Luminar 4 hangs on the splash screen after the update: solutions
Answered
Hello Everyone,
We're currently investigating this issue and we will do our best to provide a solution.
Please, kindly try the solutions listed below if you're facing this issue:
First, please try the following solution:
- Turn off Windows Defender Firewall: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4028544/windows-10-turn-windows-defender-firewall-on-or-off
- Either turn off your anti-virus or add Luminar to its list of exclusions. Consult your anti-virus manual for help.
Please make sure to do that for all the security software you have on your computer.
If you have the Avast firewall, try switching it to private mode additionally.
Besides, please download Process Explorer via the link below and kill all processes related to your antivirus software:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer
If none of these help, please perform the following steps that may help resolve the issue:
1. Reboot your PC.
2. Uninstall Luminar.
How to uninstall an app on Windows 7 (click this text to open link).
How to uninstall an app on Windows 8 (click this text to open link).
How to uninstall an app on Windows 10 (click this text to open link).
3. Clear your registry:
- Visit https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner/download?pc
- Scroll down to the bottom of the table and click Download from CCleaner.com in the first column.
- Once the download has finished, launch the file and install CCleaner on your computer.
- Launch CCleaner.
- Click Registry on the left.
- Click Scan for Issues in the lower left. Wait for the scan to finish.
- After the scan has finished, click Fix Selected Issues in the lower right.
- Close CCleaner.
4. Type %appdata% in Search (folder Roaming should open).
Find the folder “Luminar 4” and rename it to "Luminar 4 old". Please note that this folder contains your license for Luminar 4, as well as your Custom and downloaded Looks. You will be later to access them later if necessary.
5. Go to Pictures folder and rename the folder called "Luminar 4 Catalog" (if you have your Catalog anywhere else, find it and rename it to "Luminar 4 Catalog old").
Open the folder and locate the file with .luminar file extension. Change the name of this file to "Luminar 4 Catalog old" as well.
6. Reboot your PC.
7. Download the latest version of Luminar from here: https://downloads.skylum.com/luminar4/win/Luminar4Setup_offline.exe
- Right-click on the Luminar icon.
- Go to Properties > Compatibility.
- Enable 'Run this program in compatibility mode for: Windows 8' checkbox.
- Press 'Ok'.
If the steps above don't help, could you please let us know your hardware configuration and send it via https://skylum.com/support?
- Press the Windows logo key + R.
- Type msinfo32 in the dialog box that opens and hit Enter on your keyboard.
- In the window that opens, make sure you have System Summary highlighted on the left.
- Click File > Export.
- Type the name of the file (you can choose any you like), save it somewhere where you can easily find it and attach this text file to your reply to the contact form.
N.B. The links are clickable and show the screenshots that can guide you, if necessary.
Here is the video tutorial on how to retrieve your system info: https://www.loom.com/share/97aff7951ee3412daa020f1d88eb36e8
Besides, please send us event logs:
- Reproduce the issue.
- Press the Windows logo key + R.
- Type eventvwr in the dialog box that opens and hit Enter on your keyboard.
- In the window that opens click the triangle next to Windows Logs on the left. A directory tree should open.
- Click Application in the directory tree.
- In the main part of the window find the two topmost entries marked with Error named Application Error and .NET Runtime.
- Hold CTRL and click your left mouse button on each entry to select them both.
- Right-click on any of the two selected entries and click Save Selected Events.
- Name the file, save it, and attach it to your reply to the contact form https://skylum.com/support
If nothing helps, you can install Luminar 4.2.0 following the link below.
https://downloads.skylum.com/luminar4/win/Luminar4Setup_offline_420.exe
We will do our best to fix this issue asap.
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I really became an enthusiast for Luminar X. In fact, I am so excited about the idea that I would like to propose to Mrs. Vasylchyk, whose nice email I just received, the automatic and free membership of all the heroes participating in this trend. What is your opinion about this proposal?
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Whilst I don't intend to try and solve Luminar/Skylum's problems for them, I have a couple of thoughts.
I am successfully running 4.3 on a desktop and a laptop. Both have Windows 10 and the desktop is version 2004 (the laptop when I last checked was 1909).
