Musescore doesn't work on Windows 10

• Oct 19, 2015 - 21:17

At startup, I get the message: "Musescore stopped working" before I see anything of the program.
Please help? I downloaded the software today.

Comments

• Oct 19, 2015 - 21:25

I've been successfully using Musescore 2 for some months now, but it will not run today. No error message appears, it just doesn't run. I've re-downloaded it but that hasn't worked.
What can I check to try to solve the problem?

Any help will be much appreciated.

Reply

• Oct 25, 2015 - 22:20

@huub_dewachter: You don't need to have MuseScore running to revert to factory settings. Here's how. (In fact, to the best of my knowledge that's the only way to do it so it's not actually possible to do it from within MuseScore.)

> Quote: "I downloaded the software today".

Did you download the latest version (2.0.2)?
If not then uninstall it and try the latest version.

Have you ever had an older version installed?
If so then it is very likely that the new version will work after you revert to factory settings.

Reply

• Oct 20, 2015 - 12:33

Thanks Marc

I have rebooted to no effect.

I have uninstalled Musescore2 and downloaded it again - still will not run.

I cannot revert to factory settings as "Windows cannot find MuseScore.exe" when I try to do that.

I have even entered MuseScore.exe at the command prompt but get a similar response: "MuseScore.exe is not recognised as an ..... operable program".

I have found that MuseScore .exe is listed under the location "This PC > Windows8_OS(C:) >Program files (X86) > MuseScore 2 > bin" but will not run from there (I see that the date modified is given as 16th July 2015, so that cannot be from the download this morning. Also, all the other files at that location seem to be .dll ones)

I still have 1.3 on my computer. If I right-click on a file created under Musescore2 recently, "Open with" gives me the option of Musescore.exe but again it does not run - I can also select mscore.exe which works but in 1.3 which will only run files originally created in that version.

This is all a great puzzle to me, but I hope the info I have given may give you some clues as to what is wrong.

Regards

Mac

Reply

• Oct 20, 2015 - 15:32

I guess it is a permission issue, the installed version wants to read of write somewhere where it doesn't have access. The portable version doesn't have that issue as it reads/writes some place else.

Maybe you need to install and/or run as Administrator?

Reply

• Oct 22, 2015 - 00:02

Thomas, I'd be glad to assist in any way that would help you look closer. I'm impressed by and grateful for the experts in the MuseScore community who rally round when help is needed.

It would be nice if somebody could run me through the steps needed to make TimGM6mb.sf2 the default soundfont in my copy of Musescore 2.0.02 again (I lost this when I uninstalled and re-installed - see my 11.33 posting above).

Reply

• Oct 24, 2015 - 18:39

Oh dear!
I've been using the portable version since 20th October, but it would not run today.
I have tried uninstalling and re-downloading but with no result. I am very worried about this now as I need to use it every day and have deadlines to meet.
When I select the shortcut (whose target is "C:\Users\Mac\Downloads\MuseScorePortable_2.0.2.paf (2)" I get the message
"MuseScore Portable
Please select a language for the installer"
When I click on "OK" for English I then get a further message as follows:
"MuseScore Portable | PortableApps.com Installer
Please close all instances of MuseScore Portable and then click OK. The portable app cannot be upgraded while it is running."
I don't have any MuseScore running, so cannot get any further - if I click "OK" the message just repeats.

Any help anyone can give me would be so much appreciated as I am baffled and verging on the desperate!

Reply

• Oct 25, 2015 - 17:07

Thanks

I have just re-loaded MuseScore2 and tried a factory reset. However, I get the message 'Windows cannot find MuseScore.exe'.

Musescore2 is listed as an app but when I click on it I get this message:

User Account Control
Do you want this app from an unknown publisher to make changes to your PC?
Program name: MuseScore.exe
Publisher: Unknown
File origin: hard drive on this computer
Program location: "C:\Program files (x86)\MuseScore 2\bin\MuseScore

I click 'Yes', the eggtimer appears for a few seconds then disappears.
If I then click on the app again I get the above message again - so going round in circles!

Does this give any clues to solve my problem?

Reply

• Oct 25, 2015 - 20:58

Thanks

I have just downloaded and installed MuseScorePortable on to an empty 4Gb memory stick in my F: drive - it will not run from there either.

I notice that the OS considers the app to be running, as it gives the following error message when I seek to remove the memory stick:
'Problem ejecting USB Mass Storage Device
This device is currently in use. Close any programs that might be using the device, and then try again.'
Does this give any clues?

