Davinci Resolve 17: Stuck on “Loading Fairlight Engine”

I would be grateful for any assistance. Most of the threads on this topic seem to be for older versions, so I thought that it would be okay to start a new thread for this one.

This is a new machine and I’ve been stuck for weeks. I’m 99% sure that I was able to run Resolve once when I first installed the application. I remember starting the application and looking around the menus before shutting it down and then continuing to install other applications. Later, when I actually tried to use Resolve, it would always get stuck at “LOADING FAIRLIGHT ENGINE.” I don’t have any Resolve work saved on this machine, so I was able to completely purge all Blackmagic data between re-installs.

I have uninstalled and reinstalled it over a dozen times.
Most uninstalls included deleting various Black Magic folders including:
.........\Documents\Blackmagic Design\
.........C:\Program Files\Blackmagic Design\
.........C:\Users\{user}\AppData\Roaming\Blackmagic Design
Hyper-V is OFF (according to Windows features)
I tried various installation options, starting without the Fairlight options, and later with them. Nothing changed.
I have NOT manually deleted anything from the registry during uninstalls
I have uninstalled and reinstalled video drivers
I have uninstalled and reinstalled chipset drivers


Two of my log files can be retrieved here (remove the space before “org”):
nomoon. org/resolve/DaVinci-Resolve-logs-20210616_164532.zip
nomoon. org/resolve/DaVinci-Resolve-logs-20210712_105820.zip
nomoon .org/resolve/DaVinci-Resolve-logs-20210720_160604.zip (edit: added this 7/20/2021)

Windows NFO file here (remove the space before “org”): (please let me know when you've downloaded it so that I can delete it)
nomoon. org/resolve/WindowsNFO.NFO

System Info:
=================================================
CPU: AMD 5950x
GPU: Gigabyte R7 360 OC (AMD chip) This card ran okay with Resolve on my old machine.
RAM: 128 GB
MB: Gigabyte x570 Aorus Master
OS: Windows 10 Pro, Version 21H1, Build 19043.1083
Resolve Version: 17.2.2 (also tried 17.2.1_
Radeon Software Version: 21.5.2 (released 5/11/2021)
Display Adapter Driver Version: 27.20.21003.8013 (from Windows Device Manager).
Display Adapter Driver Provider: Advanced Micro Devices. Inc.

Thank you for any assistance anyone can provide!

I've had this issue before and was able to fix this by running System File Checker tool.
Open command prompt as admin and run this command - sfc /scannow

More information on what this tool does can be found here https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/use-the-system-file-checker-tool-to-repair-missing-or-corrupted-system-files-79aa86cb-ca52-166a-92a3-966e85d4094e

In short this command will scan all protected Windows system files, and replace corrupted files if it finds any.

Eugene,
Thanks for the tip, but no luck though. It did repair some things the first time I ran it, though. However, I've uninstalled and reinstalled resolve a couple of times since then and the result is exactly the same. I did noticed that my Apps listing in Windows shows "Fairlight Audio Accellerator Utility 1.0.13," but I get an error when I try to uninstall it:

Windows cannot find 'C:\Program Files\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve\audio\Fairlight Audio Accelerator\unins000.exe'.

On my machine, there is no folder named 'C:\Program Files\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve\audio\Fairlight Audio Accelerator\'. Even if I opt to install all features, it doesn't create this folder. I don't know if this is related to the problem. I wonder if I accidentally deleted the folder before uninstalling it from Windows Apps, and now it's in limbo where the installer won't install because it sees the registry and thinks that it's still there.

I had this same issue yesterday as well after updating nvidia and motherboard drivers. Funny enough it sat there for a few minutes and eventually it went into DR on its own. I closed and reopened DR again without issue, and it hasn’t happened since. Not much help but maybe just leave DR open for a while when this happens?

... it sat there for a few minutes and eventually it went into DR on its own...