Robert Simoneau reports that 4.3 suddenly stopped working for him. Something must have changed - presumably the OS which Microsoft update without users realising. Is the problem related to OS version? Is it peculiar to Windows 10? Is it a geographical issue with different versions of Luminar being downloaded? I am in UK, Luminar build 4.3.0(6175).
That said, I share the feeling that Skylum/Luminar are doing nothing. One month ago, Helga Rowles said "Our developers are working around the clock to find the root cause of the issue". Well, they must be exhausted by now!
Am I alone in thinking that Skylum are providing knee-jerk responses to criticisms. And the various staff providing the responses are not communicating with each other or providing a definitive company response (whatever that might be!).
Andrew J
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Andrew J - it's clear they can't figure out the issue and rather than acknowledging this early on (when it would have been excusable to "force" people to downgrade back to 4.2) they've built up a lot of enmity with their customers. In some ways this works for them - we are not on a subscription model, so we've already forked over our money for what is now a very flawed product. We don't need to be kept happy. Perhaps their CEO (who surfaces now and again) would dispute this, but their actions have made it clear we are flies buzzing in their ear.
If we really wanted to motivate Skylum, it would be to prevent new customers from falling into this trap. To that end, I may contact Pye Jirsa (who is probably not shooting many, if any, weddings right now) and all of the folks from the YouTube tutorials and see if THEY have this issue too. Thanks to social media's foundation of self-promotion, these folks aren't hard to reach.If they have any integrity, they could echo our sentiments more publicly. Companies really only seem to listen once a problem becomes too big to ignore. Maybe it's come to that.
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Dear Member, that is exactly why I decided, long ago, to deal with this matter as a joke, mockery. Since the second week I realized that it was not serious. I have some experience with developers, in Russia, the USA and the Netherlands. Never, never, NEVER before have I received such negligent treatment. The only appropriate answer to this joke is sarcasm. They are not taking this seriously. At least, of course, in the hypothesis that it is the most complex algorithm in the history of digital photography.
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I had some spare time, so I thought I would try to figure out why Version 4.3 hangs. I uninstalled and cleaned up the system. I disabled my MalwareBytes and Norton 360, and installed the offline install of Luminar 4.3 by using run as administrator on the installer. Luminar will start everytime if I choose run as admin.
Strange think is: If I start the program with run as admin, then close the program, I can start it again without choosing run as admin. If I close normally and try to start again it with hang. One start as admin allows only one normal start.
Don't know if that helps Skylum troubleshoot or not. I normally only use luminar 4 as a plugin, so run as admin is not useful to me.
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An open letter to the CEO of Skylum.
Sir,
On 16 July I attempted to install the 4.3 update to Luminar and found that, subsequently, Luminar no longer opened. I tried a re-install with the same result. I therefore contacted Skylum Support for advice and a solution to my problem. I was asked to send information on my Windows 10 system. I sent information to Support on three separate occasions and got no feedback on whether or not the information was of any use, simply the advice to roll back to version 4.2.
By this time I had discovered on the forum that I was by no means the only user with this problem with a Windows 10 machine and Skylum Support were asking the users the same questions and offering the same advice to revert to the previous version. It appears that many of us have done this and I am certainly not the only user to get frustrated at having to bypass the exhortation to update every time I open the program.
It is now 47 days since I first experienced a problem and there seems to be no resolution in sight.
We are assured that Support are working flat out to find a solution – how long should it take?
I suspect that most of us are using fairly “standard” Windows 10 installations, which begs the obvious question: “How much testing was carried out on the upgrade software before it was rolled out?”
I, and I’m sure everyone else with this problem, would appreciate a bit of honesty from Skylum on what is actually being done to resolve this issue and what are you going to do to restore confidence in your product.
I have enjoyed using Luminar but, at present, it would take a lot to convince me to part with any more of my money to a company that appears to distribute software that has not been thoroughly stress tested before release.
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End of my luck (well, maybe not)
As others pointed, I just discovered Luminar works as "normal user" after a boot. But if you run other software, probably it will hangs (discovered yesterday... usually I was booting, starting luminar and shutting down after my editing)
Now setting again the app to run as Admin solved the hang, so I can start Luminar, close it and then start it again without problems.
Not sure why. Maybe due to a Windows change in some libraries...