Reply

• Oct 28, 2015 - 10:59

After trying all the possible solutions suggested on here I engaged the services of a professional who eventually solved the problem by using System Restore to a restore point prior to the date when MuseScore 2 stopped working. Everything seems to be working fine now.
He reckoned that the problem could have been caused by an automatic update, although it wasn't possible to identify which one.

Many thanks to all on here who offered their help.

Reply

• Oct 29, 2015 - 11:20

Unfortunately the debug log in this case (as in the case for the other thread) does not say anything.

After a little work, I think I managed to create a more informative tool.
I compiled gdb (without Python support because it was crashing the compilation in my system, I don't know why) and inserted its executables and folders inside the MuseScore folder tree. I then wrote a simple script which catches all thrown signals and outputs a backtrace. The output is a log file which contains all MuseScore debug information and possibly the stack trace when an exception is thrown.
Here is the zipped folder:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxjayMZiuupOR05Qd1dCWVAwdDQ
(MuseScore_revd45cc19_debug_gdb.zip - md5 checksum: cef3a7cca05bba66d43ee643f0e11725
~172 MB compressed and ~553 MB when uncompressed)
It is a self-build (in debug mode) of d45cc19

How to use it:
1- extract the zip folder;
2- double-click on the file "reset_and_debug.bat" inside the extracted folder;
3- it launches MuseScore (and performs a reset to its factory settings) inside gdb (through the script "debug.gdb") and records the debug output in the file "log_file.txt"; such file can then be attached to a comment in this forum for further analysis. Note that the execution is very slow since MuseScore is running inside a debugger (gdb https://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/ ).

Hope this helps in casting some light onto the bugs difficult to be reproduced.

Ciao,
ABL

Reply

• Oct 29, 2015 - 14:42

Thanks a lot ABL. I have ran it the new debug version and strangely enough, this one runs without clear issues. I tried your previous build from Oct 1st again, and this one still failed. I attached the log file even when it ran.

Fyi I'm capable to run MuseScore 2.0.2 on the OP Windows 7 computer using the -s option. It's also important to note that this system has ProTools 8 LE installed with Mbox2. So all indications point to some conflict with the audio. Then again, your latest debug build runs remarkably with sound enabled and playback works.

Attachment Size
log_file.txt 50.52 KB

Reply

• Oct 29, 2015 - 17:36

The fact that the new debug version does not crash could be due to the fact that the bug was solved in one of the recent commits.
Or could be related to the fact that running inside a debugger slows down the execution (??? latency problems?)

Anyway, I put the gdb executables and the scripts in the old debug version, here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxjayMZiuupOSU9CeTJJT25jUUE
(MuseScoree342fda_debug_gdb.zip)
so that, if you want, you can check if gdb is able to catch the crash which was happening in the old debug version. (Same instruction as for the other "debug_gdb" folder)
The MuseScore application is the same (I didn't recompile it), so if MuseScore crashes again inside the debugger, we can think that a recent change solved the bug :-)
(and we can also see if gdb is able to collect more information)

Ciao,
ABL

Reply

• Oct 30, 2015 - 10:08

Thanks for the new debug release ABL. Same result as yesterday: this debug release does successfully run and audio is working. I attached the log txt file for your inspection.

Update

So to summarise:
* both debug versions ( MuseScoree342fda_debug_gdb.zip and MuseScore_revd45cc19_debug_gdb.zip) run successfully
* MuseScore 2.0.2 and nightly build do not run (crash on startup after briefly seeing the splash screen). Both do run when using -s.

Attachment Size
log_file.txt 38.27 KB

Reply

• Oct 30, 2015 - 12:10

Well, actually the debug versions run well only when they are launched inside gdb, if I understood correctly what you did.
This new debug version is exactly the same executable of 1st Oct, which we are now launching inside gdb.
Since it crashes when launched normally, it is probably a bug related to "delay time"(?), i.e. maybe a process is launched when another needed process is not ready yet, and the fact that running inside gdb slows down the execution could enable this needed process to be loaded properly before it is called. This is just a wild guess.

