IDE 1.8.2 crashes on start

1.8.2 does not run on my windows 7 PC. It puts up the splash screen momentarily and then disappears. 1.6.4 works fine.

I've tried both the windows install and a portable version. I put a portable version of both on a thumb drive and - both versions work fine on other Windows 7 PCs, but my primary machine will only start 1.6.4.

I've tried running as administrator and compatibility mode with no success.

Running arduino_debug.exe from a command prompt produces the following:

com.sun.jna.platform.win32.Win32Exception: The system cannot find the path specified.
at com.sun.jna.platform.win32.Shell32Util.getFolderPath(Shell32Util.java:48)
at com.sun.jna.platform.win32.Shell32Util.getFolderPath(Shell32Util.java:61)
at cc.arduino.os.windows.Win32KnownFolders.getDocumentsFolder(Win32KnownFolders.java:71)
at processing.app.windows.Platform.recoverDefaultSketchbookFolder(Platform.java:75)
at processing.app.windows.Platform.init(Platform.java:54)
at processing.app.Base.(Base.java:197)
at processing.app.Base.main(Base.java:140)

I have updated Java to the current version.

I used 1.6.4 for a long time, but need to upgrade for my current project.

FYI - When I first tried 1.8.2 again a few days ago (windows install) it actually worked for a while (I added my portable folder, edited and ran a couple of sketches), but then reverted to this problem for no reason I can identify.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Try updating to 1.8.3

1.8.3 does the same thing. When I first encountered this, I tried older releases until I found the newest one (1.6.4) that works.

I hadn't tried 1.8.3 initially, because when I select the Windows version from the Arduino download page, it takes me to a Microsoft download page that says "This app does not work on your device." and does not allow a download. The System Requirements on their page says it requires Windows 10. I finally went out and found the zip file and built a portable installation on my thumb drive. Just like 1.8.2, that installation loads fine on my other windows 7 PCs, but not on the one I use the most.

Did you try 1.6.5? It's more common for these problems to start with 1.6.6 and newer.

As a workaround, try running the IDE in portable mode by creating a folder named portable in the Arduino IDE installation folder. More information at:

I have the same issue with the portable installation.

1.6.5 does work, but I need 1.8.2 or later (I'll be using ST_Anything).

Oops, I just reread your original post and saw you had already tried portable mode.

Usually problems that start with 1.6.6 on Windows are related to the changed location of the Arduino15 folder:
Arduino IDE 1.6.5r5 and previous:
C:\Users(username)\AppData\Roaming\Arduino15
Arduino IDE 1.6.6 and later:
C:\Users(username)\AppData\Local\Arduino15

However, in portable mode the portable folder is used instead of the Arduino15 folder so that seems to not be the problem.

Try changing your sketchbook folder location (File > Preferences > Sketchbook location). Maybe that's the path the error refers to.

Okay - I ran 1.8.2 on a PC that it works on, changed the sketchbook location from: C:\Users(username)\My Documents\sketchbook to the portable folder on my thumb drive (D:\Arduino\arduino-1.8.2-windows\arduino-1.8.2\portable\sketchbook). Then closed the IDE, moved the thumb drive and tried it on the PC with the issue - still crashes. I also tried setting the sketchbook location in preferences.txt to the explicit path to the portable sketchbook.

By the way - I really do appreciate the help - I've been running out of ideas.