Aeon shuts down

Hi there.

I had to take a break from my current project so I did not open Aeon for the last week. Now I can’t do it anymore. I click on the button, the window opens for a second and than vanishes. Which is very bad right now.

What can I do, what happened?

I work with Window 11, the laptop is rather powerful, no new software was added.

Same happened for me…

Download the “trial” from their website and just reinstall it over your current version, it fixed it for me.

I think there has been a Windows Update that changed some libraries or something in that path.

1 Like

Hi,
Thanks for reporting this to us.

As Jaran suggests, Downloading and reinstalling over the current version is a good first step to try to get everything back up and running.

If that doesn’t help, here are some additional steps you can try:

1. Rename Persistent Files
We can try to eliminate some files that persist throughout an uninstall/reinstall process.

In Windows Explorer, navigate to C:\Users\your_username\AppData\Local\Aeon Timeline (replace your_username with your Windows account name).
Rename the following files and folders (e.g. by adding _old to the name):

  • preferences.json
  • windowPlacement.json
  • recentFiles.json
  • Autosave folder
  • Backup folder
  • Cache folder

Then try launching Aeon Timeline again.

If it launches successfully, please keep a copy of the renamed files, as we will be able to use them to diagnose the problem further.

2. Try the previous version
If the above doesn’t help, you could try downloading and installing the previous version of our app from the following link:
https://aeon-timeline-3-release-notes.s3.amazonaws.com/3.3.8/win/AeonTimelineWinInstaller.exe

Uninstall the existing version first, and then install this version.

Once installed, run the app and see if it is able to open correctly the first time you run it.

Note that it will automatically update to version 3.3.9 again after you run it for the first time, so if the issue is specifically with the new version, this may only work as a short term fix, but the additional information will help us diagnose the issue, and we will be able to lock your account to using 3.3.8 temporarily to keep you operational while we work out the cause.

3. Windows System File Checker
Windows has a built-in file checker to see if there are any corrupted files in your Windows installation.

You can follow the steps to run this here:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/using-system-file-checker-in-windows-365e0031-36b1-6031-f804-8fd86e0ef4ca

4. Allow Aeon Timeline in Windows Defender
Similarly, Windows Defender has been known to block certain applications from running correctly, and can trigger the error code included in your original message.

You can tell Windows Defender to allow Aeon Timeline to run by following these steps:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/add-an-exclusion-to-windows-security-811816c0-4dfd-af4a-47e4-c301afe13b26

Likewise, if there are any other 3rd-party security systems installed (BitDefender etc), you may need to whitelist Aeon Timeline in those applications also.

Please let us know how you get on, and if any of these steps are able to get you up and running again.

Thanks,
Matt

That is what I thought, too.

Right now I am working as admin on Aeon. Meaning I stated in preferences that it should always run in admin mode.

As soon as I am done with the ongoing project I will try your suggestions. Thanks for helping out!

Deinstall, renaming Persistent Files and reinstall solved the problem. Ik hope you find the real problem. What do I loose renaming the Persistent Files?

I’m glad that you were able to get it working.

Are you able to try renaming the folder back and see if the problem comes back?

If it does, are you able to send through the files to us at support@timeline.app? This will help us work out what the issue is.

In regards to what you lose, the preferences.json and windowPlacement.json files just store preferences that you have set in the app - you may need to reset them.
The recentFiles.json list just lists your recent files, so this list in the app would now be empty and you would have to load them from disk.
The main thing that would be an issue would be the Backup folder, which means you wouldn’t be able to access any backups the app had made earlier.

Thank you for your insights. This brings me to a related thing:
I store my AeonTimeline files at OneDrive for several reasons.
One reason is that I can use AeonTimeline on several locations and with multiple PC’s.
Somethings like the software is stored localy on both PC’s, thats is no problem anymore but there maybe data like preferences etc that should better be central than local. For which data is this the case and can I do something about it?

The only information that is not stored in the timeline files and instead would be local to each computer would be what is shown in Aeon Timeline Preferences.

This includes things like your preferred date order, custom templates and the skin you are using for display.

There wouldn’t be much you can do about having this shared between computers, except that you can export custom templates from one machine to use on the other.

1 Like

Dear aeon timeline team.

I am experiencing the same issues now here beginning of october 2024: complete shutdown 2 sec. after try to opening aeon timeline…

This thread with similar problems was created february 2024, wich several posts afterwards…

Are you any nearer a solution?

To reinstall is not that bad. To rename system files etc. is a more nerdy task.
Did I miss any bug update or are you still working on it?

I bought my aeon timeline licence march 2024.
Windows 11, etc.
Best regards -and thank you for a very well designed timeline software
Peter W.

Hi Peter,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, are you first able to reinstall the latest version (Download | Aeon Timeline) and see if that works for you?