Brave will no longer launch (Windows 10)

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1

Description of the issue:
Whether using the icon or launching directly from the exe, nothing happens. There is no process launched. Inert.

Brave was working fine several days ago. Two days ago, I had a power loss, but recovered just fine. Except Brave.

  1. I did an SCF on my system and there were no problems.

  2. I repeatedly uninstalled then reinstalled Brave from a download, but it will not launch.

  3. I went into regedit and removed the lone BraveSoftware entry in the registry, and reinstalled. Still no launch.

It’s as if something is preventing its launch.

Steps to Reproduce (add as many as necessary): 1. 2. 3.
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Actual Result (gifs and screenshots are welcome!):
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Expected result:
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Reproduces how often:
Always.

Operating System and Brave Version(See the About Brave page in the main menu):
Windows 10 (64 bit, version 1809). Brave: Doesn’t launch, so can’t grab the version number; whatever is the download file version as of June 7, 2019.

Additional Information:
CURIOUS FACT: When launching Brave on a separate laptop, it came up for a second with the last several tabs I had open, then crashed. I relaunched it, and it appeared to come up fine except my last tabs were missing, and the history was wiped out. That version of Brave is 0.65.118, and the laptop is running Windows 10 (64-bit, version 1803). This additional info tends to point to something possibly wrong with the desktop version of Brave. My mobile version is working just fine.

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Welcome, @ZackDeMundo. I’m running Brave Release and Nightly without issue (Brave 0.65.118 Chromium: 75.0.3770.80 (Official Build) (64-bit) and 0.68.26 Chromium: 75.0.3770.80 (Official Build) nightly (64-bit), both on Windows 10 1809 (Build 17763.503)), so I’m wondering if you’re running antivirus/antimalware software that may be interfering. In particular, Kaspersky has been known to interfere with Brave when there’s an update.

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@ZackDeMundo,
@hnktong is on the right track – or at least the same track I’m on. Can you confirm if you have any A/V software running on your Windows machine?

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Yes, I do run A/V software, but have granted Brave firewall access.

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@ZackDeMundo, the actual flavor of antimalware/AV software makes a difference. For example, Kaspersky is notorious for interfering in many aspects of Brave’s operation. Could you share what you’re using?

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Bitdefender. And like I said I made no changes to my system. One day it stopped booting. Multiple re-installs. No effect. No process is created. It is being blocked from executing.

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@ZackDeMundo,
Can you check ~\AppData\Local\BraveSoftware and confirm that there is, in fact a Brave-Browser directory found here?

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There is no such folder in Local. There is an entry for BraveSoftware in the registry in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER, but no other entries.

  1. Do you think it is not being installed properly?
  2. It was working fine before it suddenly stopped… related or unrelated issue?

Thanks.

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Yeah – that seems to be the problem. I’ve seen this happen before although I have no idea what actually causes it.
Can you try manually adding this folder? The path should be ~\AppData\Local\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser

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My mistake. I looked at wrong user. That folder does exist, and there is a folder called User Data inside it. Inside that is a lot of stuff.

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I removed the Brave Software folder, and reinstalled.
It now works.

No idea what prevented it from working a month ago, but I think a poor uninstall routine left crap in the system.

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Thanks to this forum who helped out! Mattches, hnktong

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