Notepad++ not launching in Windows 7

On my Windows 7 64-bit, Notepad++ nor its PortableApps.com equivalent won't launch. The process and the splash appear, but beyond that it doesn't work, splash doesn't disappear.

It's been like that since I installed NP++ on a clean Windows 7. I couldn't find any similar reports from Google either.

Uninstall/install won't help.
Tried multiple versions over the few months, it's all the same.
When I launch it, it sits in Process Explorer, but its CPU usage stays at 0%.

Any further ideas what to try next? I fail to believe its Notepad++'s problem.

Tuminoid

Posted 2010-09-02T16:35:31.813

Reputation: 191

I don't have a splash screen when I launch notepad++ - are you sure you've downloaded and installed the latest version from here: http://notepad-plus-plus.org/release/5.7

– Jared Harley – 2010-09-07T03:03:05.843

@Jared: The splash is part of PortableApps launcher, standard NP++ doesn't have it. Hangs nonetheless before showing app. Badly explained, my bad. – Tuminoid – 2010-09-07T03:26:36.297

2I was going to ask about the splash. Are you using the ANSI or Unicode version? What is the file hash of the EXE? On my system, they're ANSI: D809BF9D4AB81F61E28E70B66640C96B, Unicode: A2635D8A9CF8FE426ABCE48BF4C89BB9. I'm also Win7 x64. (Are you x64 or IA64?) – BillP3rd – 2010-09-07T03:37:16.467

Answers

Try removing any residual files that it can leave behind. I'm not familiar with the portableapps version but the normal install will store files in %appdata%\Notepad++. (You can type %appdata% in the run box to get there, if you want to go by hand it's C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming). Delete the Notepad++ directory there and try launching it again.

Joshua

Posted 2010-09-02T16:35:31.813

Reputation: 4 434

Getting rid of the directory helped, it seems there was some trash from previous versions it couldn't handle. – Tuminoid – 2010-09-16T03:05:05.653

This method worked for me:

move plugins/LightExplorer.dll into the plugins/disabled folder
done!

Marci Maráz

Posted 2010-09-02T16:35:31.813

Reputation: 21

Welcome at SuperUser! A bit of an explanation and generalization would be useful for future visitors of your answer. Please add why you did this and how it solved the problem - that would help other people having the same problems due to faulty Notepad++ plugins... – ppeterka – 2016-08-28T19:16:05.137

This was exacly what I had to do. Notepadd++ failed to launch after installing LighExplorer plugin – Steven – 2017-04-05T08:31:40.413

This is a very easy process as you will have to go to Windows Notepad app and type these:

[FindReplace]
RepositoryFolders=TextFX Original:%CSIDLX_TEXTFXDATA%\ReplaceSets;Most Recent 
Folder:;My Documents:%CSIDL_PERSONAL%
RepositorySelected=0
[Settings]
SeparateQuickMenus=0
BlockOverwrite=0
AutoCloseBrace=0
AutoCloseHTMLtag=0
AutoSpace2Tab=0
AutoConvertHTML=0
SortAscending=1
SortLinesUnique=0
MarkWordFindCaseSensitive=0
MarkWordFindWholeWord=0
DisableSubclassing=0
CaptureCutCopyPaste=0
CtrlDAlsoDupsBlock=0
[Viz]
VizCaseSensitive=0
VizWholeWords=0
VizRegex=0
VizCutCopyAppend=0
VizClipboardAlwaysCRLF=1
VizClipboardReplaceNulls=0
VizClipboardCopyAlsoUTF8=0
VizClipboardNotUnicode=0
VizPasteRetainsPosition=0
VizPasteBinary=0
VizPasteToEditorEOL=1

...and you will just have to save it as "NPPTextFX.ini"

Alternative=

Some plugins have issues with NPP.

You must deactivate all plugins by moving their .dll files from folder "plugins" to "../plugins/disabled", then move them back one by one to reactivate it. After you activate one, try to launch NPP before going on.

This solved my problem. In my case, the .dll that was causing the problem was NppExternalLexers.

dOS DRAGO INC.

Posted 2010-09-02T16:35:31.813

Reputation: 1

Some plugins have issues with NPP.

This solved my problem. In my case, the .dll that was causing the problem was NppExternalLexers.

Wazomba

Posted 2010-09-02T16:35:31.813

Reputation: 1

Removing config.xml worked for me. I had to reinstall some plugins, but it turned out to be the fastest fix.

Mitch

Posted 2010-09-02T16:35:31.813

Reputation: 350