NO_ANSWER_FROM_MAKEMKVCON

[MarkRavingstad]

I can no longer launch the GUI on Windows 10-dot-current. I just receive an error message:

---------------------------
MakeMKV
---------------------------
Application failed to initialize
NO_ANSWER_FROM_MAKEMKVCON
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

I'm not finding anything on point by searching the forums here. Am I doing it wrong?

If it's really not here, can anyone offer a suggestion to help me, please?

(In an attempt to make discussion of this error easier to search for in the future, I'm adding the punctuation-free version of the error string: NOANSWERFROMMAKEMKVCON)

[Woodstock]

Are there any events logged by the Event Viewer? This behavior can happen if the console program is blocked by antivirus programs. v1.16.4 comes up clean on virustotal.com, but that does not mean some antivirus or even firewall rules can take exception to it and block it.

Did you JUST install 1.16.4? Any recent Windows updates?

[MarkRavingstad]

Thank you, @Woodstock.

I'll check Event Viewer. Going to be gone for a week.

For what it's worth, it just stopped working one day. Working on my Plex Server laptop, but not on another laptop. Otherwise, OS and antivirus (just the built-in Microsoft Defender) are the same on both systems, and both are up to date. Defender reports not having blocked anything.

Not sure when I last used MakeMKV on this system. May even have been a month or so. I've installed software, uninstalled software, updated Windows, and whatnot in the meantime.

Defender has an option to turn if off for a time. I'll try that, and I'll see what Event Viewer shows too. Thanks for the pointers.

And thanks for MakeMKV. Finally figured out how to pay for a copy. More than happy to have done so. I've ripped over 2,000 movies that we own, and with Plex, I no longer need to comb through all those boxes to find the one I want. Movie night is no longer frustrating!

[MarkRavingstad]

@Woodstock:

I'm still getting the error message on only the one computer.

Event Viewer shows nothing related to starting MakeMKV. Windows Defender shows no events in Protection History.

It's certainly possible that I'm not using Event Viewer properly, or not looking in the right place or for the right text string. I use the utility less than once a year.

I'll try dusting off Process Explorer or Process Monitor. Although I've used them in the past, I'm very feeble with these tools, and if anyone has advice on how to use them to troubleshoot this particular problem, I'm all ears - well, eyes.

[MarkRavingstad]

Found a solution.

When I first installed MakeMKV a year or more ago, I attempted to set the default file-save path and also managed to move the path where _private_data.tar is saved. They were pathed to a network location. When I modified the naming structure of the network path, MakeMKV could no longer access the location. Rather than alerting the user that the MakeMKV data directory, set on the General tab in Preferences, was no longer valid, the program would fail to start. That prevented me from going through Preferences to see if anything could be found there. Uninstalling and reinstalling the program didn't help either, because that process does not remove preferences from the Windows registry.

Something I read earlier today mentioned the MakeMKV data directory, and that triggered a memory for me. So I trawled the Windows registry and found the old path; setting it to a valid folder has MakeMKV working for me again.

Is there some way to ask the programmer (Mike?) to beware a missing data directory and have the software offer the user a chance to fix it?

[aloha]

Hello:
That is awesome you found the invalid path in the registry. Would you kindly provide the registry path location in case others have a situation similar to yours.

-A

[exitguy]

Same here, so setup a MakeMKVDataDirectory folder on my C: drive and in the Preferences pointed to there. No issue ever since, updates .tar file without problems now and works every time.

[MarkRavingstad]

Oops!

Registry key:
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\MakeMKV

The key app_DataDir contains the path that MakeMKV is looking for. Once you find it there, you may need to reset it elsewhere in the registry. Double-click on the app_DataDir key and copy the value. The key is not present in a test installation, so you can close the dialog box and safely delete the app_DataDir key.

Then search the registry for any other instance of the wrong path copied above and reset it to default. There will be at least one more entry (perhaps more, depending on your setup), found in HKEY_USERS.

(Edited following test in default environment.)

[ekpen]

Hello:
Ubuntu 22.04 amd 64.
I just finished installing or upgrading to Ubuntu 22.04.
error on loading makemkv 1.16.7:
Application failed to initialize... NO response from Makemkvcon.

Any help as to why this error is coming up ?

Thanks.
George Omoregie

[nickdanp]

Thank you Mark - no more trying to 'jump start' MakeMKV every time I open it in future...

[mike admin]

I just finished installing or upgrading to Ubuntu 22.04.
error on loading makemkv 1.16.7:
Application failed to initialize... NO response from Makemkvcon.

Likely libraries changed between ubuntu major releases. Firstly, just try running makemkvcon from command line and see if any error shows up.
Easiest fix -just reinstall MakeMKV (and install 1.17.0 while you're at it...).