troubleshooting

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title: Troubleshooting permalink: /troubleshooting parent: Operations nav_order: 15

Troubleshooting

Symptom → cause → fix. If your case is not here, check the session log (%LOCALAPPDATA%\SimpleZipDrive\Temp\Logs\debug_*.log) — it names the exact failing step — and see Logging.

Driver problems

Symptom / message	Cause	Fix
"Dokan Driver Not Found" dialog	Dokan not installed, or dokan2.dll not loadable	Install Dokan v2; reboot if the mount still fails
"Dokan Driver Incompatible"	x64/x86 Dokan on an ARM64 system (architecture mismatch)	Install the ARM64 Dokan build, or use the Dokan x64 package on x64 Windows
"Dokan error: …", retries "attempt 1/2"	Transient driver failure	Usually resolves on retry; if persistent, reinstall Dokan
"WinFsp not found" dialog	WinFsp missing	Install WinFsp 2.1+
"WinFsp driver service is not running. Please start the WinFsp.Launcher service."	WinFsp.Launcher service stopped	sc start WinFsp.Launcher (admin) or restart via services.msc
"WinFsp version mismatch: installed x.y, required 2.1. Mount blocked."	WinFsp older than 2.1, or interop/driver mismatch	Upgrade WinFsp to ≥ 2.1 stable. 2.2.x betas are fine
"WinFsp native DLL could not be loaded"	Native driver DLL unreadable	Reinstall WinFsp; check that no AV quarantined winfsp-x64.dll

Mount-point problems

Symptom / message	Cause	Fix
"The mount point is already in use…" / 0xC0000035 + "Mount Point In Use" dialog	Letter or folder claimed by another drive/process	Pick a different letter/folder; subst-mappings and other virtual drives count
"Skipping 'M:' (already in use)." for all letters	M–Q all taken	Mount to a folder, or free a letter
"Error: Failed to auto-mount on any preferred drive letters."	Same	Same
0xC0000034 "The WinFsp driver was not found or is not running" on a folder mount in versions < 2.9.0	Historical bug: folder paths were misclassified as drive letters, so the folder was never created	Upgrade to 2.9.0+ (fixed)
0xC000003A "The mount point path was not found"	Folder path invalid	Check the path
0xC0000022 "Access denied"	Permissions on the folder	Choose a folder you can write to
"The path is empty" on every WinFsp mount in versions < 2.9.0	WinFsp interop crashed inside the single-file bundle (Assembly.Location empty)	Upgrade to 2.9.0+ — winfsp-msil.dll now ships beside the exe

Archive problems

Symptom / message	Cause	Fix
"The file 'X' is not a supported archive"	Extension not in the supported list	Rename to the correct extension if it is a supported format; otherwise convert
"Archive file not found at '…'"	Path wrong / network share unreachable	Check the path
Password dialog loops, then "Mount aborted after 3 attempts"	Wrong password	Verify the password; cancelling stops the mount cleanly
"The archive file appears to be corrupted, incomplete, or uses an unsupported format/feature"	Broken download / unsupported feature	Re-download; test the archive in 7-Zip; note that corrupt RARs are reported as corruption (not as password prompts) since 2.9.0
Specific entries unreadable, log shows "Decompression failed" / "SevenZip fallback also failed"	Entry-level corruption or exotic compression	Verify the archive; re-create it if possible
"Insufficient disk space to extract file '…'"	Temp volume full	Free space on the drive holding %LOCALAPPDATA%

Runtime behaviour

Symptom	Explanation	Action
"A drive is already mounted. Please unmount it first."	One mount per instance	Unmount, then mount again
Memory appears to "double" the file size in Task Manager (versions < 2.9.0)	Transient double-buffer during decompression	Upgrade to 2.9.0+; also see Caching for the new single-buffer path
High RAM after opening a huge file	Entry cached in memory up to MaxMemoryPerFileMb	Lower the setting to offload big files to the disk cache
Leftover Temp\<pid>_<guid> folders after a crash	Session died before cleanup	Auto-swept at next startup, or use Clean Temp Files
Empty folders in %LOCALAPPDATA%\SimpleZipDrive\Mounts	Cross-integrity mount points are not auto-deleted	Remove manually when unmounted
Update check never appears	Silent when offline, or you are already current	Check the log line "Update check skipped: …"
App closes instantly on unmount of large drives	Watchdog force-exit if cleanup exceeds ~5 s	Data is safe; temp files are swept next startup

Clean reset

1. Close the app (unmount first).
2. Delete %LOCALAPPDATA%\SimpleZipDrive.
3. If mount points stay broken, restart Windows (driver state resets).
4. Still broken? Reinstall the driver (Dokan/WinFsp) and the app (Installation).