GitHub Desktop window not launching

GitHub Desktop seems to be launching on double click, but no UI window opens. This is a quick reminder on how to fix this.

Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net
2022-11-07

// Issue

GitHub Desktop seems to be launching on double click, but no UI window opens.

While this issue can be traced back for quite some years now, it happened to me only recently now on

GitHub Desktop Version 3.1.2 (x64)
Windows 10 Pro

and the suggested “solution” here is still working.

And so this is just a personal reminder for future reference.

// Solution

  1. go to C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\GitHubDesktop
  2. delete the most recent “app-” folder - and only this one
  3. restart GitHub Desktop

// tldr;

Citation

For attribution, please cite this work as

Schmalfuß (2022, Nov. 7). OS DataMercs: GitHub Desktop window not launching. Retrieved from https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2022-11-07-github-desktop-window-not-launching/

BibTeX citation

@misc{schmalfuß2022github,
  author = {Schmalfuß, Olaf},
  title = {OS DataMercs: GitHub Desktop window not launching},
  url = {https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2022-11-07-github-desktop-window-not-launching/},
  year = {2022}
}