I read about at least one instance in this forum (maybe it was you) about someone who had luck with just giving it time. Unfortunately, this hasn't worked for me. I've let it sit for hours and even overnight once.

I'm hoping that one of the Black Magic people will take a look at the data I left in the links from the original post. Is there a form to contact support directly?

Dwaine Maggart or Peter Chamberlain, if you have a moment, I would be extremely grateful if you would take a look at the Log and NFO files in the links in my original post.

Thank you,
Jason

I had this issue when I had Python installed on my machine. Uninstalling python fixed it. But then I had to install python again just without the SYS PATH added.

I had this issue when I had Python installed on my machine. Uninstalling python fixed it. ...

Thank you for your input. I don't have Python installed, but I appreciate your taking the time to share your experience. Hopefully, one of these suggestions will have the info I need.

FYI:My latest log is here. (remove the space before “org”):

nomoon .org/resolve/DaVinci-Resolve-logs-20210720_160604.zip

Version 16 won't run either.

I uninstalled 17 and installed 16. It made it past the "Quick System Check" and it gave check marks to the Operation System and the Graphics Card. It then gave an "unexpected" error as it tried to create a project and it sent information to Black Magic with my contact information.

I finally got this thing running. I got additional clues from installing version 16 and examining those log files which contain more explicit information which suggested video driver problems. Detailed info regarding the log files can be found here. For anyone else who may encounter this problem, here are the steps I used to finally fix the problem:

1. From within the Radeon software, I selected an option to reset to factory defaults. This probably wasn't necessary since I then uninstalled the Radeon software from the computer.
2. Uninstall the Radeon application from within Windows Apps.
3. Uninstall the drivers for the graphics adapter from within Windows Device Manager. I had uninstalled drivers from Device Manager once before without any luck, but I hadn't uninstalled the Radeon application until now.
4. Uninstall Davinci Resolve
5. Delete the three Black Magic folders:
   .........\Documents\Blackmagic Design\
   .........C:\Program Files\Blackmagic Design\
   .........C:\Users\{user}\AppData\Roaming\Blackmagic Design
6. Install Davinci Resolve

Thank you everyone who gave me input. I'm disappointed that I could get any input from Black Magic staff on this maddening problem.

Hello!

I had the same problem. After the instructions it didn't work for me. I then discovered that it is sufficient to deactivate the device "Virtual Display Device" in the device manager. Davinci Resolve will then start normally.

greetings

Screenshot 2021-11-14 165112.png (32.14 KiB) Viewed 20161 times

Hello!

I had the same problem. After the instructions it didn't work for me. I then discovered that it is sufficient to deactivate the device "Virtual Display Device" in the device manager. Davinci Resolve will then start normally.

greetings

Screenshot 2021-11-14 165112.png

I was frustrated with this issue for the whole day until i tried this. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

Wonderful help with the tip to disable the second adapter - mine wasn't a virtual display adapter, but the Splashtop XDisplay device created to output to an attached Android or iOS device.

I was racking my brain trying to figure out what had changed since the last run of Resolve, and when finding this topic, sure enough - that was it!

Thanks!

I had this same freeze and thanks to this thread it was resolved by removing a virtual citrix display adapter in the device manager. As far as I know I had never used it anyway. Davinci starts up without issue since uninstalling it. Thanks!

Hi

I am totally new to Davinci, and I am trying to open it for the first time, but it is stock on this screen. I do not have the "Virtual Display Device" in my device manager, so I hope that some one could help me. I have made a crash dump fil with the tool that black magic design provide, but I do not know how or that to look for in it.

BR
Nicolai

With me it was also the Citrix indirect display adapter. Thank you so much for posting!!

Hi guys, im new to da vinci and not super IT competent. Just wanted some clarification on the above tip. When installing the software everything seems to go as planned. When trying to open for the first time i get stuck on the opening screen which shows that it is opening (or rather attempting to open) the fairlight engine. I have found in my device manager "citrix indirect display adapter". Do i disable or uninstall this? Will any other functionality on my PC be effected?
Thanks in advance!

