Three different symptoms, each with its own cause.
Nothing happens, or it closes again
Is another application built on the same engine running? That is the most common cause, and includes OBS Studio itself. Close it and try again — see alongside an existing OBS.
Check the rights on engineconfig. The program has to be able to write there; a machine where that folder was locked down starts and closes again.
It hangs on the loading screen
The line under the wordmark says which stage it is in:
| It says | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Starting up… | The program is loading |
| Loading modules… | The modules are starting — the usual place to hang |
| Building the interface… | The window is being assembled |
| Starting playouts… | Previews and outputs are coming up |
Stuck on modules is nearly always one of them waiting for something: a network drive that is not there, a service that does not answer, antivirus scanning the process.
Give it a minute. If it never gets past, switch that module off — the program starts without it and everything in this documentation keeps working. Then find out what it was waiting for.
It starts but looks like a plain engine
Then the takeover did not happen, and there are two causes:
You started the wrong thing. Start from the launcher shortcut on the desktop or in the Start menu, never the executable inside enginebin.
The installation is incomplete. The takeover recognises its own installation by marker files in the program folder; if those are missing or something was renamed, you get the engine. Reinstall over the top — that keeps your settings.
A module reports that it cannot start
You get a message naming the cause: Windows refused it, it is missing, it did not report in, it was too slow, or the installation is half finished.
None of these stop the program. You lose what those modules provided; the cue list, the outputs and the broadcast keep working. The last one — program and modules from different versions — is the one that needs a reinstall.
When you need help with it
Send the log. It records exactly how far the start got and what it was doing — see sending logs.