14 Ways to Fix DaVinci Resolve Not Opening Issue (2022) (2023)

Is DaVinci Resolve not opening?

You’re super excited about getting started on DaVinci Resolve. You’ve heard how it’s free and powerful and has many high-end features.

You download and install Resolve on your computer.

And when you launch it, the splash screen appears and then…

Nothing!

DaVinci Resolve simply won’t start. Frustration sets in.

Today, we will try to overcome this issue…

Step by step.

Let’s get started.

Before getting started, the first step is always to look at the DaVinci Resolve minimum system requirements.

Killing the Process in Task Manager

After launching Resolve, you see a tiny blue circle loading next to your cursor, which then disappears soon. Resolve never starts.

If this is your case, then:

• Open Task Manager.
• Go to “Details” tab.
• Locate “Resolve.exe”.
• Right click and click on “End Task”.
• Launch Resolve now, and it should open.

Uninstall and Do a Clean Install

Sometimes, uninstalling and re-installing will launch Resolve with no issues.

Uninstall Resolve

• Go to “Control Panel” -> “Programs and Features“.
• Right click on “DaVinci Resolve” and click on “Uninstall“.

The above step should completely remove Resolve from your system. Problems might occur when the un-installation leaves back few folders and files.

The folders and files live in:

• Program Files
• ProgramData
• AppData

Delete Left-Over Folders after Un-Installing Resolve

• Navigate to “C:\Program Files\Blackmagic Design“. It should be empty. If not, delete the folders (usually the folder might be named “DaVinci Resolve” which you must delete).
• Navigate to “C:\ProgramData\Blackmagic Design” -> delete the folder named “DaVinci Resolve“
• Navigate to “C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Blackmagic Design” and delete “DaVinci Resolve” folder.

Now Resolve should be completely removed from your system.

Re-Install Resolve

• Double click on your required Resolve version (use run as admin if required).
• Uncheck other options like “DaVinci Control Panels” and check only “Davinci Resolve <version no.>

• Click Install and proceed till you finish the installation process.
• Now launch DaVinci Resolve.
• The application will display “Welcome Tour” which means Resolve has been cleanly installed.

• You can click on “Skip Tour” and skip till you see the splash screen.
• Then Resolve should successfully open.

Where to Install DaVinci Resolve?

DaVinci Resolve should be installed in your system drive, which most probably should be “C:\“.

Do not install in drive other than the system drive. If you have installed in other drive, then uninstall and do a clean install in your system drive.

If the above steps do not resolve the problem, then follow the next step.

Update Your Graphics Driver

If you’ve Nvidia or AMD GPU, then update the required GPU driver to the latest version.

Especially Nvidia GPU users face this issue of Resolve not opening.

Update your video driver to Nvidia Studio version (try to avoid Gaming version).

Navigate to Nvidia Official website and select your GPU from the list and download it.

While installing the driver, try to select “Custom Install” -> “Clean Install”.

Related Article:

Disable the default Integrated Graphics Driver

Resolve requires a discrete GPU, which is one of the minimum system requirements.

For some reasons, Resolve might find it difficult to recognize your discrete GPU. If this is the case then,

• Go to “Control Panel” -> click on “Device Manager“.
• Click on “Display Adapters“.
• Right Click on your Integrated Graphics (in this case, AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics) and disable the driver.
• This will force Resolve to use your GPU (Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti).

Next time when you launch Resolve, it should use your GPU and successfully open.

Run Program Compatibility Troubleshooter

Sometimes, Resolve might have compatibility issues with Windows.

To resolve this:

• Navigate to where Resolve is installed in your system = “C:\Program Files\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve“.
• Locate “Resolve.exe” and right click on it. (Keep in mind – you should locate the original .exe and not the “DaVinci Resolve” shortcut)
• Click on the tab “Compatibility“.
• Click on “Run compatibility troubleshooter“.

• Under “Select troubleshooting option”, click on “Try recommended settings“.
• In the next window, click on “Test the program“.
• Windows will try to launch the application.
• If Resolve opens up successfully, then click on “Next”, then click on “Yes, save these settings for the program“.
• The next window “Troubleshooting has completed” will be displayed. Then click on “Close the troubleshooter“.
• Next time when you launch Resolve, Windows will remember the settings and successfully start the program.

If “Try recommended settings” doesn’t work, then click on “Troubleshoot program“. You’ll get the below window.

Try the options one by one or whichever applies to you and then test the program.

If the above 2 options don’t work, then

• Right click on “Resolve.exe”, click on “Compatibility” tab.
• Under “Compatibility mode”, check “Run this program in compatibility mode for:“.

• Select the required OS. Give Ok and see if this solves the issue.

The above methods should resolve any compatibility issues.

Debug using Window’s “Reliability Monitor” tool

“Reliability Monitor” captures and tracks critical events like application failures, Windows failures, etc,.

In short, it displays a history of events that will tell you the “Source” and “Summary“, along with the date.

