Sigil won't start on new Windows 10 laptop

Marg1780 · 05-23-2021, 08:32 PM

Hello,

I've just finished setting up a new laptop (Acer, running Windows 10), and was looking forward to a nice evening playing with some ePub files I've been editing, but when I tried to open one, Sigil refuses to start. Now according to my installation notes, I did fire it up right after installation, and it seemed to be working, but now... nothing visible. It does recognize which ePubs I clicked on - they show up as "recently opened" if I right-click on the taskbar icon, but they don't actually appear on the screen. There are no displayed errors and no "phantom" copies of the app showing in the task manager.

I did install several other apps after Sigil, but I can't find any seemingly relevant discussions about unfortunate interactions. I've been using Sigil for years, on at least 4 different laptops, and previously it has always co-existed with the same group of apps without problems. I haven't installed anything that wasn't on my old laptop, and both laptops are up-to-date with Windows 10 so the OS itself should be within a patch or two of being identical.

I did install a more recent version of Calibre on this laptop (5.17) and had trouble installing some of its plug-ins which turned out to be because Calibre is now using a different installation of Python, but I believe that would have no effect on the app world outside of Calibre itself. (I'm not computer illiterate but I am 100% Python illiterate.) Anyway, Calibre was installed, set-up and tested prior to installing Sigil, and is working as it should.

Previously Sigil hasn't played up on me at all, so I've had no experience attempting to debug issues, especially the ones that show no external symptoms as a starting place.

I found mention on another thread of going into the AppData\Local\sigil-ebook\sigil folder, renaming sigil.ini and trying to start it again. It still doesn't come up, and it does NOT create a new copy of sigil.ini, so it's failing prior to reaching that functional step.

I'm not running the current version but it is the same version that was running perfectly on my old laptop, installed there from the same file. I did not port over any modified preferences files, just started from the out-of-the-box version. (I found a discussion of incompatibilities in the ini files on github.)

And at this point I'm out of ideas, and any suggestions would be welcome. On my old system, Sigil was certainly the single app I use most frequently, so I'm really desperate to get it working again.

KevinH · 05-23-2021, 08:46 PM

Could you be missing the required Microsoft C++ runtime library? Sigil no longer installs it.

Have you tried renaming the sigil.ini file in case it got corrupted?

Have you tried installing the latest version?

Marg1780 · 05-23-2021, 10:41 PM

Thanks for your reply.

What exact library is needed? I've both versions (32/64bit) of the 2008 Redistributable, the 2015 64bit and the 2015-2019 32bit. But I haven't done any Windows development in years, so I've no idea if that's the full current set. (Does the installation process not complain in some way if that is missing?)

Yes, I tried renaming the ini file, and as I mentioned, when I tried to start the app after that, it did *not* create a new one, so it wasn't getting that far.

I've been clinging to an older version of Sigil since I can't imagine using it without the Book View - #1 on the list of the apps best and most valuable features, for my money - though it's certainly on my list of experiments to try as a last resort. I'd really-really rather find a solution that didn't end up there, though...

KevinH · 05-23-2021, 11:42 PM

Perhaps a Windows user can help with the missing C++ version runtime but knowing your exact Sigil version would help.

FWIW, Many of BookViews capabilities are now part of separate program called PageEdit which can be coupled to Sigil. And of course there is always Sigil with Preview enabled.

Also, have you tried downloading a fresh copy of Sigil-0.9.14 Windows installer (the most recent version to still have Bookview) and try installing it.

Marg1780 · 05-24-2021, 12:52 AM

I'm currently running (or at the moment trying to...) 0.9.10, which is where I was when I heard the words of doom. <G> Thanks for mentioning what the last Book View version is; I neglected to note it down (somewhere I can now find, anyway) at the time, and hadn't yet gotten around to digging it up. I would have upgraded to it then, but there was a kefluffle about the intermediate versions, which I gather had some serious issues, so it seemed wiser to stick with one I knew worked well.

I tried Preview back when I first became a user, but it has the same disadvantage as I'm sure must PageEdit, which I have not tried: it uses up desktop real estate to no gain. I use my laptop as an actual laptop, ie no potential for a second screen, so desktop is at a premium even with a 17-inch monitor. One of the things that made me fall in love with Sigil Classic is that it can function very nicely in the middle third-slightly-plus of the screen, with a bunch of reference docs or heavily referenced folders squeezed into the sides. Lovely and convenient, both views accessible with a single click. I know lots of folks prefer having both all the time, but the quick-flip method works for me. In several years of frequent usage, I've literally never felt the need to open the preview window again.

I'll give 9.14 a try. Thanks again for your input!

