Why isn’t Pro Tools launching?

There are many reasons that can cause Pro Tools not to launch correctly. So in this guide, we will cover some of the main reasons why Pro Tools won’t launch.

1. Pro Tools compatibility
2. Plug-ins
3. Playback engine
4. Trash Pro Tools preferences
5. Remove login and startup items
6. New user account

Pro Tools compatibility

The first thing to check when Pro Tools will not launch is compatibility. Make sure that the version of Pro Tools you are trying to launch is compatible with your computer and the version of the exact operating  system you are running. Click here for compatibility info for Avid products.

Plug-ins

One of the first things Pro Tools does when launching is look at what plug-ins are installed, if they’re authorized, and whether or not they are compatible. If Pro Tools stops launching while scanning the plug-ins, there is probably a plug-in that is causing the failure. To verify this, go to the Pro Tools plug-ins folder, move all of the plug-ins to a temporary folder, and then relaunch Pro Tools.

If Pro Tools launches when the plug-ins have been removed, then you have verified that the issue is caused by a plug-in(s). Updating your plug-ins and/or removing plug-ins that are incompatible usually resolves this issue.

For more information on Pro Tool plug-in locations, check out our plug-in article here.

Playback engine

Sometimes Pro Tools won’t launch because the wrong device is selected as the Current Device under Setup>Playback Engine. When this happens, you will likely see the following error message: ”Pro Tools could not initialize the current playback device. Please make sure that the device has been configured correctly.”

Most users are able to resolve this issue with the following:

1. Launch Pro Tools
2. When the splash screen appears on the screen, hold down the n key on your keyboard, which will eventually open the Playback Engine dialog for Pro Tools.
3. At the top of this window, you will see the ‘Current Engine’ drop-down menu.
4. Choose a different Engine (such as Built in Output or Pro Tools Aggregate I/O)
5. Click OK.

Trash Pro Tools preferences

Note: Pro Tools HD users may want to save their IO setup before trashing preferences as it can reset IO setups paths to the default settings.

If you’re still having issues with Pro Tools crashing, the most common troubleshooting step is to trash Pro Tools preferences. Preferences are temporary files that an application uses to store preferred settings such as, the list of recently opened sessions, whether the mix or the edit window was on top last, setup info for MIDI peripherals, etc. This will reset Pro Tools preferences to the default settings without erasing your recordings. Try this to correct odd or erratic behavior in the application:

Remove login and startup items

Login Items are applications that will automatically start when logging into a user account. Remove unnecessary login items to reduce sources of potential conflicts with Pro Tools.

• Open System Preferences.
• Click Users & Groups.
• Select the account you’re logged into on the left hand side.
• Click Login Items.
• Go through the list and select each item, one at a time, and click ‘–‘ below the list to remove the item (as long as you do not absolutely need it to start at login).

Startup Items are similar to Login Items, but will start when first booting the computer, regardless of the user account being utilized. To remove unnecessary Startup Items:

• Go to Macintosh HD/ Library/ StartupItems
• Delete any unnecessary item.

Note: If you’re not sure what a certain Startup item does, it’s a good idea to double-check the functionality before deleting them to ensure that you’re not losing any essential functionality.

New user account

If you have tried the steps above and Pro Tools still won’t launch, try creating a new user account. If you are able to launch Pro Tools from a new account then the cause is at the User level of you computer’s operating system. If Pro Tools does not open from a new user account, the cause is deeper than the user level and uninstalling and reinstalling should be attempted.

• How to manually uninstall Pro Tools 11 (or higher)
• How to manually uninstall Pro Tools 10 and Pro Tools Express on Mac OS X Mavericks 10.9.x
• How do I remove Pro Tools (Windows)

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