For example... I'm learning iOS with an "old" book (ios12 examples) and 2 days ago I forfaited about an example, as in iOS13 Apple changed some code and I got no clues for fixing the errors... Probably I'll need a more recent book...
So I don't exclude Microsoft changed something within the Windows core files.Actually I can use Luminar so it's okay. Of course, as a developer (mainly in PHP and that's different from c# or java or whatever language they used for the desktop app so maybe I'm missing something) I'm wondering about the lack of news about the bug. I think they could open a ticket with a Microsoft engineer, or asking help from external developers.
Being transparent with us, actually, could be the best thing to keep their loyal customers.Luminar is cool, I can edit pictures in minutes and getting great results. Using Affinity Photo or other apps will require for sure more time. In my workflow, Luminar let me save a lot of time, so I'll keep using, hoping in a fix or a major release.
Also, my business is in another field than photography, so for me it's okay.
But I can understand all photographers angry, specially if the program don't start at all.
So, c'mon Skylum, give a boost to Luminar devs, make us happier, and keep your user base! ;)
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Hi all
same issue for me !!!
i decide to re-install my worskation from scratch
my config :
windows 10 pro / office / lightroom / photoshop / luminar 4.3
That'all
same issue after, Luminar 4 don't lauch, stay on splash screen
Support Luminar, what do you propose ? i try all solution, so i'm waiting a true support
regards
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Maybe they've gone out of business and just didn't tell us...
Helena Carter, is there any update from you or anyone from Skylum Support on the issue that is now approaching 2 months old?
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When doing beta testing of other application, never been anything this worse... my gosh - this is totally long...
yeah - I already joined the Luminar referral program too, and ready to post about it... but, I won't do it until this issue fixed... I still have a responsibility to share a steady application!
Hope everything is good in Skylum....
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I looked through my error logs, then searched these forums. This error has been around for more than 5 months as can be seen at https://community.skylum.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360007885000-Luminar-4-crash
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Skylum probably has no time to support a product that you have already sold. Because there is a new product coming.
Outrageous business practice :(((
Great progress :(((
Luminar 3 and before -> 5 simultaneous installations
Luminar 4 -> 2 simultaneous installations
Luminar AI -> 1 installation, a second one for an additional charge -
Well, I suppose the article from FStoppers this morning likely explains why there is nothing being done about the 4.3 issue. It appears that they are planning on abandoning the current Luminar software and replacing with Luminar AI in the late Fall of this year. Love the quote from the CEO in this article. "LuminarAI will help make image editing easier for everyone. We’ve removed the boring and difficult parts of photo editing without sacrificing creativity. LuminarAI will be a great tool in a creator’s workflow. They can focus on great results — not on the process of editing.
The problem is, currently we are ALL focused on the "process of editing"...
https://fstoppers.com/apps/skylum-wants-completely-reimagine-editing-luminarai-514610#comment-thread
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As someone with a somewhat large experience in managing software development I understand what Luminar is going trough. When a software goes rogue right at the beginning pressure mounts and it is hard to manage and keep focus on the issue but rather the pressure is to fix it as fast as possible. In an environment like that managing must isolate developers and all technical personal to do the right thing and follow the best procedures in finding the root cause, fix, test and only then distribute the fix. Keep trying to have a quick solution most of the times do not work (it would have been fixed already if it was easy) and make customers frustated worsening the mounting pressure.
I think Luminar has a great development staff since the software is amazingly complex and works pretty well (talking about version 4.2). It is important now that management contribute to create a good and peaceful environment for the developers to find and fix the problems.
I would do that by acknowledging clearly that there is a problem, a hard to fix one, for sure; stopping selling and offering upgrades, not setting up a firm date to have it fixed and, offering money back and/or a good discount to anyone affected by the issue. I
On the developer side, establish a deadline when all installation module would be thrown away and begin again from scratch. It is costly, for sure, it will hit Luminar numbers but, sincerely, insist in what is not solving the issue after months of trying will not only frustrate the company efforts but most importantly customers, and we can see it happening already on the forums.
I hope they can find their way out. Luminar has helped me - and quite sure a lot of us - to have a better outcome in our edit efforts and I (we) want it to continue getting better with new releases (hopefully with more beta before).