Ashjuk · 05-24-2021, 04:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinH

Perhaps a Windows user can help with the missing C++ version runtime but knowing your exact Sigil version would help.

I have checked my Windows 10 machine and I have 19 versions of Visual C++ installed ranging from 2005 to 2019.

Looking at the DLLs that Sigil has called using Process Explorer I can see that it is using vc runtime 140.dll and vc runtime 140_1.dll

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/at...1&d=1621844650

Checking the details of those it appears the version number is - 14.26.28808.1

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/at...1&d=1621844650

Checking that it seems you will either need the 32 bit or 64 bit version from this download page - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...f-95f26a218cc0

Hope that helps.

DiapDealer · 05-24-2021, 05:23 AM

The correct runtime comes with Sigil. It just doesn't try to install it if a minimum version of a compatible runtime is detected as being installed. Newer versions of Sigil also give the option to skip the checking/installation of the c++runtime altogether when installing. No one should really exercise that option if they don't know whether or not they already have a compatible runtime installed.

If renaming the Sigil.ini doesn't work (and no new Sigil.ini is created), then I'm out of ideas. I've never seen a situation where the default Sigil.ini would not be created.

You mentioned calibre, so I have to ask if you're launching Sigil completely separate from calibre, or if you're launching it via calibre's Open With feature/plugin.

Check the app logs in Windows' Event Viewer for any Sigil-related errors. Might be a clue there. You can also exempt the Sigil exe and directories from any malware scanners you may be using. We've had one report of back-up software flagging Sigil and not letting it launch.

Turtle91 · 05-24-2021, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marg1780

...

I tried Preview back when I first became a user, but it has the same disadvantage as I'm sure must PageEdit, which I have not tried: it uses up desktop real estate to no gain. I use my laptop as an actual laptop, ie no potential for a second screen, so desktop is at a premium even with a 17-inch monitor. One of the things that made me fall in love with Sigil Classic is that it can function very nicely in the middle third-slightly-plus of the screen, with a bunch of reference docs or heavily referenced folders squeezed into the sides. Lovely and convenient, both views accessible with a single click. I know lots of folks prefer having both all the time, but the quick-flip method works for me. In several years of frequent usage, I've literally never felt the need to open the preview window again.

...

If realestate is the only difficulty, then using preview can give you more realestate than book view with half the trouble!!

'How is that?' you ask...

Simply undock the preview window (double click in the header area), then resize the window to whatever size you wish - including full screen - just drag on the edges.

Then you can toggle the preview window on and off by hitting the F10 button!

Just ONE button push is only half of the TWO mouse clicks required to toggle between code view and book view!!

If you ever do add a second monitor then it's even nicer because you can put the preview window on a different monitor and keep it up all the time.

Personally, I keep preview, Book browser, and the ToC windows tabbed off to the side. That only takes a single mouse click to switch view without losing any realestate. Having BOTH code view and preview open at the same time makes it soooo easy to instantly see any changes you make in code view!

Cheers,

Marg1780 · 05-25-2021, 12:14 AM

Many thanks, all, for the feedback and information.

DiapDealer: Yes, it does seem strange that I'm getting no rebuild on the .ini file, since that seems to be such a common fix. I get the one during install, and nothing further.

I run Sigil and Calibre separately. Occasionally when I want to make a change to something within Calibre, I just use their editor.

I've excluded Sigil from Norton scans to see if that makes a difference. I've had problems with 360 deleting old exe files, but never this set of behaviors. I do know that it isn't actually deleting Sigil.exe but it may be messing with it otherwise.

Speaking of behaviors, I've got a new oddity to add to my list. Last night, I did another reinstall (overtop of what was already in), based on another discussion I found online. I put the 32bit version of 0.9.10 in, tried to open a file, and it worked just fine. So, I installed the 64bit to see what would happen - and again the ePub opened just fine. So for the rest of the evening, I used Sigil as normal... Didn't understand why, but was happy to have it back.

This morning, it was back to not starting. In between, I'd done nothing at all on the user level aside from leaving a long backup running. The laptop wasn't even rebooted, though it went to sleep after 5 hours. So, that symptom might match with an issue related somehow to a Norton idle-time scan. I did the reinstall again, and again it got the package back into functional shape. Right at the moment, it's working fine.

When I rooted around in the Apps event log, sure enough, I'm getting some error entries from Sigil, all of which seem to relate to a DLL called _ssl.pyd. Black box for me; I really am 100% Python illiterate, so I've no guesses on whether or not that's a useful revelation. I'm not sure there's a 1-1 relationship between those entries and it not working at all; the times don't seem to match up with when I was seeing it dead, but I could be wrong on that since I wasn't making immediate checks.

