Failed to start LM Studio: It appears that LM studio does not have permissions to run

[BertrandTheHealer]

Which version of LM Studio?
LM Studio 0.3.9

Which operating system?
Windows 11 23H2 Build 22631.4751

What is the bug?
When attempting to launch LM Studio, a dialog appears that states "Failed to start LM Studio: It appears that LM studio does not have permissions to run." This dialog appears even when LM studio is run as administrator

Screenshots

Logs
N/A

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Install LM studio
2. Launch LM studio. LM studio runs as normal
3. Restart computer and attempt to run LM studio. Dialog shown above appears
4. Attempt to run LM studio as administrator. Dialog shown above appears.

[BertrandTheHealer]

Uninstalling and reinstalling LM studio, either for all users or for one user, does not resolve the issue.
Uninstalling, deleting appdata folders, and reinstalling does not resolve the issue.

[HaiAu2501]

You just need to run it as administrator.

[LK00100]

I have changed my user name in my Mac, and after that, when I try to open the LM studio again, it gives me this failure. LM try to open the folder named my old user name that does not exist.How can I fix it?

[turnkit]

Same issue for me. I moved my user folder on my Mac to an external drive and now the app won't launch. Reinstalling doesn't help.

[turnkit]

Same issue for me. I moved my user folder on my Mac to an external drive and now the app won't launch. Reinstalling doesn't help.

SOLVED for me on MacOS:

I deleted the .lmstudio-home-pointer in my user home directory, i.e.
rm ~/.lmstudio-home-pointer
and then relaunched and it worked

[BertrandTheHealer]

You just need to run it as administrator.

As stated above I have tried running as administrator. The result is the same either way.

[mvandenbulcke]

So turnkit was going in the right direction with it. I simply deleted the .lmstudio-home-pointer file under %userprofile%, and after that, I could launch LM Studio for the first time.

[BertrandTheHealer]

So turnkit was going in the right direction with it. I simply deleted the .lmstudio-home-pointer file under %userprofile%, and after that, I could launch LM Studio for the first time

This fixed the issue for me.

[blondie63]

This not fixed the issue for me.
:(

[tomasris]

I just ran into the same error on Licus. Neither the installation from the OTP directory nor the app image will work.
0.4.8 v

This helped:

rm ~/.lmstudio-home-pointer

[badluma]

On macOS, I just deleted the whole configuration directory like this:

rm -rf .lmstudio

and then reinstalled the app using brew. The .lmstudio-home-pointer file didn't exist.

[Van-DeborahKerr]

⚡ QUICK FIX VERSION (for fast posting)
LM Studio “No Permission to Run” Fix (Windows)

If you see:

Failed to start LM Studio: It appears that LM Studio does not have permissions to run

Windows Security is blocking LM Studio’s helper executables.

Fix: Allow these through Controlled Folder Access:
Code
C:\Program Files\LM Studio\LM Studio.exe
C:\Program Files\LM Studio\LM Studio Helper.exe
C:\Program Files\LM Studio\LM Studio Helper (Renderer).exe
C:\Program Files\LM Studio\LM Studio Helper (GPU).exe
Also allow PowerShell:
Code
C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe
If you use Python tools:
Code
.venv\Scripts\python.exe
Then check:
Windows Security → Protection history → Allow any LM Studio blocks

[Van-DeborahKerr]

🐛 Bug Report: LM Studio Fails to Start — “No Permission to Run” (Windows)

Summary

LM Studio fails to launch on Windows 10/11 and shows the error:

Failed to start LM Studio: It appears that LM Studio does not have permissions to run

This issue is caused by Windows Security blocking LM Studio’s helper executables, PowerShell, or Python, not LM Studio itself.

---

✅ Fix (Windows Security Configuration)

1. Allow LM Studio executables

Windows Security → Virus & threat protection →
Manage ransomware protection →
Allow an app through Controlled folder access

Add: