allowing LaunchBox to work."

[quakemarine20]

1 hour ago, JoeViking245 said:

• I imagine during all this, at some point you have restarted your PC?  You know... "Have you tried turning it off and back on again?"  
• (have to ask...) you are closing LB by clicking the "X" in the upper right corner?  Not closing it via Task Manager?
• When you close LB, are you seeing the LaunchBox is Closing window ("saving....", "finalizing...", et.)?
• You indicated you tried reinstalling into different drives and also different folders.  Were these all on a local SSD/HDD?  (vs. a LAN drive or cloud or an external drive)
• And for sure, after closing LB (and it's done 'finalizing'), there are just the 8 files under /Data/?
• Is your Windows up-to-date?  No updates pending?  Had this just the other day...
  • "I had to install a Windows update and the reboot is now allowing LaunchBox to work."

• Yes, I have rebooted several times playing with my PBO Curve a bit.
• I have tried both closing Launchbox via the X and letting the shutdown process playout, and via taskmanager. I get the same behavior both ways, I'm primarily closing with task manager when it's stuck unable to open, I have tested to see if just ending the task allowed LaunchBox to reopen It did not.
• I do see the closing window when closing the application via the X
• Yes, All drives have been local. At First I just added a 2 onto the LaunchBox folder, then moved it to another NVME and both times the same behavior. I can start and run Launchbox but once it's closed the data folder must be deleted.
• For 100% sure, there's 8 items and 2 folders. It does have 2 additional xml's inside the platform folder.  MS-Dos and Windows (xml), Deleting just these 2 fixes the issue but both need to be deleted before it loads. This is new, I'd previously tried deleting the platforms 1 by 1 and could not get LB to load with anything in there.
• Windows is up to date, drivers up to date, The only thing not 100% up to date is my Mobo Bios and that's 1 back but it's an x570 chipset AM4 so not a lot went on in the last several BIOS updates.

 

 

[JoeViking245]

12 minutes ago, quakemarine20 said:

It does have 2 additional xml's inside the platform folder.  MS-Dos and Windows (xml), Deleting just these 2 fixes the issue but both need to be deleted before it loads.

Sounds like those 2 platforms are being auto imported when you start LB and their xml files aren't being saved correctly(?).  That's a (?) because that part's beyond me. But seems reasonable since LB won't start with them there, and it will... when they're not.

At least now we know you can delete those 2 xml files [only] to be able to start LB.  (process of elimination in action. ) 

• How many games get imported into each platform when you start LB?
• Is it safe to assume the Windows ones are all Steam games?
• What games are being imported into MS-DOS?
  • I wasn't aware LB would scan your system for MS-DOS games.
  • Unless.... you have some games (or files) in your /LaunchBox/Games/MS-DOS/ folder...?

The MS-DOS platform auto importing seems suspicious to me.  Can you delete just that one xml (leaving Windows.xml) and have LB start?

 

Otherwise, after deleting both,

Try... start LB and let it finish importing those 2 platforms.
Then, Tools < Manage < Storefronts...  and un-check Enable Automatic Imports On Startup
And, Tools < Options < General < Automated Imports and un-check Enable Automatic Imports

Close LB (via the "X"). 
Delete the 2 platform xlm files.
Start LB. 

Does it start?  It should.
Does it try to import anything?  It shouldn't.

If so-far-so-good, try importing a handful of ROMs. But for just one platform (keep it simple for now).  Preferably not Windows, storefront or MS-DOS games.  

Close and restart LB.

[quakemarine20]

34 minutes ago, JoeViking245 said:

Sounds like those 2 platforms are being auto imported when you start LB and their xml files aren't being saved correctly(?).  That's a (?) because that part's beyond me. But seems reasonable since LB won't start with them there, and it will... when they're not.

At least now we know you can delete those 2 xml files [only] to be able to start LB.  (process of elimination in action. ) 

• How many games get imported into each platform when you start LB?
• Is it safe to assume the Windows ones are all Steam games?
• What games are being imported into MS-DOS?
  • I wasn't aware LB would scan your system for MS-DOS games.
  • Unless.... you have some games (or files) in your /LaunchBox/Games/MS-DOS/ folder...?

The MS-DOS platform auto importing seems suspicious to me.  Can you delete just that one xml (leaving Windows.xml) and have LB start?

 

Otherwise, after deleting both,

Try... start LB and let it finish importing those 2 platforms.
Then, Tools < Manage < Storefronts...  and un-check Enable Automatic Imports On Startup
And, Tools < Options < General < Automated Imports and un-check Enable Automatic Imports

Close LB (via the "X"). 
Delete the 2 platform xlm files.
Start LB. 

Does it start?  It should.
Does it try to import anything?  It shouldn't.

If so-far-so-good, try importing a handful of ROMs. But for just one platform (keep it simple for now).  Preferably not Windows, storefront or MS-DOS games.  

Close and restart LB.

• About 1285 in Windows and another 7 in Ms-Dos (All GOG games)
• Almost all Windows are Steam Games, a few GOG.
• All GOG Games in the MsDos platform.