Turtle91: Thanks for all the info. I normally work with Book browser, the main window and a very-very skinny version of the ToC window. I've certainly used the code/preview split in html editors and so on, so I understand the advantages. Still plan to checkout the new version eventually, but I've been saying that for a while...

DiapDealer · 05-25-2021, 05:12 AM

The Python _ssl.pyd errors are almost certainly relevant. Regardless of whether the times don't match up with Sigil not working, there should be no errors in the Windows events log related to Sigil. Sounds to me like the Sigil update check is silently crashing. That could very well be early enough in the launch process to explain why no new Sigil.ini is created after renaming it.

Two possibilities come to mind: 1) a process is being blocked by a firewall application 2) another program you have installed has somehow exposed a version of openssl that is incompatible with Sigil's Qt (though I don't think the latter is likely since Sigil long ago offloaded the update check to an embedded python routine precisely to avoid crashes due to incompatible openssl libs being on the PATH on Windows systems).

Can you post the exact error message you're seeing regarding _ssl.pyd?

Marg1780 · 05-25-2021, 07:01 PM

DiapDealer: (Again, many-many thanks for your assistance.) My husband did the initial set-up on the laptop, but its security set-up is pretty standard, and barring version updates sb the same as it was on the last system. I can't speak to the potential ssl problem since I am using the same set of apps but did not install them in the same order.

Here's the event log. I checked through 4-5 postings of it, and it's always the same exception/offset combo.

Faulting application name: Sigil.exe, version: 0.9.10.0, time stamp: 0x5b57d48e
Faulting module name: _ssl.pyd, version: 3.5.1150.1013, time stamp: 0x576f0491
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00000000000073e3
Faulting process id: 0x98c
Faulting application start time: 0x01d750f999a4bc61
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\Sigil\Sigil.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\Sigil\DLLs\_ssl.pyd
Report Id: 43ba5e0f-abf8-4784-b027-4f2ddf115e22
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

Btw, there have been no new events posted today, ie after I marked the app as not to be scanned by the antivirus. Too early to say if that's significant, since I was out most of the day and haven't been using the system.

DiapDealer · 05-25-2021, 07:54 PM

If it happens again, I would suggest making sure Sigil's entire program directory is exempt from malware scanning. Not just Sigil.exe

Since I suspect the problem is related to Sigil's online update checker, you could try blocking Sigil.exe from accessing the internet entirely (with your firewall). Doing so might actually trick Sigil into thinking there's no internet connection, thus skipping any attempt to contact github.com (to check for the latest version of Sigil) via ssl altogether.

There are several third-party Sigil plugins that check for new versions of themselves in the same manner. So if you use any of them, it could put you in the same boat. But that, at least, would be python.exe making the call and not Sigil.exe.

Marg1780 · 05-25-2021, 08:34 PM

Okay, thanks much - for the moment, I'll just give it some time and see how the pattern plays out.

05-24-2021, 05:23 AM	#7
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,356 Karma: 203720150 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	The correct runtime comes with Sigil. It just doesn't try to install it if a minimum version of a compatible runtime is detected as being installed. Newer versions of Sigil also give the option to skip the checking/installation of the c++runtime altogether when installing. No one should really exercise that option if they don't know whether or not they already have a compatible runtime installed. If renaming the Sigil.ini doesn't work (and no new Sigil.ini is created), then I'm out of ideas. I've never seen a situation where the default Sigil.ini would not be created. You mentioned calibre, so I have to ask if you're launching Sigil completely separate from calibre, or if you're launching it via calibre's Open With feature/plugin. Check the app logs in Windows' Event Viewer for any Sigil-related errors. Might be a clue there. You can also exempt the Sigil exe and directories from any malware scanners you may be using. We've had one report of back-up software flagging Sigil and not letting it launch. Last edited by DiapDealer; 05-24-2021 at 01:49 PM.

05-25-2021, 05:12 AM	#10
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,356 Karma: 203720150 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	The Python _ssl.pyd errors are almost certainly relevant. Regardless of whether the times don't match up with Sigil not working, there should be no errors in the Windows events log related to Sigil. Sounds to me like the Sigil update check is silently crashing. That could very well be early enough in the launch process to explain why no new Sigil.ini is created after renaming it. Two possibilities come to mind: 1) a process is being blocked by a firewall application 2) another program you have installed has somehow exposed a version of openssl that is incompatible with Sigil's Qt (though I don't think the latter is likely since Sigil long ago offloaded the update check to an embedded python routine precisely to avoid crashes due to incompatible openssl libs being on the PATH on Windows systems). Can you post the exact error message you're seeing regarding _ssl.pyd? Last edited by DiapDealer; 05-25-2021 at 05:19 AM.

