OBS freezes the whole machine each time and can't be recovered in any way in Windows 11 #5464
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OBS runs in user space, and can't really directly cause this kind of system-level hang. It sounds like you have a faulty device that OBS is trying to access (most commonly some kind of video capture device), or you have some other kind of system stability, such as a GPU crashing, faulty memory, unstable overclocking, etc. Unfortunately, this report is not actionable as it does not contain enough information, we'd need some kind of crash log or system failure event logs to even begin to investigate, but as mentioned it's unlikely this is directly caused by OBS. I've been running Windows 11 since the official release (as have several other community members) and this has not happened on any of our systems. I'll leave this open for now, as if there is something we can do, this is a serious issue, but just wanted to level set that this is not going to be something easy or simple to fix as it's likely specific to your environment. I'll drop this here as well, as these applications have been known to cause issues: https://obsproject.com/wiki/Known-Conflicts |
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Thanks a lot for your quick response. I am also shocked about this because whenever I try to OBS in Windows 10 with the same hardware, nothing wrong happens. The freezing issues are appearing in my Windows 11 each time, although I have the latest Windows update, AMD Driver update, and so on. My friend is also facing the same issue, although his GPU is of Nvidia. However, I am trying my best to check out whether I can solve this somehow or not. Without OBS, my content creation along with other tasks is becoming impossible as well. You may close this issue also, as I can see that you all are using OBS in Windows 11 without any hassle; there shouldn't be any problem with the software then. |
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I am having this same exact issue aswell. I went to the extend of unplugging everything besides keyboard/mouse and I ran DDU and reinstalled my drivers (amd btw) and this issue still happens. I am running Windows 11 Build 22000.318 as of typing this comment. |
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Ok so I reinstalled Windows 10 and OBS no longer crashes. Even with a webcam plugged in it just opens even after several reboots. Fingers are definitely being pointed at Windows 11 for causing this weird bug. |
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As for me, the crashing has stopped in Windows 11. I tried a weird way. First of all, I installed Windows 10 with the official ISO from Microsoft. Then I downloaded the Win11 upgrade assistant tool. Through that, I upgraded my machine from Windows 10 to Windows 11. After that, taking some updates, the crashing issue has been fixed completely. Earlier, I used to install fresh Windows 11 by using a Windows 11 official ISO. |
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I used the same method of using upgrade assistant as 11 wasn't being pushed to my box via windows update. Sticking with 10 now though. You should definitely try to do several reboots as for me when I was on 11 reinstalling obs fixed the crashing issues until the pc was rebooted. After that the software was completely unopenable. And sometimes it would work if I either disabled the webcam in device manager or let it be used by a webcam tester site so obs can't use the webcam. Also did check for windows 11 updates before resorting to going back to 10 and nothing came through. |
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Reporting the same issue. Nothing that remotely looks like a relevant error in any logs I can find. The issue is also wildly inconsistent. It can not happen for an entire six-hour stream, or happen twice within an hour (after rebooting and picking back up). Maybe interesting point: If on a Discord call when it happens, I can continue to hear everyone else on the call, but they can't hear me anymore. |
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"If on a Discord call when it happens, I can continue to hear everyone else" I found that audio worked fine as well during the crash. If I had a YouTube video playing the audio for it would continue on like nothing happened. No lopping or anything. I tested a ton of stuff before going back to 10 so I could continue making videos consistently. I never tried to live stream though so if this issue occurs out of nowhere during streaming that is terrible. I only record (bad internet) so I didn't face any crashing issues until a reboot. |
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Here's a possible line of research that I just put together: I think it might be related to window capture. I've had no issues while using desktop capture or game capture; I think all my freezes have been while window capture was in use. |
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When I was still on Windows 11 I only used Game Capture and the crashing still happened, Maybe it is related. Never have to add Window Capture unless a weird indie game engine someone made isn't playing nice. |
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Hm... Multiple different freezing issues, then? In my case, the only correlation I can come up with is window capture. |
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I did everything to fixing this including running DDU and fresh installing drivers in case it was borked amd driver+win 11 not playing nice. And if it was hardware related it would still be crashing. Only thing that ever crashed for me on 11 is OBS nothing else did this behavior. Considering that this is happening to multiple people it is definitely either obs+win 11 or just 11 in general. |
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The only fix that works for me in Windows 11 is that I need to disconnect the external Webcam connection before opening OBS each time. It never freezes again like earlier. |
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Have you tried updating BIOS after installing win 11? I also have freeze for OBS in random games. Today I updated my BIOS and will try stream with same games, will see if it crash or no and will post here. |
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@SirKucharTTV I tried that, but that didn't fix anything for me. |
Before trying out the windows 11 release I had the latest bios firmware update for my ASUS TUF Gaming board. Definitely post here if the crashing behavior either changes or goes away completely. Been itching to go back to 11 but then I get reminded of this bug. It didn't happen to me just in games at one point just launching OBS would crash so it sounds like you have a slightly different variant of crashing. |
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I've been experiencing the same issue with OBS and I believe it may have something to do with the Camera's or USB card. |
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I have managed to get the crash log file. Here it is:
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Can you provide the normal session log along with that? It looks like the crash is happening inside the AMD GPU driver itself, a normal log will show some additional context. |
Whenever I try to open OBS, it freezes the whole PC. Therefore, I can't even open the software itself anymore! |
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One more thing, I don't know if the solution will help others or not, this random YouTube video just solved my issue. |
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The cause of this crash is likely outdated Intel GPU drivers then. I'd recommend making sure your system is fully up to date going forward on both the AMD and Intel GPU (which you likely have, given the context). Going to close this for now, if you run in to any further issue, please use our support forums or Discord for further assistance. Thanks! |