If your Resolve launched perfectly previously and then for some reason refuses to start now, then using “Reliability Monitor”, you could see what has happened to your computer at a particular period.

(To launch “Reliability Monitor“, click on Windows Start and Type “Reliability”. Click on “View Reliability History“.)

For example, consider the below image.

On Nov 21, my Resolve stopped responding and closed itself. I would go through other critical events on the same day and prior to see what could have caused Resolve to close itself.

For your case, if Resolve opened on a particular day and now refuses to start, then go through the critical events and informational events on those days to determine the root cause.

If you find any software that was installed recently, then uninstall the same and then try to launch Resolve.

Sometimes software like iCue could interfere with the launch of Resolve (but not for everyone).

If you’re still facing issues opening Resolve, then follow the below steps:

Few Troubleshooting Steps to Make DaVinci Resolve Open

Remove USB Peripherals and Launch Resolve

Keeping the standard wired USB mouse and keyboard connected, remove other USB devices (like USB Webcam or wireless headphones USB) or BlueTooth peripheral devices, printer, etc,. and then launch Resolve.

If Resolve opens (that’s good news) and then again close it.

Connect your other peripheral devices one by one and launch Resolve. You might zero in on the one device that might cause issue.

Once you find the root cause, you will find a solution for yourself.

Uninstall 3rd Party Software

If you’ve recently installed any anti-virus (or anti-malware), try to uninstall it and then launch Resolve.

Sometimes anti-virus software is known to interfere during Resolve start-up.

Disable VPN and then Launch Resolve

Go to “Task Manager” and “End Task” your VPN like NordVPN, ExpressVPN, etc, (if you’ve any).

Then try to launch Resolve. Many of the users have benefitted from this step.

Remove OFX Plugins

Many users install OFX plugins like FilmConvert, RedGiant, iZotope, etc,.

Sometimes they are known to interfere with Resolve start-up.

For example, if you’ve FilmConvert Pro OFX plugin installed then,

• Navigate to “C:\Program Files\Common Files\OFX\Plugins\FilmConvertPro2.0.ofx.bundle” in Windows or “/Library/OFX/Plugins/FilmConvertPro2.0.ofx.bundle” in MacOS X.
• Delete the folder.
• Then launch Resolve.
• Do the same for other OFX plugins as well. (Idea is to remove all the plugins and put them back one by one to see which causes issue).

Temporarily Disable Firewall

• Turn off the internet.
• Temporarily disable the firewall by navigating to “Windows Start -> Settings -> Update and Security -> Windows Security -> Firewall and Network Connection”.
• Turn Off the networks.
• Now try to launch Resolve.
• If Resolve launches successfully, then you might have to add exception.

(Note the above steps should be done at your own risk. Research thoroughly before adding rules or exceptions).

TCP Network Port Access using Windows PowerShell

Resolve needs to access a TCP port for it to properly open.

If anything else is interfering with network ports on the system, then that might prevent Resolve from successfully launching.

Follow the below steps:

• Click on “Start” -> type “Windows PowerShell“.

• Click on the app “Windows PowerShell”. Type:

Get-NetTCPConnection | Where-Object { $_.State -eq “Listen” -and $_.LocalPort -eq 1144 } | ForEach-Object { (get-process -id $_.OwningProcess).Description }

• Press Enter key.
• It should return nothing.

• If you see any entry after pressing enter, then that could block Resolve from accessing its TCP port.

If this is your case, then you need to place your logs and .nfo files in the BlackMagic Forum (which will be discussed below) and get direction from the BlackMagic Design team support staff.

The Last Step – Getting Help from BlackMagic Design Support Staff

If none of the above steps work, then it’s time to generate the below files and share with the support staff for debug:

1. DaVinci-Resolve-logs-<current time>.zip
2. System Information file with “.nfo” extension.

How to Generate DaVinci Resolve Logs Zip file?

• Navigate to “C:\Program Files\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve“.
• Double click on “CaptureLogs.bat” file (or right click and then run as administrator).
• It will generate a log file to your desktop – “DaVinci-Resolve-logs-<current time>.zip”.

How to Generate System Information .nfo file?

• Click on Windows Start.
• Type “System Information” and click on the app “System Information“.

• Click on “File” -> “Save”.

Enter filename and save it. It will be saved with extension “.NFO“.

Now head over to BlackMagic Design forum, find the correct topic and then post your question.

Conclusion

Most of the steps listed in this post were researched and consolidated by going through many forums.

I hope one of the steps, or a combination of the steps, solve your issue.

If not, then the best way is to get help from the BlackMagic Design support staff from the forum.

You may also find the below posts helpful:

• Fix DaVinci Resolve Media Offline Issue
• Tips to Save Your Precious Work in DaVinci Resolve (IMPORTANT!)
• (How to Troubleshoot): DaVinci Resolve Keeps Crashing!
• How to Make DaVinci Resolve Use GPU (Helpful Tips!)
• How To Recover DaVinci Resolve Lost Projects (Crash Recovery!)
• Most Frequently Asked Questions on DaVinci Resolve