05-25-2021, 07:54 PM	#12
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,356 Karma: 203720150 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	If it happens again, I would suggest making sure Sigil's entire program directory is exempt from malware scanning. Not just Sigil.exe Since I suspect the problem is related to Sigil's online update checker, you could try blocking Sigil.exe from accessing the internet entirely (with your firewall). Doing so might actually trick Sigil into thinking there's no internet connection, thus skipping any attempt to contact github.com (to check for the latest version of Sigil) via ssl altogether. There are several third-party Sigil plugins that check for new versions of themselves in the same manner. So if you use any of them, it could put you in the same boat. But that, at least, would be python.exe making the call and not Sigil.exe. Last edited by DiapDealer; 05-25-2021 at 08:17 PM.

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05-23-2021, 08:32 PM	#1
Marg1780 Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2018 Location: Ontario, Canada Device: Kobo Clara	Sigil won't start on new Windows 10 laptop Hello, I've just finished setting up a new laptop (Acer, running Windows 10), and was looking forward to a nice evening playing with some ePub files I've been editing, but when I tried to open one, Sigil refuses to start. Now according to my installation notes, I did fire it up right after installation, and it seemed to be working, but now... nothing visible. It does recognize which ePubs I clicked on - they show up as "recently opened" if I right-click on the taskbar icon, but they don't actually appear on the screen. There are no displayed errors and no "phantom" copies of the app showing in the task manager. I did install several other apps after Sigil, but I can't find any seemingly relevant discussions about unfortunate interactions. I've been using Sigil for years, on at least 4 different laptops, and previously it has always co-existed with the same group of apps without problems. I haven't installed anything that wasn't on my old laptop, and both laptops are up-to-date with Windows 10 so the OS itself should be within a patch or two of being identical. I did install a more recent version of Calibre on this laptop (5.17) and had trouble installing some of its plug-ins which turned out to be because Calibre is now using a different installation of Python, but I believe that would have no effect on the app world outside of Calibre itself. (I'm not computer illiterate but I am 100% Python illiterate.) Anyway, Calibre was installed, set-up and tested prior to installing Sigil, and is working as it should. Previously Sigil hasn't played up on me at all, so I've had no experience attempting to debug issues, especially the ones that show no external symptoms as a starting place. I found mention on another thread of going into the AppData\Local\sigil-ebook\sigil folder, renaming sigil.ini and trying to start it again. It still doesn't come up, and it does NOT create a new copy of sigil.ini, so it's failing prior to reaching that functional step. I'm not running the current version but it is the same version that was running perfectly on my old laptop, installed there from the same file. I did not port over any modified preferences files, just started from the out-of-the-box version. (I found a discussion of incompatibilities in the ini files on github.) And at this point I'm out of ideas, and any suggestions would be welcome. On my old system, Sigil was certainly the single app I use most frequently, so I'm really desperate to get it working again.

05-23-2021, 08:46 PM	#2
KevinH Sigil Developer Posts: 8,475 Karma: 5703586 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: many	Could you be missing the required Microsoft C++ runtime library? Sigil no longer installs it. Have you tried renaming the sigil.ini file in case it got corrupted? Have you tried installing the latest version?

05-23-2021, 10:41 PM	#3
Marg1780 Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2018 Location: Ontario, Canada Device: Kobo Clara	Thanks for your reply. What exact library is needed? I've both versions (32/64bit) of the 2008 Redistributable, the 2015 64bit and the 2015-2019 32bit. But I haven't done any Windows development in years, so I've no idea if that's the full current set. (Does the installation process not complain in some way if that is missing?) Yes, I tried renaming the ini file, and as I mentioned, when I tried to start the app after that, it did not create a new one, so it wasn't getting that far. I've been clinging to an older version of Sigil since I can't imagine using it without the Book View - #1 on the list of the apps best and most valuable features, for my money - though it's certainly on my list of experiments to try as a last resort. I'd really-really rather find a solution that didn't end up there, though...

05-23-2021, 11:42 PM	#4
KevinH Sigil Developer Posts: 8,475 Karma: 5703586 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: many	Perhaps a Windows user can help with the missing C++ version runtime but knowing your exact Sigil version would help. FWIW, Many of BookViews capabilities are now part of separate program called PageEdit which can be coupled to Sigil. And of course there is always Sigil with Preview enabled. Also, have you tried downloading a fresh copy of Sigil-0.9.14 Windows installer (the most recent version to still have Bookview) and try installing it.