From the log file, the only things different from what I see in my system are:
- "warning: devices were left open. They have been closed." It is a warning launched by portmidi when it is closed.
- in my system I see: "Debug: Init midi driver failed" (mscore/pa.cpp:142), but then the sound works properly; in this case, when running inside gdb this message does not appear, so the midi driver apparently didn't fail
If you look at the first log file, it interrupts after "Debug: Virtual size (...)"; the debug output next to that should have been "Debug: using PortAudio Version: PortAudio V19-devel" so the crash is indeed probably happening when initializing portaudio (Ms::Portaudio::init(bool))

One thing you could try is to use a newer build of Portaudio. I found this one:
https://github.com/adfernandes/precompiled-portaudio-windows/blob/maste…
After unzipping the zip folder, the dll is portaudio-r1891-build/lib/Win32/ReleaseMinDependency/portaudio_x86.dll
By simply renaming it to "portaudio.dll" it can substitute the shipped portaudio.dll (I tried with my build and it works). I think you could try with the debug version of 1st October and substituuting this portaudio to the original one. This dll outputs mre debug information from its internal functions.

If you want, I can try to pack a new debug folder with this dll.

Ciao,
ABL

Reply

• Oct 30, 2015 - 13:01

Thanks for the support ABL! So I went ahead, downloaded, extracted and renamed the portaudio_x86.dll and applied it to all the debug versions I have.

Interestingly enough, two ran successfully, one crashed. I added the logs. For the one that crashed, you'll see crash in the filename.

Attachment Size
log_file_crash_MuseScoree342fda_debug.txt 4.38 KB
log_file_MuseScore_revd45cc19_debug_gdb.txt 48.97 KB
log_file_MuseScoree342fda_debug_gdb.txt 48.91 KB

Reply

• Oct 30, 2015 - 15:36

And here we have the (sad) answer: the culprit is a crash in portaudio due to the "ASIO Digidesign Driver".
The program works inside the debugger because in the source code of portaudio there is an if-clause which disables loading this driver when inside the debugger. The associated comment is:
"/* ASIO Digidesign Driver uses PACE copy protection which quits out
if a debugger is running. So we don't load it if a debugger is running. */"
and indeed in the log file of the two successful versions you see:
"BLACKLISTED!!! ASIO Digidesign Driver would quit the debugger".
So, when running under gdb, the tentative of loading "ASIO Digidesign Driver" is skipped.
The next driver which portaudio tries to load, "ASIO Digidesign Driver Mbox2", instead does not crash, but it is not loaded either: the message log is a series of "Skipping ASIO device".

I don't konw how to solve the problem. Is it possible to tell Portaudio not to load certain drivers?
Or we could build portaudio blacklisting this driver even when outside a debugger.
I once tried to compile portaudio, but I never got it to work properly, that's why I always relied on pre-built binaries of portaudio.

Ciao,
ABL

EDIT: Have you tried also with the unofficial 64bit version?

Reply

• Nov 3, 2015 - 08:39

I tried the 64bit version and it worked! Obviously I should have tried this before :/

But so we can conclude that there was a 64 bit driver involved which caused the conflict.

I wonder now what we can do in the future to still start MuseScore but with a warning instead of a crash that the 64bit version would be needed in order to start the audio system. That would make a big difference on the UX.

Reply

• Oct 30, 2015 - 16:07

Impressive investigation!
Apparently we are not the first one to find out that it's also a problem in non debug mode. http://portaudio.music.columbia.narkive.com/EZfklA8q/portaudio-digidesi…

If I understand correctly, there is an antipiracy system (PACE) in the driver to crash if the software is in a debugger. That shouldn't be a problem for us since we are not in a debugger most of the time. So the crash comes from this driver but it's not necessarly due to PACE.

If this driver comes with ProTools, it seems weird we didn't detect it before that MuseScore couldn't run... So I hope it's a special version of the driver, hopefully an old one, maybe a 64 bit version but portaudio try to load it anyway...?

As a workaround, is there a way to order the driver on Windows, so a working driver (the default audio output) is chosen before the bad asio digidesign driver.

Reply

• Oct 29, 2015 - 15:34

I have tried shutting down my laptop and then turning it back on, uninstalling MuseScore and installing it again, and I downloaded the one from portable apps. Nothing has worked. I am not receiving an error message or anything like that. I get the box before it opens that says MuseScore, but it will not actually run. Can anyone help me? I have gotten it to somewhat work on my Linux desktop, but there are missing features(not really sure what happened there, however, it's not my main concern as it works)

Reply

• Oct 29, 2015 - 16:23

Hi Kuro-chan,

Could you share with us which Windows version you are working on?

