Equalizer APO Not Opening
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#352 Equalizer APO Not Opening
Hey, ive been struggling with this for hours. ive downloaded multiple versions of Equalizer APO. When i download it the device chooser menu doesnt show up even after i restart my PC. i open and run both as admin and after config editor and device chooser loads on my cursor then nothings loads up. i have 0 virus protection and ive downloaded the issue resolver and nothing worked. im really dedicated to fixing this im hoping you can help. ive downloaded newest version and and 1.3. 1.2 and its all the same issue. feel free to ask any questions.
ive checked event viewer for the device selector/Config Editor by chance and itseems to have issue with Fault bucket 2225015704399311379, type 4
Event Name: APPCRASH
those were the things listed and also a faulting issue it said on another error in event viewer
Although im not the best with pcs but i hope this information is helpful.
im happy to download or/and walkthrough with anything to resolve my issue, i dont know if i need a certain version but my friends have the most recent version with no issues.
Usually this caused by some leftover audio device in the Windows registry on which Equalizer APO's apps can retrieve its specs. Unfortunately they both crash on this as you've figured out. The developer isn't that active on his project so it's still not resolved. My Equalizer APO issue solver app (issue 7) may detect this although it can't solved it. As these are issues of the Windows registry perhaps a good registry cleaner spots and corrects this. Another way seems to be by using the DISM tool of Microsoft although this needs to be used with some caution.
Ohhh i see, is there any way around it?
Last edit: Dylan Horn 2026-04-22
Not really. I've studies the source code of Equalizer APO and it should just be changed to another approach of getting the specs of audio devices. Or at least, it shouldn't crash at some faulty audio device registry keys. Well, speaking about registry keys, I guess if you happen to know which audio device is presenting the issue you could manually delete it from the registry. But here lies the problem, there isn't an easy way to know which device or devices are causing the issue. Besides, there might be some other issue causing the crash although the audio device issue is the common one.
I wish I encounter this issue myself so I can make a good fix. For me Equalizer APO has always work (14 years of use!).
Awh man i get it, i tried downloading your peace application but i didnt know if that wouldve helped or if it was another alternative. Do you think perhaps factory resetting my PC could help Equalizer APO work properly after?
Resetting your PC might do the trick as Windows could do a cleanup and/or a fresh install of all audio devices. Although I'm not sure of this it sounds logical. Btw. Peace won't work on an audio device if Equalizer APO isn't installed on it. With Peace you can avoid the specific issues of the Configuration Editor. But solver app can resolve all these issues. Only in some rare occasion Peace works while the Configuration Editor is complaining that Equalizer APO isn't installed on the target device while it (still) is.
When I downloaded peace for some reason it actually showed I had it even with the little bug I have suprisingly. But If you were me whats the best option for me? Factory resetting, manually deleting something, I still have your solver downloaded if I need to do something with that, etc or is it to where the issue basically cant be solved?
I guess you start with my solver and let it detect if anything is wrong. If it doesn't detect anything concerning the audio devices you could do the Windows restoring. But be sure that you have backed up all files like your documents. I'm no expert how to restore Windows or cleaning things up.
Just a update if you were curious, I had just factory reseted my PC and downloaded APO and it works just fine, hopefully its helpful for those who had the same problem if youd like to mention factory resetting is a cure to the issue. Thank you!
That's great to hear, Dylan. Thanks for sharing.
Maybe I'm stupid. I didn't know I needed Voicemeeter on my PC for Equalizer APO to work. Download it and try it; maybe it will help someone, because I couldn't launch Equalizer APO because of this. By the way, I'm on Windows 11. Sorry if there are any errors, I used Google Translator.
Equalizer APO doesn't need Voicemeeter which a separate app. It's mainly used when streaming (as YouTuber, etc.). It's virtual device can be very useful for splitting the audio streams.
Equalizer APO does need an interface like its own Configuration Editor, Peace or HeSuvi. All these apps have their own usages.
Besides the Configuration Editor Equalizer APO has the Device Selector. If none of these will start up then usually it's caused by some "left-over" audio device of which both apps can't get the specs, subsequently both apps crash on their start up.