Not trying to ease Luminar responsibility but Windows is a hard environment to develop due to its open nature and a myriad of hardware and software pieces interacting.
Editing: Just read the preceding post and it seems that they are doing it already. If they get to the point that the version is unusable then go for a new one is painful but less costly for Luminar and us, customers. Just hope they do a lot of more beta testing and I would even request the help of present Luminar owners offering them a good discount or other perks to participate in the beta phase.
Cheers -
Luiz is absolutely right! The team is working on investigating the issue and on finding the solution. Our users are our most important priority, so, we always provide several options on how to improve the situation if you are among those who are faced with this particular problem.
Furthermore, we plan to ship compatibility and performance updates for Luminar 4 for another year after LuminarAI is released. We won’t charge anything for these updates.
Luminar 4 will continue to run for many years beyond that (as long as your computer meets Luminar 4’s system requirements).
LuminarAI, though, is a new product. It is an alternative to traditional photo editors in general, which will be released by the end of the year. You’ll have a full 30 days after the product ships to try out LuminarAI and see if it suits your needs.
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When you say that we will be able to run Luminar for many years as long as our computers meet Luminar 4's system requirements, will those system requirements include us having to turn off Windows Defender Firewall, turning off our anti-virus software and killing all processes related to our antivirus software and starting Luminar in Admin mode?
Just curious...
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Well ... You know about my sarcastic approach to this issue. I believe, however, in sarcarsm as a mere tool of provocation. Sarcasm is good when it leads to good results. Now is time to give that up and talk seriously. As customers, none of us want the "Luminar" business to be unsuccessful. The strength and success of the "Luminar" brand is our success and our strength, we who have already invested time and money in it. What I hope, with all my heart, is that Luminar AI can be a new stage, overcoming the current impasse. With the same sincerity, I affirm that the best procedure in branding would be for the company to adopt a separate pricing policy for the members of this trend. If I were the CEO of a company with a powerful brand like Luminar, I would conduct myself generously towards those who, despite suffering the hardships of an unfortunate moment in the brand, remained faithful to it. I believe this is worth something. In any case, whatever the company's ethical-marketing procedure, I still respect the Luminar brand and I still expect, both from its products and from its team, the excellent usual results. I'm still in. And I intend to pre-order Luminar AI.
(Sorry for Google Translator)
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Is there a problem with Windows 10 version 2004 ?
At the end of June 2020 I upgraded from Windows 10 version 1909 to version 2004.
With version 2004 there were quite a few crashes (blue screen) of my PC, problems with the notification center etc. in the following months.
And Luminar 4.3 got stuck in the splash screen despite various workarounds suggested here.
Because of the many problems with Windows 10 2004 I downgraded to Windows 10 version 1909 the day before yesterday. For this I used an image of my Win 10 1909 system before the upgrade to 2004.After the successful recovery to Win 10 1909 I started Luminar 4.2 and did the offered online update to 4.3.
The online update was successful and now Luminar 4.3 starts without any problems and runs on my Windows 10 version 1909 system without hanging in the splash screen.
I have tested Luminar 4.3 for almost 3 days now, started it several times per Windows session, added folders to the catalog.
No problem, Luminar 4.3 runs. -
There is no problem with Windows 10 version 2004. The problem resides at Skylum, for not upgrading their software to support the operating system it runs on.....
I am running 2004 and LR / PS both work flawlessly. Amazingly, Aurora HDR opens and runs flawlessly as well. As does many of the trial software I have tried and am trying...
YOU probably nailed what the issue is, but it not a windows issue.
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I uninstalled Luminar 4.2, cleaned up with CCleaner, killed my Malwarebytes and Norton 360, and install Luminar 4.3 as admin. I then ran it once as Admin, and now it works every time as a regular user or Admin user. I am not sure what stopped it before, cause it worked great for days I just hope it continues to work into the future.
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I contacted Skylum Support yesterday. They sent me an email with things to try.
- I edited the Windows Defender Firewall and Mcaffe so skylum and luminar pass through the firewall. I followed the instructions below.
- I made a backup copy of the Luminar Catalog
- Rebooted
- Opened Luminar and updated to 4.3 with the prompt in Luminar to update to 4.3
- Rebooted
- I use 4.3 as a PS Plugin so I installed that as well.