In case you have successfully used MuseScore on your Windows before, please open a command prompt (Window + R) and enter
"C:\Program files (x86)\MuseScore 2\bin\MuseScore.exe" -F

If you were never able to run MuseScore before, please run:
"C:\Program files (x86)\MuseScore 2\bin\MuseScore.exe" -s

including the double quotes (needed due to the space characters in the path name), exactly as described in https://musescore.org/en/handbook/revert-factory-settings-0#instruction….

If this command starts MuseScore, we know that there is a problem with your audio system. If not, please proceed with:
"C:\Program files (x86)\MuseScore 2\bin\MuseScore.exe" -w

If this works, we know there is an issue with the Start Center. If not, please proceed with the instructions at https://musescore.org/en/node/84146#comment-376406

Reply

• Oct 29, 2015 - 16:44

I am running Windows 10. I knew there is no issues with my audio, but none the less tried the first command you gave me and received "MuseScore was unexpected at this time" My audio is fine as I am playing music as I type this. I received the same messaged when I did the second command.

Reply

• Oct 30, 2015 - 13:35

As with any software that wont install but should install.....
First save any worked on scores files to a new folder.
Then uninstall all the old versions.
Download "CClearer" this is a software garbage cleaner.....Install and run CCleaner to clean up any old files etc from you system. Check program files folders, document & settings folders for any old traces of musescore and remove them.
Run the registry cleaner option of CCleaner to check the registry.
Disable your virus checking and firewall for a few minutes while downloading and reinstalling a new copy of musescore.....if you think it is causing conflicts...????
It normally does not cause conflicts.

Restart your PC......Download a new copy of Musescore 2.0.2 from the website
Install this new download copy..............

Reply

• Nov 4, 2015 - 10:19

@Kuro-chan: but from the image you posted some folders are missing. Attached a screenshot of the folders you should see inside the folder (this is the folder for the other revision, but the folder structure is the same for both cases; the file "debug.bat" should not be present).
If you want, can you try to download again the debug_gdb zip file? Maybe it was corrupted during download.

Have you tried with the (unofficial) 64bit version, which worked in the pc of the other user experiencing problems? To use it, you should decompress the archive via, e.g., 7-zip ( http://www.7-zip.org/ ), and then the executable file (to be launched) is "MuseScore.exe" inside the "bin" folder.

Ciao,
ABL

Attachment Size
screenshot_debug_gdb.png 46.15 KB

Reply

• Jan 9, 2016 - 22:20

My version of MuseScore 2.0.2 does not start under Windows 10, so i ran the debug version from ABL. It starts now, but it has a lot of issues according to the logfile. I have no idea what is wrong with the setup, so i ask for help to solve the issues

Attachment Size
log_file.txt 31.69 KB

Reply

• Jan 11, 2016 - 10:07

@tubaerik: the debug log says that MuseScore is not loading any of its internal fonts (the errors: "fatal error: cannot load internal font"); when debug mode is active, the program does not exit, but you will probably see a series of void squares instead of musical symbols (since the fonts cannot be not loaded).

You could try to re-download the MuseScore installer, which maybe was corrupted during download, and try to re-install MuseScore.

Or, it seems that sometimes there are problems with font reading/installing in Windows 10, see: http://superuser.com/questions/957907/unable-to-install-fonts-on-window…
In that thread the problem disappeared when Windows Firewall was enabled (why should Windows Firewall deal with font management?). Can you try to check if Windows Firewall is enabled and then launch MuseScore?

[ Note that you should not manually install MuseScore fonts. ]

Reply

• Jan 12, 2016 - 00:29

@ABL: I've tried another download of MuseScore 2, but with the same result. Checking windows firewall, i discovered that it was disabled. I can't enable the firewall. (Failurecode 0x80070422). Also Windows update is disabled and can't be enabled. So it seems to me that it is a windows failure. I've searched for a solution at microsoft, but there isn't a solution yet. Microsoft is working on it. Thank you for your answer ABL.

Reply

• Jan 30, 2016 - 20:54

As said by ABL, the reason for not loading the fonts could be that Windows Firewall was not active. That was in my case the problem.
So i scanned my computer with Malwarebites Antimalware. That removed 3 malware virusses. Next i could activate, in windows 10 with the app Services, my windows Firewall and Windows Update.
Then MuseScore was working again

Reply

Do you still have an unanswered question? Please log in first to post your question.