Hi Andre

The best way to contact support is from this page now. Scroll up to the top of the page and next to your username is the text "Submit a request" That will open a support ticket.

As to your problem, we need more information about your computer system. What is your hardware? What OS are you running?

No, you do not need to uninstall older versions of Finale. Do the older versions still run when you launch?

Cheers...

Daz :o)

There is only one area that I can think of looking at, and that is sound drivers.

I know that on my system Finale takes an awfully long time to initialise MIDI drivers (vst is fine)

There is another person who was having issues starting Finale, but he's running Windows 7.

Anyway, try updating your Sound drivers. You might also want to let us know what sound and graphics you've got. (For some reason I'm suspecting perhaps a creative card)

The other thing is your video card. If you've got a recent NVidia card, the driver package installs Hi Def Audio drivers as well as the Video drivers. This is becuase several of the NVidia cards have a HDMI interface as well as DVI. If you do have an NVidia card, and you're not using the HDMI output, re-install/update the drivers. Select "Custim Install" and then uncheck Hi Definition Audio Driver.

Finally, if you have any USB Audio device (other than your primary sound/MIDI device) try unplugging it and launching Finale.

BTW, you never did say if Finale 2014 still runs.

These are all generic shots in the dark, to try and possibly isolate any issue, but updating drivers rarely hurts.

Cheers...

Daz :o)

I'm afraid that hasn't helped.  I've just tried uninstalling an reinstalling v25, and that hasn't helped either.

Sorry Andre, I've run out of Ideas.

Just out of curiosity, what sound card do you have?

Cheers...

Daz :o)

Realtek High Definition Audio

I have the exact same problem and question. Should I have uninstalled version 2014?

Darrin, thanks so much for all your efforts - much appreciated!

I've tried completely uninstalling Version 25 and then reinstalling the program twice (always making sure that my AVG anti-virus software is disabled), and not even that has helped.

And, I have to say, the support from Finale sucks!  After posting my first ticket on this problem, it was three days before I heard from anyone at MakeMusic.  The suggestions they gave me did not help, and, with a three-day holiday weekend ahead of us, it'll probably be another four days before I hear from anyone there again.  This is hardly satisfactory.

Anyway, hope you have a great Labor Day weekend, and thanks again for all your efforts.

Hi Andre

Is Finale 2014 still able to start?

If so here's something else to try.

From your desktop, Hold down the Windows Key and press "R"
In the search box that comes up, type in "%appdata%\MakeMusic" (without the quotes) and press enter
An instance of Windows explorer opens.
Use that to enter the folder "Finale"

Firstly some prep work. In Windows Explorer, Click on File and select "Folder Options"
Click on the "View" tab
Under "Advanced Settings", make sure that "Hide Extensions for known file types" is *not* checked.
Click OK

If there is a file called "FINMIDI.INI" make a copy of it by selecting the file with the mouse, then pressing <ctrl>C followed by <ctrl>V
You should now have a new file "FINMIDI - Copy.INI"

If the file does not exist, it is probably as a result of Finale hanging on the MIDI Settings

From your desktop, Hold down the Windows Key and press "R" (again)
In the search box that comes up, type in "%appdata%\MakeMusic" (without the quotes) and press enter (again)
This time, in the resulting Windows explorer instance, navigate into the "Finale 2014" (or Finale 2014.5) folder.

You can go through the process of revealing the extensions again if you wish but it's not really necessary.
Select the file "FINMIDI" (or "FINMIDI.INI" if you've disabled extension hiding)
Hold down the <ctrl>key and drag the file into the explorer windows showing the "Finale" folder
(in other words copy "FINMIDI.INI" from Finale 2014(.5) to Finale 25)

Tell windows to overwrite the original file

Try starting Finale 25.