- Now 4.3 works for me on my PC
- I hope this helps others.
*One note I did not turn off Windows Defender Firewall or Mcaffe. I edited the settings.
Have a Great Day
Hi Dave,
Thanks for reaching us about the issue.
We will do our best to help you get Luminar up and running.First, please try the following solution:
- Turn off Windows Defender Firewall: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4028544/windows-10-turn-windows-defender-firewall-on-or-off
or add Luminar to the list of its exceptions: https://www.dummies.com/computers/pcs/computer-security/how-to-allow-firewall-exceptions-on-your-windows-10-laptop/ - Either turn off your anti-virus or add Luminar to its list of exclusions. Consult your anti-virus manual for help.
Please make sure to do that for all the security software you have on your computer. A great number of customers have already reported that it helps. Also, please specify which antivirus software you're using.
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It has been near a couple of months since I exclaimed that I ' give up with the software'.
I returned this morning and read through furthered posts and to my utter disbelief it is still ongoing without a solution.
I ask is this software still being sold?
If so what exactly is the legality of selling software knowing it is not fit for purpose?
You are not a two bit company that was borne in a bedroom by a long bearded man who inhales constant nicotine satisfaction with stained finger tips and a Coca Cola machine perched to his side.
Some of us have our own deadlines and serious output time tables and we cannot simply call the customer and say '' Sorry I have a cold today' or sorry my mouse is broken''.
Some of us could and would and should be failed photographers if we went down that road.
The customer does not care if we have had a rather bad night etc etc.
They pay for work of whatever kind and it is presented finished at the time requested.
Seriously I ask ,no I state that if I were the head of this company heads would roll and to avoid the long road of perpetual dissatisfied customers I would offer an immediate refund and a voucher for further software ' ought that arise ' with a huge apology and statement that it won't ' ever' happen again.
I use at any one time up to eight or so applications some costing large amounts of money and others little. They all do what they are supposed to do.
I will never now purchase what ought have been good software from this company again.
Spoken only in good faith all the above that is typed by a customer or ex-customer should fire very serious warning shots across the bow.
Nobody wishes to see failure and nobody wants to be in a position of actually failing.
Thus as the saying goes ' I am out'.
Michelle Harper, Wildlife and Nature Photographer and Photographic restorer.
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I've just tried on what Dave's steps. As stand alone, it passes splash screen then hang. As PS and LRC plugin, it's still hangs at splash screen. It seems this way can not solve the problem for all. Then I've reverted back to 4.2, it works fine.
I'm quite surprise why Skylum drags this problem too much long time? It shouldn't do or modify anything on the system. It should be easily installed or updated as normal.
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It's not about you or me be able to fix that issue, for our efforts, skills and knowledge. There is a solution, which would not even be complicated. In one way or another, each of us, with the necessary patience and time, can come up with a solution. That is not the point. What we have here is a matter of principles. You don't buy a car to get home, open the hood and look for the defect. Yes, maybe you can fix it by yourself. But this is not our way of living, this is not the way we sell or buy; this is not the relationship we want between us and our suppliers. We want TRUST. Again..
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Es ist uns betimmt schon klar, was hier passiert. Skylum entwickelt eine neue Software Luminar AI um sie zu verkaufen und wir, die wir diesen Fehler bei der 4.3 haben - seit mehr als einen Monat haben - sind da natürlich nicht die gewünschte Zielgruppe. Offensichtlich haben nicht alle User das Problem, das uns hier so quält. Also ist nur ein kleiner Teil der User betroffen (oder auch großer?). Daher sind wir auch nicht das vordringliche Problem der Entwickler. Und vielleicht wird durch die neue Version der Software der Fehler gar nicht mehr auftreten? Also warten wir das mal ab - denken die bei Skylum. Es wäre da aber nur recht und billig da über eine Entschädigung für dieses Ungemach an die betroffenen User nachzudenken. Für mich persönlich hat Skylum mein Vertrauen vollständlich verloren. So lange einfach nichts zu tun außer zu versichern, dass man rund um die Uhr an dem Fehler arbeitet und dann still und heimlich eine neue Software zu entwickeln ist glaube ich nicht die feine englische Art.
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