Crash on Startup

First make sure, you have the latest stable version of CPN Tools.

Try running CPN Tools in safe mode (select CPN Tools [safe mode] instead of just CPN Tools or double clicking on a model).

Try deleting stale preferences.xml files. It is located in the user settings directory, often C:\Documents and Settings\USER\Application Data\CPN Tools or C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming\CPN Tools, depending on the version of Windows.

We only test CPN Tools using Parallels Desktop and VMWare (Fusion/Desktop/Player). All other virtualization software, including VirtualBox, Windows Terminal Server, Citrix, and Wine are completely unsupported and you are on your own in these cases. We do not test CPN Tools on Virtual PC, but most of the time it seems to work there.

Data Execution Prevention

If your operating system is Windows XP or newer, and CPN Tools crashes with the following message immediately after starting the tool:

# Beta execution aborted: Access violation
# Error during dump: Unexpected Signal. Aborting

then you may be able to solve the problem by disabling the Data Execution Prevention (DEP) facilities. The following excerpt was taken from the Windows Help information about DEP:

How can I tell if DEP is available on my computer?

  1. To open System Properties, click Start, click Control Panel, click Performance and Maintenance, and then click System.
  2. Click the Advanced tab and, under Performance, click Settings.
  3. Click the Data Execution Prevention tab.

Not on Startup

If CPN Tools crashes for another reason, chances are you have found a bug.

First, make sure the problem also exists in the safe mode version of CPN Tools. Some virtualization software has known problems with CPN Tools in normal mode. The conflicts are not going to be fixed, so if the problem is fixed by safe mode, just switch to using that instead. It shouldn’t make a difference on modern computers, and that is the way I run CPN Tools anyway.

Next, make sure the problem is reproducible. I cannot stress this enough. I need the exact steps to reproduce it. Otherwise, I won’t even look at your problem. Give me a list of the exact steps needed to reproduce the problem. Attach any cpntools.dump file produced and any models and other auxiliary files needed to reproduce the problem. Preferably create a smaller model reproducing the problem.

Can't simulate model/Model stays orange
Can CPN Tools open models from Design/CPN?

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