VediramVediramSupport

Deck won't start

installationcrashes

Symptoms

  • The Deck tray icon doesn't appear after installation.
  • The main window opens but stays blank.
  • Deck crashes immediately after launch.
  • The window opens but shows "could not connect" or can't load data.

Background

Deck is two processes: the UI (Vediram.Deck.exe) and the Core daemon (Vediram.Deck.Core.exe), which talk over the VediramDeck named pipe. The UI launches the daemon automatically. Most "won't start" issues are the daemon failing to run. See Architecture & Processes.

Deck bundles its own .NET 8 runtime (it's published self-contained), so a missing or outdated .NET Desktop Runtime is not a cause - there is nothing to install.

Solutions

Check the daemon's error log

If the daemon fails to start, it records the reason here:

Get-Content "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Vediram\Deck\core-error.log" -Tail 40

The stack trace usually points straight at the cause (for example, a locked data folder or an unreadable managed-profiles path). Also review the activity log:

Get-Content "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Vediram\Deck\core.log" -Tail 60

Confirm the daemon can run

Check whether the daemon is running, and start it directly to see any startup error:

Get-Process Vediram.Deck.Core -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

# Per-user install:
& "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Vediram\Deck\Vediram.Deck.Core.exe"
# Per-machine install:
& "$env:ProgramFiles\Vediram\Deck\Vediram.Deck.Core.exe"

Check the Windows version

Deck requires Windows 10 version 22H2 (build 22621) or later. Open Settings → System → About to verify.

Clear local data

Corrupt local data from a previous install can block startup. Close Deck, then remove the data folder (this deletes your profiles and history; the Original baseline is re-captured on next launch):

Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Vediram\Deck"

Restart Deck from the Start menu.

Check for a stale process

If a previous daemon is stuck, the single-instance guard can block a new one. End it and relaunch:

Stop-Process -Name Vediram.Deck.Core, Vediram.Deck -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Check Event Viewer

Look under Windows Logs → Application for errors from Vediram.Deck around the crash time. Include these details in any support request - see Collecting diagnostic logs.