I also had "citrix indirect display adapter", and it caused the same issue. I disabled it, but did not uninstall it, and this solved my problem.

I also have this problem with DR. I'm using Intel Core 2, Windows 10, 8 GB RAM and AMD Radeon R7 200 Series graphics card. At first, DR worked fine, but after installing newer drivers (21.5.2) it freeze on startup and only writes "Loading Fairlight Engine".

In device manager I only see my graphics card, nothing else. When I turn off the driver from the graphics card, DR turns on normally, but after turning on, the error "Unsupported GPU" pops up.

Please help

I recently had to install Citrix workspace on my PC - this caused Fairlight to no longer load. This means it is necessary to disable Citrix (And, by the look of comments, any other virtual desktop etc) in order for Resolve to finish loading.

This is clearly not ideal.

I also installed Citrix Workspace the other day - but then upgraded to Windows 11 today.

I blamed Windows 11 - forgetting about Citrix. Sure enough, disabling the "Citrix Indirect Display Adapter" solves the hang with DaVinci at "Loading Fairlight Engine"

Not before I rolled back to Windows 10, and completely uninstalled DaVinci with Revo, updated my Radeon drivers, etc....thanks much for this forum post. I can go to bed happy now. (And yes I backed up and restored my project files which is mysteriously hidden SUPER DEEP in appdata why is that?)

Hello!

I had the same problem. After the instructions it didn't work for me. I then discovered that it is sufficient to deactivate the device "Virtual Display Device" in the device manager. Davinci Resolve will then start normally.

greetings

Screenshot 2021-11-14 165112.png

THIS ACTUALLY WORKED FOR ME! THANKS A LOT!!!

Hello! I had the same problem today for Davinci Resolve 16. I'm actually a developer and I had problems with binding my application with some ports on my laptop.

I found a janky but simple solution for this: turning off WinNAT. I don't exactly know why it causes issues for my apps, but this is working.
And after trying all the solutions above, thinking about that "some other app or driver can cause the issue with loading" I just thought to try this and found that it is working for exact this problem with my Davinci Resolve

So what you can try to do:
1. open windows terminal (or cmd.exe) with administrator privileges
2. stop WinNAT (command you need to type): net stop winnat
3. start Davinci Resolve
4. start WinNAT back (again a command for cmd): net start winnat

Maybe there're the same problem with Fairlight module that it can't bind itself to an existing port but idunno. Maybe I'm just lucky I could resolve the problem this way.

GL!

It happened to me after changing audio preferences.

Since I just wanted to go back to the previous settings and didn't want to to a clean reinstall of DR, I looked for the location where its preferences file were stored. I managed to find a list here: viewtopic.php?f=21&t=87460

After that, I sorted the folder by modification date and found this file:

Code: Select all

%APPDATA%/Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve\Preferences\config-fairlight.dat

Removing it made DR start again.

Woah, thank you! After trying EVERY SINGLE THING on that other 7 page long thread and getting now where, turning of winnat is what worked.

Also I had played with my sound settings last time I used Resolve. Also I removed WSL and Android Subsystem for Windows as part of troubleshooting don't know if that's anything to do with it but since I don't have any need for it at the moment and had only installed it to install android Audible app, I'm gonna leave it as is for now.

I didn't remove HyperV, though I did disable all services, that didn't work. So I reenabled it as I need HyperV for my "real" work. Video editing is a sideline.

So upshot is HyperV and Resolve are working fine alongside eachother. For now anyway, touch wood.

In my case, I was using Resolve 18.5 and stuck on "Loading fairlight engine".
I remembered to have installed Splashtop Wired XDisplay recently and after unistalling it, everything went back to normal. Probably and issue with virtual display.

My system was stuck on "Loading Fairlight Engine" - running 18.6.6. I remembered there was a recent Windows update. I uninstalled the last two windows updates and I'm up and running again. #$%&#ing Microsoft.

still happening on 18.6.6