If that does not work, just delete the file FINMIDI.INI (make sure that you are in the correct folder), then rename "FINMIDI - Copy.INI" to "FINMIDI.INI"

If it does work, you will need to make a couple of changes

1) From the Menu, "MIDI/Audio"->"Device Setup"->"Manage VST Plug-in Directories" -  For the moment, just clear all entries in the box (if Any)
Click Close

2) From the Menu, "MIDI/Audio"->"Device Setup"->"MIDI Setup" - Click on "Softsynth Settings" then click on "Select"  - Navigate to "C:\Program Files\Finale\Audio Support" and select "synthgms.sf2"
Click OK

Shut down Finale and the restart it.

Hopefully that *might* work

Cheers...

Daz :o)

I had identical problems to start Finale 25 (Finale14.5 still worked though). After some mail conversation with tech support they wrote me the following (that worked in my case):

/*

It looks like there may be an issue with Finale attempting to load some of the audio drivers on your computer. I would like to try and use the steps below to teach Finale how to handle your computers audio devices...

1. Close Finale.
2. Hold down your Windows key and press the letter R to open the Run dialog box.
3. Type "%appdata%" (without quotation marks) and click OK.
4. Navigate to MakeMusic\Finale [your Finale version number].
5. In your Finale folder, find and open the file named FINMIDI.ini. It should open in a text editor such as Notepad.
6. Near bottom of the file until you see a section that looks like this:

[AUDIOAPIPREFS]
EngineLoaded=1
ASIOEnabled=1
DirectSoundEnabled=1
WASAPIEnabled=1

7. Change the ASIOEnabled value from 1 to 0, so that line should now read "ASIOEnabled=0".
8. Save and close the file, then relaunch Finale to see if the issue has been resolved.

*/

In my case I believe it was ASIO4All that Finale couldn't cooperate with, so I have now uninstalled that driver as well. I have not yet tested to connect my external audio card to see if that card + its own ASIO driver will work together with Finale, but when I do I guess ASIOEnabled must be set back to 1.

//P-G

Thanks so much for your response, Per-Göran.  I appreciate that very much.

I did receive a similar email from MakeMusic, but the problem is that I don't even have a FINMIDI file to begin with!

Anyway, I am continuing to work with the MakeMusic tech support people, and I'm hopeful that we will eventually get it sorted out.

Thanks again for your efforts.  All the best to you!

From your desktop, Hold down the Windows Key and press "R" Done
In the search box that comes up, type in "%appdata%\MakeMusic" (without the quotes) and press enter Done
An instance of Windows explorer opens. Nope!  Instead I get another box, at the top of which this question appears: “How do you want to open this file?”, and then lists a whole bunch of programs.  I selected Notepad.  Notepad opens, but it’s completely blank.  I tried to find the MakeMusic folder manually, but no such folder exists on my LAPTOP, although there is a Finale (v25) folder.
Use that to enter the folder "Finale"

Firstly some prep work. In Windows Explorer, Click on File and select "Folder Options"
Click on the "View" tab
Under "Advanced Settings", make sure that "Hide Extensions for known file types" is *not* checked.
Click OK All done and okay.

If there is a file called "FINMIDI.INI" make a copy of it by selecting the file with the mouse, then pressing <ctrl>C followed by <ctrl>V
You should now have a new file "FINMIDI - Copy.INI"  In the Finale (v25) folder, there is no FINMIDI.ini file.

If the file does not exist, it is probably as a result of Finale hanging on the MIDI Settings

Boy, this is annoying.  Any ideas where to go from here?

André.

Hi Andre.

Judging from the post that Per-Göran Åkesson wrote, ASIO4ALL caused the problems on his system

Are you using ASIO4ALL (or is it installed)? If so, try uninstalling it and then try to start Finale. If you are using it, you can always re-install it (if required) after you get Finale up and running (just don't use it in Finale). If you're not sure if you have it on your system, go to control panel->Programs->Programs and Features.

You should see a list of all stuff installed on your system. look through the list to see if ASIO4ALL is listed. If it is, click on it and select Uninstall

If that does not clear up the issue, or if you don't have ASIO4ALL, we can try to copy the settings from Finale 2014

It appears that Windows 10 will not open the appdata directories in certain circumstances.

To get around this.

