DaVinci Resolve not opening or keeps crashing on startup

Is DaVinci Resolve not launching or opening on your Windows PC? DaVinci Resolve is an advanced video editing software for Windows and other platforms. It offers both free and paid editions that you can use to create professional videos. However, some users have reported experiencing launch issues with the software. Many have reported that DaVinci Resolve crashes as soon as they start the video editor.

Is DaVinci Resolve good for low end PC?

DaVinci Resolve is a resource-demanding video editing application that requires hardware with higher configurations, especially GPU and RAM. It will likely stutter, crash, or freeze on a low-end PC. However, you can use its “Generate Optimized Media” feature to improve its playback performance on a low-end computer. You can right-click on your videos in Media Pool and select the Generate Optimized Media option.

DaVinci Resolve not opening or keeps crashing on startup

If DaVinci Resolve is not launching or opening on your PC or keeps crashing whenever you launch the software, here are the solutions you can use to fix the issue:

1. Make sure your graphics drivers are up-to-date.
2. Use the dedicated GPU instead of the integrated GPU.
3. Increase your virtual memory.
4. Enable IGPU Multi-Monitor.
5. Reset DaVinci Resolve preferences.
6. Change the priority of the DaVinci Resolve process.
7. Change the location of the input video file.
8. Convert your video file to MOV.
9. Update or Clean install DaVinci Resolve.

Before you proceed, check the minimum system requirements of DaVinci Resolve and see if your PC meets them.

1] Make sure your graphics drivers are up-to-date

To avoid crashes with DaVinci Resolve or any other GPU-based application, you must have the latest graphics drivers installed on your PC. So, update the graphics drivers and then use Resolve to check if the issue is fixed.

2] Use the dedicated GPU instead of the integrated GPU

If the issue occurs when using the integrated GPU, try running DaVinci Resolve on your dedicated GPU. As DaVinci Resolve is quite a resource-intensive software, running the video editor on the dedicated GPU should prevent crashes. This fix has been proven to be effective for some affected users. You can also try doing the same and see if the problem is resolved.

1. Open Settings by Win + I.
2. Go to System > Display.
3. Now, scroll down to Related Settings and select Graphics.
4. Look for the app you want to configure from the given list. If you can’t find it there, click Browse, navigate to its location and select its EXE file.
5. Now, click Options.
6. You will see the Graphics Preferences window, select High performance, and click Save.

In addition to the above method, you can also try disabling your integrated GPU and check if it helps. Here’s how you can do that:

• First, press Win+R to open Run and enter devmgmt.msc in the Open field to open the Device Manager app.
• Now, expand the Display adapters category and right-click on the integrated GPU device.
• Next, from the appeared context menu, select the Disable device option to disable it.
• Finally, reopen Resolve and check if it has stopped crashing or not.

Read: DaVinci Resolve rendering zero-byte files on Windows.

3] Expand your virtual memory

If DaVinci Resolve still keeps crashing or doesn’t launch at all, you can try increasing your virtual memory. Here are the steps to do that:

• Firstly, press Win+R to evoke the Run command box, and in its Openf field, type & enter sysdm.cpl to open the System Properties window.
• Now, navigate to the Advanced tab and tap on the Settings button present under the Performance section.
• After that, move to the Advanced tab in the newly opened window and hit the Change button present below the Virtual memory section.
• Next, uncheck the Automatically manage paging file size for all drives box.
• Now, click on the Custom size option and enter the required values in the Initial size (MB) and Maximum size (MB) fields. As per recommendations, enter 3500 MB for the Initial size and 7000 MB for the Maximum size.
• Once done, press the OK button and reboot your computer.

On the next startup, launch DaVinci Resolve and see if the launch and crash issues are resolved.

Read: Fix Your GPU memory is full in DaVinci Resolve.

4] Enable IGPU Multi-Monitor

Another workaround that has worked for some users is enabling the IGPU Multi-Monitor feature in your BIOS settings. So, you can also do the same and check if it works for you. Here’s how to do that:

• First, restart your computer and press the F2 key on the initial screen to enter your BIOS settings. This key will differ based on your hardware model.
• Once you enter the BIOS setup, go to the Advanced settings.
• Now, look for the IGPU Multi-Monitor option and set its state to Enabled.
• Next, save the settings and reboot your PC to check if the problem is resolved.

The above steps may differ for your computer. So, you can refer to online guides and apply the steps accordingly.

5] Reset DaVinci Resolve preferences

This issue is likely to occur when user preferences data is corrupted. If the scenario is applicable, you can reset DaVinci Resolve’s preferences to the factory defaults and check if you have stopped experiencing crashes.

To do that, open DaVinci Resolve, and once you manage to get into the software, go to the DaVinci Resolve menu present in the top-left corner. Now, select the Preferences option. Or, you can just press the Ctrl+, hotkey to select Preferences.

Now, in the newly opened window, click on the three-dot menu button present at the top-right corner of the System tab. After that, choose the Reset System Preferences option and then press the Reset button on the confirmation dialog.

After that, move to the User tab and click on the three-dot menu button. Next, click on the Reset User Preferences option and then hit the Reset button.

Once done, restart the DaVinci Resolve software and check if the frequent crashes have stopped.

Read: Unable to initialize OpenGL on Windows.

6] Change the priority of the DaVinci Resolve process

If multiple programs run on your computer, your system resources will be occupied. , Resolve won’t be able to use your system resources as per its requirements. As a result, it will keep crashing or freezing. Hence, if the scenario is applicable, you can run DaVinci Resolve on high priority to fix the crashes.

Here are the steps to do that:

• First, make sure DaVinci Resolve is running on your PC.
• Now, press the CTRL+SHIFT+ESC shortcut key to open Task Manager.
• Next, right-click on DaVinci Resolve in the Processes tab and click on the Go to details option.
• After that, right-click on the Resolve.exe process and select the Set priority > High option.

Once done, continue using DaVinci Resolve and check whether it has stopped crashing.

See: Fix Microsoft Video Editor not exporting problems in Windows.

7] Change the location of the input video file

Some users have reported that changing the location of the source video file has helped them prevent Resolve crashes. If you are experiencing the issue while editing certain video files, it might be the case that there are some issues with the location of the video file. For example, the application might not have full permission to access and modify the folder where your source video file is present. Hence, you can move the source video file to a different folder and open it in DaVinci Resolve to check if the problem is resolved.

8] Convert your video file to MOV

The crashing issue will likely occur when importing and editing MP4 files in Resolve on certain laptops. So, in that case, you can convert the MP4 file to MOV format and then import the video into Resolve to check if the problem is resolved.

9] Update or Clean install DaVinci Resolve

The issue may also occur if you use an outdated or corrupted version of DaVinci Resolve. Hence, update the software and see if the crashes are stopped. To update DaVinci Resolve, open the software and click on the DaVinci Resolve menu. After that, choose the Check for updates option and let it check for pending software updates.

If that doesn’t help, uninstall it. After its removal, go to the installation folder of the software and delete the DaVinci Resolve folder. By default, DaVinci Resolve installs at the C:\Program Files\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve location. Remove other leftover files related to the software.

Once done, please reboot your computer, download the latest version of DaVinci Resolve from its official website, and then fresh-install it.

I hope this post helps you fix DaVinci Resolve crashes and launching problems.

Read: No sound in the Video Editor app in Windows.

What to do if DaVinci Resolve is not opening?

If DaVinci Resolve is not opening, you should check its minimum system requirements and ensure that your system fulfills them. If that doesn’t help, consider reinstalling the software as it might be corrupted or incorrectly installed.

Read next: Fix DaVinci Resolve high CPU usage on Windows PC.