JabRef doesn't open an actual window on my Windows 11. It does launch and I can see in the Task Manger that the program kinda runs but there is no window to work with. I can also see that when starting JabRef, the icon on the taskbar shows up

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1

JabRef doesn’t open an actual window on my Windows 11. It does launch and I can see in the Task Manger that the program kinda runs but there is no window to work with. I can also see that when starting JabRef, the icon on the taskbar shows up.

My java version is 17.0.6. Running it as administrator doesn’t work, either. I have a ThinkPad T580. Earlier, I uninstalled and then reinstalled it and it worked for me, but this can’t be the solution for the future. If someone could help, that would be great.

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Hi @JJ96, have you followed Installation - JabRef?

It should be irrelevant if you have a Java version installed on your system, as JabRef comes bundled with its own version of it. What method did you use to install JabRef and what version of JabRef are you using? If you are able to open JabRef, you can find some info at Help > About JabRef. Do you have to re-install everytime you want to start JabRef, or was the only a one time occurence?

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Hey @ThiloteE, yes I followed the installation you linked and I downloaded the msi file (Version 5.9) for Windows. I’m not able to open JabRef, unfortunately. Yes, last time, the only way to solve the problem was to delete and then to reinstall jabref. But now, that it happened agaain, I guess it can’t be this way to reinstall it all the time.

4

what happens if you use the portable version of JabRef?

5

If you manage to open JabRef, resetting your preferences might be a good idea. In rare cases, incompatibilities between older and newer versions emerge. Maybe you encountered such a rare case.

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I downloaded the portable version of JabRef and extracted it on a USB stick but the problem is the same. I mean I think I could reinstall via the msi file but that doesn’t solve the issue for me in the future.

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There are some command-line options for jabref: Command line use and options - JabRef

Could you start JabRef with the option --debug and copy/paste the output here in a textfile or as preformated text (ctrl+e)?

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Maybe you will also find something in JabRef’s log files. You can find them here:

On Windows, one finds the log files in %APPDATA%\..\Local\org.jabref\jabref\Logs\{version} .
{version} indicates the currently used JabRef version.

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I have just encountered the same issue. All was working fine for months.
The following Windows updates were over night, so perhaps something there caused the issue

2024-07 Cumulative Update for Windows 11 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5040442)
2024-07 Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8.1 for Windows 11, version 22H2 for x64
2024-07 .NET 6.0.32 Security Update for x64 Client (KB5041080)

Log file after attempting to open Jabref:

2024-07-10 16:08:17 [main] org.jabref.Launcher.handleMultipleAppInstances()
INFO: Arguments passed on to running JabRef instance. Shutting down.

10

Uninstalled, and installed most recent version. Same problem. Log entries follow:

2024-07-10 16:42:21 [JavaFX Application Thread] org.jabref.gui.theme.ThemeManager.updateThemeSettings()
INFO: Not updating theme because it hasn’t changed
2024-07-10 16:42:21 [JavaFX Application Thread] org.jabref.gui.theme.ThemeManager.updateThemeSettings()
INFO: Theme set to Theme{type=DEFAULT, name=‘’} with base css StyleSheet{jrt:/org.jabref/org/jabref/gui/Base.css}
2024-07-10 16:42:24 [JavaFX Application Thread] org.jabref.gui.StateManager.setActiveDatabase()
INFO: No open database detected
2024-07-10 16:42:29 [pool-2-thread-1] org.jabref.gui.JabRefDialogService.notify()
INFO: Opening: ‘C:\Users\timald\OneDrive\texed\my-texmf\bibtex\bib\main.bib’
2024-07-10 16:42:29 [JavaFX Application Thread] sun.util.logging.internal.LoggingProviderImpl$JULWrapper.log()
WARN: Resource “” not found.
2024-07-10 16:42:32 [JavaFX Application Thread] sun.util.logging.internal.LoggingProviderImpl$JULWrapper.log()
WARN: Resource “” not found.
2024-07-10 16:42:32 [JavaFX Application Thread] org.apache.lucene.internal.vectorization.VectorizationProvider.lookup()
WARN: Java vector incubator module is not readable. For optimal vector performance, pass ‘–add-modules jdk.incubator.vector’ to enable Vector API.

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The log message says that there is still a JabRef process running, try killing that first via the task manager.

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Thank you. Had tried that, as well as a system restart, without success. However, I tried starting Jabref today, and it is now working!.

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