• Start Windows explorer
• Click on File and select "Folder Options"
• Click on the "View" tab
• Under "Advanced Settings", make sure that "Show hidden files, folders, and drives" is checked.
• Under "Advanced Settings", make sure that "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)" is *not* checked.
  (As soon as you uncheck that setting, windows will ask for confirmation. Select yes)
• Click OK

You'll now see a bunch of extra things in windows explorer. If you wish, you can later go back and rest the protected files setting
That setting is there to prevent accidental delete/move of required system flies.

OK with that done, we can try again

• Start windows explorer (or switch to it if it is already running)
• In the address bar, type in "%appdata%\MakeMusic" (leave out the quotes)
  Hopefully you should now see a directory with "->{your username} -> AppData -> Roaming -> MakeMusic" in the address bar
  (if not that exact text, then something similar to "C:\Users\{your username}\AppData\Roaming\MakeMusic")

The directory should contain at least two folders. Finale and "Finale 2014.5"

The first thing to check is to see if there is a FINMIDI.INI file present

• Enter the "Finale" Folder a check. If one is present, press <ctrl>c then <ctrl>v
  That should now leave you with FINMIDI.INI and "FINMIDI - Copy.INI"
• Highlight FINMIDI.INI and press <del> (or select the file, right click and select delete). This should remove the file, leaving you with "FINMIDI - Copy.INI"
• Back out of the Finale folder, and enter the "Finale 2014.5" folder
• Highlight "FINMIDI.INI"
• press <ctrl>c
• Back out of the "Finale 2014.5" folder and re-enter the Finale folder (for the last time)
• press <ctrl>v
• You should now have "FINMIDI.INI" and "FINMIDI - Copy.INI" (if you created a copy earlier) in there
• Start Finale

If at any stage through this process anything that you see is substantially different to what I describe, stop following the instruction. It would be helpful for you to take a screenshot and post it here so that I can see where my expectations differ from reality.

If you're not certain on how to do that,

• Type Snipping Tool in the search box on the taskbar, and then select Snipping Tool.
• Select the area to capture
• File->Save As
  Save the file as a jpg image in a convenient location
• On this page, click on the picture icon (while you're writing a post. The icon is at the top of the text entry area between the list and link/chain icons)
• Navigate to and select the file you just saved with the snipping tool

As I pointed out in my last post, if Finale does not start, just overwrite FINMIDI.INI with the copy you created. If you did not create a copy (ie FINMIDI.INI was not present in the first place) just delete the one that you copied from Finale 2014.

This is a long winded post. I suggest reading it a couple of times before doing anything.

Let me know how it goes.

Thanks, Per-Göran. I had the same issue (Finale crashes after MIDI device check), and disabling ASIO worked like a charm.

I installed Finale V25, but V2014.5 is the only one that shows on my computer. There is no sign of V25 anywhere nor Garritan. I'm running Sierra on a Mac. - thanks.

I had the same problem. The program is there (in the Finder) but only the logo/shortcut for the prior version shows in the Applications folder. I just uninstalled the older version, but the Mac is not my primary computer (and I have both on my Windows machine), so your preference may vary.

There is probably a way to show shortcuts to both Finale versions on a Mac, but I am no longer enough of a Mac guru to know how.

A bit late to the party, but I just had the same problem a few days ago. I fixed it by right clicking the shortcut and selecting "troubleshoot compatibility". This altered the launch settings and fixed it. Hope this helps.

I have been told this is a known issue, but Finale v25 hangs on launching on my desktop. After troubleshooting and testing all the audio devices, we narrowed the issue down to a conflict with networked Toshiba printers. Once we removed those printers from the print policy, Finale launched without a problem. That was back in November; my question now is if any progress has been made in that regard. Any info on this is greatly appreciated. 

I made the same experiance: the Toshiba networked printers make Finale 25 hanging up. 
Is there jet any workaround???

Solution found:

1. Windows + R
2. printui /s /t2
3. uninstall all toshiba drivers AND remove installation-packages
4. reinstall toshiba drivers (universal drivers)

worked fine for me!