Deleting just MS-Dos does not help, deleting both does help.

Disabling Auto Imports does resolve the issue, however I also have no games in LaunchBox. 

[JoeViking245]

14 minutes ago, quakemarine20 said:

About 1285 in Windows and another 7 in Ms-Dos (All GOG games)

I probably should have this earlier... How far back did you go with attempting to restore a backup?  Like maybe a couple days before the CPU upgrade (when LB was working fine)?

 

If your backups don't go back far enough, onto the next test.

 

Re-check box in Tools < Manage < Storefronts...

Exit/restart LB

Let it import the 1285 + 7 games

Let it finish importing the metadata (which should be relatively quick) and the media (which should start withing 10-ish seconds after the metadata completing, and will maybe take a little longer itself to complete).

Keep in mind, you're importing almost 1300 games.

When all done, in the notifications, you'll see there are 2. (well, you should)  Something like:

When that's done, exit LB.

Open Task Manager
Go to the Details section (not the Processes section) and look for LaunchBox.exe
Wait for it to go away.  Don't End Task.

I mention this last part (after exiting) because I've seen LB stay in Details for close to 45 minutes after closing it.
NOTE: This was on an older, slow-arse PC and several LB versions ago. I had also just imported about 22,000 Arcade games.  The 'delay' was in writing to the xml file.  What I'm saying is, if it's still there, give it time. But won't be my ridiculous 45 minutes.  

[quakemarine20]

8 minutes ago, JoeViking245 said:

I probably should have this earlier... How far back did you go with attempting to restore a backup?  Like maybe a couple days before the CPU upgrade (when LB was working fine)?

 

If your backups don't go back far enough, onto the next test.

 

Re-check box in Tools < Manage < Storefronts...

Exit/restart LB

Let it import the 1285 + 7 games

Let it finish importing the metadata (which should be relatively quick) and the media (which should start withing 10-ish seconds after the metadata completing, and will maybe take a little longer itself to complete).

Keep in mind, you're importing almost 1300 games.

When all done, in the notifications, you'll see there are 2. (well, you should)  Something like:

When that's done, exit LB.

Open Task Manager
Go to the Details section (not the Processes section) and look for LaunchBox.exe
Wait for it to go away.  Don't End Task.

I mention this last part (after exiting) because I've seen LB stay in Details for close to 45 minutes after closing it.
NOTE: This was on an older, slow-arse PC and several LB versions ago. I had also just imported about 22,000 Arcade games.  The 'delay' was in writing to the xml file.  What I'm saying is, if it's still there, give it time. But won't be my ridiculous 45 minutes.  

I went all the way back to 1 month, nothing I did with the backups was able to restore. If any of the platforms are inside the folder launchbox will not load at all, emulators included I can't have a single game. 

Launchbox does immediately close from details once the exiting software prompt is completed. I let it import the 1300ish games, closed and verified it was closed in details and still the same behavior. 

I again tried with a single 2600 game, same behaviors. It's as I suspected if anything is inside that platform folder at all then launchbox can't populate games.

[quakemarine20]

[JoeViking245]

3 minutes ago, quakemarine20 said:

if anything is inside that platform folder at all then launchbox can't populate games.

What happens after this last screenshot?  I see it's on populating games. Does it change to anything else? Or just disappear?  After it "just disappears", is LB still running in Task Manager? (I believe you said it was. Just confirming.)

 

Can you share your Atari 2600.xml file here?  (just drag and drop the file onto your reply)
And then also your Log file associated with the last start attempt (e.g. where you start LB, see the 'populating games' spinny circle thing, then it just disappears).  Again, drag & drop.

[quakemarine20]

42 minutes ago, JoeViking245 said:

What happens after this last screenshot?  I see it's on populating games. Does it change to anything else? Or just disappear?  After it "just disappears", is LB still running in Task Manager? (I believe you said it was. Just confirming.)

 

Can you share your Atari 2600.xml file here?  (just drag and drop the file onto your reply)
And then also your Log file associated with the last start attempt (e.g. where you start LB, see the 'populating games' spinny circle thing, then it just disappears).  Again, drag & drop.

It hangs for literally ever! If anything is within that platform folder it does the same thing the application just hangs and does not appear to be hitting the CPU much at that point.

[quakemarine20]

Atari 2600.xml

[quakemarine20]

The log folder appears to be entirely empty

[JoeViking245]

4 minutes ago, quakemarine20 said:

The log folder appears to be entirely empty

Can you clear the platforms folder, start LB and ensure Logs are enabled.

Tools < Options < General < Debugging

 

Actually, maybe move Atari 2600.xml out of /Platforms/, start and check logs are enabled, exit, replace the file, (attempt to) start LB and check /Logs/ again.

[quakemarine20]

18 minutes ago, JoeViking245 said:

Can you clear the platforms folder, start LB and ensure Logs are enabled.

Tools < Options < General < Debugging

 

Actually, maybe move Atari 2600.xml out of /Platforms/, start and check logs are enabled, exit, replace the file, (attempt to) start LB and check /Logs/ again.

Here is the log fileDebug 2026-09-19 06-14-42 PM.log