SF 11 refuses to start, even full re install

daniel-DIAZ2990 wrote on 7/6/2025, 4:52 AM

After years of using the same original install, Sound Forge 11 suddenly started crashing on launch.

I contacted support, and the only suggestion I received was to fully uninstall and reinstall the software.

I followed those instructions, but after a clean reinstall, SF11 still refuses to start.

During the reinstall process, I did see the usual registration screens. I selected “Register Online”, as I always have.

I'm on Windows 10 (same system as always).

Interestingly, yesterday I had to launch Samplitude X3, and it also gave me trouble — I had to click “Repair” to get it running. But it eventually worked.

So something may have changed on my system recently, but I’m not sure what. Any advice would be appreciated.



 

 

 

Comments

SP. wrote on 7/6/2025, 7:07 AM

@daniel-DIAZ2990 Hold CTRL and SHIFT on your computer keyboard. Then double click on the Sound Forge desktop shortcut to start the app. Keep holding CTRL and SHIFT until a small window appears that will ask you if you want to reset the program settings. Reset the settings and maybe the program will start again.

Sometimes Windows updates simply install old drivers. I had this problem some years ago when Windows uninstalled my graphics driver and installed a two-year-old version. Maybe something similar happened on your device?

rraud wrote on 7/6/2025, 10:34 AM

There had been a 'few' reports of the 'Elevated Privilege' issue (after a Win 10 update) in Sound Forge11, but they were rare and mostly confined to SF-10 , So you might try running SF-11 as an administrator. Otherwise, there is a registry tweak for the 'Elevated Privilege' issue but that may not be the problem and forking around with the OS registry can be risky.

daniel-DIAZ2990 wrote on 7/7/2025, 2:15 AM

Hello, holding CTRL+SHIFT does reset the settings and delete cache, but the authorisation fails again.
Running as admin changes nothing , the issue persists.
thanks dd

 

rraud wrote on 7/7/2025, 10:24 AM

Try uninstall / reinstall again using a third-party uninstaller. I recommend 'Revo Uninstall' that can remove left-over registry entries and other pertinent data the OS uninstall leaves behind, which can cause issues to reoccur.. Revo Uninstall has a pro and freeware versions. The free version is adequate in most cases.

btw, if you have custom SF keyboard shortcuts and window layouts, which are in the 'Appdata> Roaming' and 'Local ' system folders. save them to another locaton so you can restore later.

daniel-DIAZ2990 wrote on 7/11/2025, 3:02 AM

Hi again, tried to uninstall using Revo as you suggested, I did reboot and then run installer as admin

During install I awas on a loop with this error:


it seemed to be an issue with the izotope component so I did cancel, install seemed to resume and complete. But after a reboot I had no SF11 installed, so I run the installer again, omitted izotope and install went thought.
But
Still the same issue when authorising the program:

 



Still no help from support and I can't use the program I bought, this is really unprofessional.

SP. wrote on 7/11/2025, 5:08 AM

@daniel-DIAZ2990 Try running the software in Windows 7 or 8 compatibility mode. For this, make a right click on the Sound Forge icon, select Properties and open the Compatibility tab.

daniel-DIAZ2990 wrote on 7/13/2025, 4:42 AM

Hello, @SP. thanks for your suggestion but it didn't work, still the same issue. To make it clear: the crash happens when trying to authorise, there's something with the magix autorotation tool that can't get through. I cnat even get to the SF11 start screen..
Cheers
dd