[Issue] Only runs in Safe Mode on laptop

[RusselB]

I recently got my fiancee's old laptop (she got a new one) and I've tried to install LibreOffice on it.
The installation wasn't a problem, however I can't get any version of LibreOffice (6.1 or higher) to run on the laptop in anything but Safe Mode.
I'm only referring to the Stable versions, in order to try to eliminate some problem that is in a testing version, but not in the Stable version.
Any suggestions?
Don't know how much, if any, difference it will make, but the laptop 's specs are:
Processor: Intel B820 (1.7 Ghz, 2MB cache)
RAM: 3G
HDD: 279G with 208G available

If more specs will be helpful, please specify which specs.

[Hagar Delest]

Weird!
I guess that you launch from the default icon or start menu (hence no additional parameter in the command line of the shortcut).
If you deactivate the antivirus, any change?
You mean that if the laptop is not in safe mode, LO just doesn't launch? Has it been "allowed" in an antivirus white list if there is any (especially Avast)?

[RoryOF]

Try starting laptop Windows in Safe Mode; does LibreOffice run stable in that mode?

If you have no great need for an extra computer, I suggest trying laptop using a linux distro; in view of the lower power processor and limited RAM, I would try a lighter distro - my preference is for Xubuntu, but there are many others.

[John_Ha]

Safe Mode prevents all the user programs which are started when the PC boots. Prevent them starting and, by a process of elimination, identify which program is the problem. Google for how.

It may be your AV software needs to be told LO's ...\soffice.bin is a safe program which should be allowed to run.

[RoryOF]

@John_Ha: Is there an effective difference between LibreOffice Safe Mode, and Windows Safe Mode?

[John_Ha]

I was assuming Safe Mode referred to the PC being in Safe Mode - I forgot about LO's additional function.

I don't have LO on this PC to check but I think LO allows you to start LO with a default User Profile which also prevents any add-ons starting. The advice is therefore the same - it it works with the things not being started, find out which is causing the problem by a process of elimination.

[Hagar Delest]

I was assuming Safe Mode referred to the PC being in Safe Mode

Me too, hence my question to clarify.

If we are talking about the LO safe mode, then the only trigger I see would be some parameter in the command that actually launches LO (like libreoffice --safe-mode).
Deleting the profile would clear any previous wrong closure and anyway since it is a first install, why should it do that at all?

[RoryOF]

That is why I recommend Windows Safe Mode, in default of further information. Windows Safe Mode will, as far as we know, stop any extraneous program running. Can we be certain that LibreOffice Safe Mode has the exact same effect? We know that it will use a default, clean LO profile, but suppose the problem is a system problem. Will it catch that?

[RusselB]

The same problem occurs if the laptop (Windows 10) is in Safe Mode or not.
I still cannot run LibreOffixe using anything but the LibreOffice Safe Mode.

[John_Ha]

Russell

I still cannot run LibreOffice using anything but the LibreOffice Safe Mode.

Blast! I forgot. It's a bug in LO 7.1.6.2. See https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/sho ... ?id=144434

I do wish LO spent less time on adding new function and more time in making sure that stupid errors like this don't get released. It is completely inexcusable for a bug like this to slip through testing.

[LastUnicorn]

I got hit with the Skia bug when installing LO 7.1.6.2. I tried running it in Safe Mode and it ran fine. After a bit of research I found out about the Skia issue with this version of LO. So I started it again in Safe Mode then in Options > LibreOffice > View > Use Skia for rendering disabled the Skia. Then restart LO. The problem with this is that I couldn't get the disabled Skia setting to stick on re-launching of LO when coming out of Safe Mode. (The developers are now aware of this as an issue and are thinking of adding to the Safe Mode dialogue an option to disable Skia and one that does stick after a relaunch of LO out of Safe Mode and into running normally mode.)

I got round this by installing LO 7.2.1.2, which runs okay as it doesn't have the Skia bug, then in Options I disabled Skia. Once that was done I installed 7.1.6.2 and it ran fine -- the disabled Skia from LO 7.2.1.2 having now been carried over in the profile to the new install of 7.1.6.2.

Since then I found out that it is possible to achieve the same result by altering a parameter in the user profile file registrymodifications.xcu. Instructions on what to do are here:

https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/QA/ ... .28Skia.29

Not sure if this will help RusselB but the information is useful anyway.

[Hagar Delest]

Indeed, most of the parameters are stored in the registrymodifications.xcu. It is basically the first place to look to tweak a setting.