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Same for me while running OBS 27.1.3 as admin on Windows 11. Bad performances when I tried to stream or record at 1080p 60fps my webcam became delayed and got nvenc encoder overload and pc freezes, it happened during a livestream then I found this thread and clean installed Windows 10 now it works perfecly fine in 1080p 60fps or any other quality preset. It is very stable now I'm not really suprised because Windows 11 is still a very new OS not mature enough and way less popular than Windows 10 according to steam. I though it was basically the same as Windows 10 under the hood except the terrible system requirements but it's not! Maybe it will be better in 2025. XD |
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Same issue. Stable and runs like normal on Windows 10, freezes and crashes randomly on Windows 11. |
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Those of you still facing the same issue can try the following:
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If that actually fixes the entire issue of plugged-in webcams causing it to freeze the entire computer, I might consider upgrading back to Windows 11. Going keep an eye on this thread for other people's results. |
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I am not facing any kind of problems anymore even using the webcam along with it! |
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Even after a full reboot? Because I know when I disabled my webcam in device manager to open OBS it would never crash again until a reboot. Then it would crash upon clicking the shortcut of course until I disabled any webcams plugged in again. |
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As you can see in the image attached above, I am doing everything normally. It doesn't crash anymore in my case. I am using OBS normally for more than 3 days till today. |
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Guess this is a full proof fix than. Might upgrade my OS again soon. Thanks for confirming. |
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Can everyone having this issue (or had) please post a log file so we can compare the setup? If switching the preferred GPU fixes the problem, this might be only affecting laptops or other dual-GPU systems. If there is some kind of bug on our end that we can fix, this will help us identify and correct the issue if we can. |
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Actually, it looks like there are multiple issues being wrapped in to one. The OP was posting about a crash caused by outdated intel drivers, and the "solution" provided is an AMD system. I still suspect this might be related to multi-GPU setups in some way, it might be best to go through our support channels for a closer look. |
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I do not have multi GPU in my workstation where this problem was occuring. I have only one GPU there, AMD RX550 4GB DDR5 GPU. I am still confused why the fix works for me. |
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I run a single GPU-setup myself and had up to date drivers on everything. Run AMD. Running 11 now and OBS no longer crashes infact I didn't even had to apply the fix it just magically works. |
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Performance issues, delays and Nvenc encoder overloads are definitely gone since I downgraded to Windows 10. I think my Logitech Brio was causing the freeze. I just set all the webcam settings to manual, I disabled everything that was on auto. Once I applied all my custom settings, I even disabled the brio in logitech g hub so it can be used safely in other softwares. My Logitech Brio setting in OBS: Custom, 1920x1080, 30, MJPEG, 709, Complete, buffer Disabled, Rotation disabled. I stream at 720p 30fps 3000kbps for now. The stream is 709 and partial. I always ran OBS as admin and High priority. I even tried 1080p 60fps again and it was perfect. |
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With my freezing issue regarding Window Capture, I think I've managed to find a bit of a workaround, though I don't know if OBS 27.2 has just fixed the issue, but it seemed to work before updating as well. Simply put, I set the window capture method to Windows 10 and up rather than leaving it on automatic. |
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Crash happened to me with just video capture device. Probably not related/or a reliable fix. I think the new update fixes a lot of the crashing bugs though but could be wrong. |
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Hello, i know this thread is closed, but i experience this problem very often at the moment. I tried the fixes above, but none of them worked for me. I experience the failure espacially if i play Rocket League, but i think thats just a random feeling because i stream this often. Maybe there are some new workarounds or fixes. System: Thank you Guys have a great one! |
What is your GPU driver is it AMD or NVIDIA. If it is AMD make sure you are running on the recommended 22.3.1 and NOT on the optional 22.3.2 update. I updated to that like several weeks ago and instantly as soon as I went into OBS to fix my webcam settings my entire PC froze and rebooted. Rolled back to 22.3.1 and 0 issues. Running Windows 10 but seeing it happened to me this isolates 11 being the issue. I should've posted here about it but seeing how dormant this thread was I didn't want to bother. Idk if that GPU is amd or nvidia although the same thing should apply to nvidia just use the recommended driver updates and steer clear of the optional/beta updates. If amd and you rolled back set your preferred software version to just recommended. nvidia I have no idea as I have not used an nvidia GPU in years. |
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This issue is being used as a catch-all for anyone having problems with similar, but distinct, problems. We recommend using the support channels first so someone can take a closer look at configurations. The freeze issue that was previously patched was hitting what we suspect is a kernel bug, and OBS is likely not the only thing that can trigger it. Unless we have repeatable reproduction steps so that we can investigate further, going through the support channels to gather more information is the best option for everyone. |
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Thank you for the replies. @Fearagen i |
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Hi all! |
Operating System Info
Windows 11
Other OS
No response
OBS Studio Version
27.1.3
OBS Studio Version (Other)
No response
OBS Studio Log URL
https://obsproject.com/logs/B5ntIeJmJTtYoQ_V
OBS Studio Crash Log URL
The crash report is empty as I had to power off and power on again for accessing the PC
Expected Behavior
Whenever I try to open OBS, either from the taskbar or shortcut or from the Start menu, it should open normally.
Current Behavior
Whenever and however I try to open the OBS, either from the taskbar or shortcut or from the Start menu, the whole computer gets frozen and everything gets struct! I can't use my mouse, keyboard, or anything at all. After staying on it for almost 30/35 seconds, the display also gets black. Then, I have no other way except restart my whole machine using the restart button from my casing. As such, I am losing all the unsaved tasks every time I try to open the OBS studio.
Steps to Reproduce
everything
Anything else we should know?
I tried OBS on my friend's PC also who is also using Windows 11. The same thing happened to him also. I am not sure if it occurs for Windows 11 only or not, but I would love to know about it.
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