Studio One Won’t Open or Launch? Follow These 7 Steps

Researched & Written by

Are you stuck trying to figure out why Studio One won’t open or launch?

Welcome to the club! You wouldn’t believe how many people face this issue daily and are left nothing short of confused. 

I know it can be really annoying to have a hit song playing on your mind and not be able to record it because your DAW won’t open. 

But don’t worry, you’ve come to the right place for answers. Below, you’ll find a list of several steps you can follow to fix this problem. 

The 7 steps you can take to get Studio One launching again are:

  1. Check your internet connection
  2. Disable your antivirus
  3. Clear some storage space
  4. Upgrade your RAM
  5. Upgrade your CPU
  6. Restart your PC
  7. Reinstall Studio One

Keep reading to get back to creating masterpieces!

#1 Check Your Internet Connection

The first thing I want us to check is that your Internet connection is not having problems. Although Internet service drops have gone down a lot over the last few years, they still happen now and then.  

Diagnosing a bad connection can be tricky. Sometimes, even when you have one, you might still be able to do some light browsing or chatting. And while Studio One doesn’t need a lightning-fast internet connection to check your license, it does need a stable network. 

If you try to launch the DAW and it immediately closes or crashes, it might be because it’s trying to reach PreSonus’ servers unsuccessfully. This can cause many problems besides failing to open or launch the program. 

Solution: There are a couple of things you can try to see if a bad connection is the problem. 

First, you could try giving your provider a call and asking if they’re having coverage issues in your area. If they tell you everything’s fine on their end, you could try resetting your modem and see if that works. 

Never done it before? That’s ok! It’s very simple:

  1. Without unplugging the modem, turn it around, so you can see the back of the unit
  1. Locate the reset button (more often than not, it’s not a button, but a small hole with a “Reset” label on it)
  1. Use a paper clip or a thin toothpick to press down on the button inside this hole. Hold it down until all the lights at the front of the unit turn on, and then turn off
  1. For a brief moment, all lights on the modem will be off, that’s your cue to stop holding down the reset button
  1. Wait about 5 minutes or so and try to launch Studio One again. If your connection was to blame, the DAW should now be able to reach its servers and check your license

Assuming that your Internet is now working normally and you’re still having issues, try using a wired connection on your computer. 

Your modem has several slots in its back labeled “LAN”. You can buy an Ethernet cable at any online marketplace and connect one end of it to those slots, and the other to your computer.

This should fix any network issues you have been experiencing and slightly increase your download speeds.  

#2 Disable Your Antivirus

There’s no denying that antivirus software is not only useful but also necessary. 

With so many online threats out there, keeping your computer safe is a good practice that can save you a lot of headaches throughout the years. But what if I told you that your favorite protection software is the reason why Studio One won’t open or launch?

You see, although antivirus software gets smarter by the day, it’s neither perfect nor as accurate as a human when it comes to identifying files. 

Whenever you launch Studio One, the DAW checks all its files on the installation folder you chose. By doing this, it makes sure it has everything it needs to work and record your music. 

Sometimes, antivirus software can mistake a healthy file for a harmful one or a virus. When this happens, the software normally deletes or quarantines what it finds suspicious.

Quarantined files can be easily recovered, but deleted files are gone for good. If your antivirus got rid of a file Studio One needed to open, you’ll have to uninstall and reinstall the DAW to recover it. 

Solution: There are some things you can do to prevent this from happening in the future. First, you should try disabling your antivirus whenever you launch Studio One. For this example’s purposes, I’ll show you how to do it on Bitdefender.

After doing that, create an exception in your antivirus’ Firewall so it allows the DAW to both send and receive information over your network. 

To disable antivirus: 

  1. Open the program and go to “Protection”
Process to deactivate Bitdefender
  1. Select “Open” in the “Antivirus Section”
Deactivate Bitdefender antivirus
  1. On the new window, go to the “Advanced” tab and toggle off “Bitdefender Shield”
Deactivate Bitdefender shield
  1. Once you’ve done that, you’ll be prompted with a notification asking if you’re sure. Select “Yes” and select the option to disable the antivirus for 5 minutes. 
  1. Go back to “Protection” and toggle off all the options you see
Deactivate Bitdefender features
Remember to enable your antivirus and safety features again right after Studio One has launched
  1. Launch Studio One and see if this worked

Make sure to enable your antivirus again right after Studio One has opened successfully. This will keep your computer safe from any threats you encounter online. 

To create a Firewall exception:

  1. Open the program and go to “Protection”
  1. Locate “Firewall” and click on “Settings”
Create Firewall exceptions Bitdefender Firewall
Take some time to explore and understand all your Firewall’s features
  1. In the new menu, navigate to the “Rules” tab, locate “studio one.exe”, and click on the arrow pointing down in the right-most area of the screen
Create rules Bitdefender Firewall
  1. On the dropdown menu, toggle on “Access” on both buttons to allow Studio One to send and receive information over the internet
Allow Studio One network access
By toggling on both accesses, Studio One can communicate freely over your network

#3 Clear Some Storage Space

Yet another reason why Studio One Won’t open or launch is that your computer has no available storage space. 

A lot of people think that there are no real-world consequences to filling up their hard drives to the max. And while that’d be great, it’s just not true. 

Every program you run on your computer needs a certain amount of free space to work as expected and give you the functions you want. The less available storage space you have, the more likely Studio One is to fail at launch. 

In this situation, the best thing you can do is delete some unwanted programs. 

Solution: First, identify any programs you no longer use. Once you have done that, it’s time to get rid of them. If you don’t know how to do this, don’t worry, please refer to step #7

The process shown there will work for any program you want to get rid of. Ideally, you want to keep anywhere between 15-20% of your storage device’s max capacity available.

If this doesn’t do the trick, don’t worry! We still have a lot of ground to cover. 

#4 Upgrade Your RAM

How much RAM is installed on your computer? If you have no idea, then it’s probably not enough! 

RAM stands for “Random Access Memory”, and it’s the processing horsepower of your PC. Without it, it would not be able to do even the simplest tasks. The more RAM you have, the more things you can do at the same time. 

According to PreSonus, this DAW needs at least 4 GB of RAM to work, but 8 GB or more are recommended. 

If Studio One won’t open or launch, you might need to buy more RAM and install it on your computer. And while this sounds simple enough, it’s not always an option.

Sometimes (especially if you have a laptop), RAM cannot be upgraded, so you might be stuck with what your system came with.  

If this is the case, don’t worry! Not all is lost.

Solution: Try closing all programs on your computer to free up some RAM and launch Studio One. If your device is somewhat recent, it should at least have 8 GB installed, which should be enough if nothing else is running in the background. 

Assuming this was the issue, the DAW should now launch properly.

If you notice that you’re not getting the best performance when recording with your current RAM, you could try using only Studio One’s stock plugins. These use less memory and work just as well as third-party alternatives. 

#5 Upgrade Your CPU

Having lightened the load on your RAM, let’s take a look at another vital element to your PC’s performance. CPU or “Central Processing Unit” is your computer’s brain.

No process could take place within your devices without it. 

Like the RAM, this can sometimes be upgraded (sadly, not for laptops) to improve performance and gain the ability to do many things at the same time. 

I normally recommend changing your CPU for a newer model every 4 years or so. 

If Studio One won’t open or launch and your CPU is more than 8 years old, there’s a very good chance that you need to replace it. 

Now, I know this is not an option for everyone. If upgrading your CPU is not in your plans at the moment, you can always try using an older version of the DAW that is easier on it. 

#6 Restart Your PC

 Sometimes, the simplest answer is the right one. 

There’s a really good chance that all you need to do to get Studio One to open or launch is to restart your PC. This works wonders as it gets rid of any corrupted files, background processes, or bugs that might be causing trouble, restarting them from scratch. 

And the best part is that this works for about 90% of technical difficulties out there, so don’t be afraid to try it out!

#7 Reinstall Studio One

Finally, let’s try a full reset. 

If nothing has worked so far and Studio One still won’ open or launch, there’s probably a corrupted or missing file that is causing problems. 

In most cases, restarting your PC should fix this. But if the issue is more serious, your best bet will be to uninstall and reinstall the DAW. This process completely removes the program from your PC and recovers any important files after you’re done. 

Solution: Here’s how you can uninstall Studio One on your PC.

  1. Hit the Windows key on your keyboard (the one with the Windows icon)
  1. Type “Control Panel”
Open Control Panel Windows 10
  1. Find “Programs” and select “Uninstall a program”
Uninstall a program Windows 10
This process should be very similar in Windows 8 & 11
  1. A new window will pop up with a list of all your installed programs. Find Studio One and click on it
  1. Select “Uninstall” and if prompted with a window asking if you’re sure, select “Yes”
Process to uninstall Studio One on Windows 10
Make sure to click on “Yes” when asked for confirmation to uninstall the DAW

After doing this, please take the same steps you took the first time you downloaded the DAW to reinstall it. 

Conclusion

Having Studio One fail to open or launch can be very annoying. Especially considering that the price tag on the DAW is not cheap. Problems like these can quickly destroy your inspiration and make you want to quit making music for the day.

Luckily, as I hope you’ve learned in this piece, addressing most of the causes behind this situation is fairly simple and quick. In most cases, simple actions, like creating a Firewall exception or clearing some storage space on your PC, should do the trick. 

Thank you so much for sticking with me all the way to the end. If you found this article helpful, you’ll be glad to know that we upload new content weekly. Make sure to check out all our other incredible resources below to become a Tech Detective yourself!

Best of luck to you.