05-24-2021, 12:52 AM	#5
Marg1780 Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2018 Location: Ontario, Canada Device: Kobo Clara	I'm currently running (or at the moment trying to...) 0.9.10, which is where I was when I heard the words of doom. <G> Thanks for mentioning what the last Book View version is; I neglected to note it down (somewhere I can now find, anyway) at the time, and hadn't yet gotten around to digging it up. I would have upgraded to it then, but there was a kefluffle about the intermediate versions, which I gather had some serious issues, so it seemed wiser to stick with one I knew worked well. I tried Preview back when I first became a user, but it has the same disadvantage as I'm sure must PageEdit, which I have not tried: it uses up desktop real estate to no gain. I use my laptop as an actual laptop, ie no potential for a second screen, so desktop is at a premium even with a 17-inch monitor. One of the things that made me fall in love with Sigil Classic is that it can function very nicely in the middle third-slightly-plus of the screen, with a bunch of reference docs or heavily referenced folders squeezed into the sides. Lovely and convenient, both views accessible with a single click. I know lots of folks prefer having both all the time, but the quick-flip method works for me. In several years of frequent usage, I've literally never felt the need to open the preview window again. I'll give 9.14 a try. Thanks again for your input!

05-25-2021, 12:14 AM	#9
Marg1780 Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2018 Location: Ontario, Canada Device: Kobo Clara	Many thanks, all, for the feedback and information. DiapDealer: Yes, it does seem strange that I'm getting no rebuild on the .ini file, since that seems to be such a common fix. I get the one during install, and nothing further. I run Sigil and Calibre separately. Occasionally when I want to make a change to something within Calibre, I just use their editor. I've excluded Sigil from Norton scans to see if that makes a difference. I've had problems with 360 deleting old exe files, but never this set of behaviors. I do know that it isn't actually deleting Sigil.exe but it may be messing with it otherwise. Speaking of behaviors, I've got a new oddity to add to my list. Last night, I did another reinstall (overtop of what was already in), based on another discussion I found online. I put the 32bit version of 0.9.10 in, tried to open a file, and it worked just fine. So, I installed the 64bit to see what would happen - and again the ePub opened just fine. So for the rest of the evening, I used Sigil as normal... Didn't understand why, but was happy to have it back. This morning, it was back to not starting. In between, I'd done nothing at all on the user level aside from leaving a long backup running. The laptop wasn't even rebooted, though it went to sleep after 5 hours. So, that symptom might match with an issue related somehow to a Norton idle-time scan. I did the reinstall again, and again it got the package back into functional shape. Right at the moment, it's working fine. When I rooted around in the Apps event log, sure enough, I'm getting some error entries from Sigil, all of which seem to relate to a DLL called _ssl.pyd. Black box for me; I really am 100% Python illiterate, so I've no guesses on whether or not that's a useful revelation. I'm not sure there's a 1-1 relationship between those entries and it not working at all; the times don't seem to match up with when I was seeing it dead, but I could be wrong on that since I wasn't making immediate checks. Turtle91: Thanks for all the info. I normally work with Book browser, the main window and a very-very skinny version of the ToC window. I've certainly used the code/preview split in html editors and so on, so I understand the advantages. Still plan to checkout the new version eventually, but I've been saying that for a while...

05-25-2021, 07:01 PM	#11
Marg1780 Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2018 Location: Ontario, Canada Device: Kobo Clara	DiapDealer: (Again, many-many thanks for your assistance.) My husband did the initial set-up on the laptop, but its security set-up is pretty standard, and barring version updates sb the same as it was on the last system. I can't speak to the potential ssl problem since I am using the same set of apps but did not install them in the same order. Here's the event log. I checked through 4-5 postings of it, and it's always the same exception/offset combo. Faulting application name: Sigil.exe, version: 0.9.10.0, time stamp: 0x5b57d48e Faulting module name: _ssl.pyd, version: 3.5.1150.1013, time stamp: 0x576f0491 Exception code: 0xc0000005 Fault offset: 0x00000000000073e3 Faulting process id: 0x98c Faulting application start time: 0x01d750f999a4bc61 Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\Sigil\Sigil.exe Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\Sigil\DLLs\_ssl.pyd Report Id: 43ba5e0f-abf8-4784-b027-4f2ddf115e22 Faulting package full name: Faulting package-relative application ID: Btw, there have been no new events posted today, ie after I marked the app as not to be scanned by the antivirus. Too early to say if that's significant, since I was out most of the day and haven't been using the system.

05-25-2021, 08:34 PM	#13
Marg1780 Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2018 Location: Ontario, Canada Device: Kobo Clara	Okay, thanks much - for the moment, I'll just give it some time and see how the pattern plays out.

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