Windows 10 No Window but ccleaner running in task manager

[tkrojam]

 

I've just run the latest portable version of ccleaner on Windows 10 with latest Windows updates.

I've started ccleaner and it seems to be running, I can see it in the Task Manager, but there is no ccleaner window displayed, so I can't actually use the program.

Any ideas?

I've tried the 32 bit and 64 bit versions and even many older versions.

 

[tkrojam]

Anyone helps?

[Nergal]

Is it running in the background (down in the system tray (rightside of screen where the icons are is it there or in overflow))

[tkrojam]

8 hours ago, Nergal said:

Is it running in the background (down in the system tray (rightside of screen where the icons are is it there or in overflow))

No, I did not find its icon appeared in system tray but just running as a process in task manager.

[hazelnut]

9 minutes ago, tkrojam said:

No, I did not find its icon appeared in system tray but just running as a process in task manager.

Click on the Details tab instead of Processes. 

Then right-click on it  in that listand select Properties.

Anything that catches your eye?

 

[nukecad]

On 04/08/2023 at 02:57, tkrojam said:

I've just run the latest portable version of ccleaner on Windows 10 with latest Windows updates.

I've tried the 32 bit and 64 bit versions and even many older versions.

Are you running it from a USB stick?

Where did you download CCleaner portable from? (And where did you get those old versions?)

Your screenshot shows it using 24.1% of the CPU and power usage is showing as 'Very High' - which indicates that it is actively doing something , it is not just sat idle in the background.

[tkrojam]

16 hours ago, hazelnut said:

Click on the Details tab instead of Processes. 

Then right-click on it  in that listand select Properties.

Anything that catches your eye?

 

 

[tkrojam]

15 hours ago, nukecad said:

Are you running it from a USB stick?

Where did you download CCleaner portable from? (And where did you get those old versions?)

Your screenshot shows it using 24.1% of the CPU and power usage is showing as 'Very High' - which indicates that it is actively doing something , it is not just sat idle in the background.

Are you running it from a USB stick?
No, I run the portable .exe on desktop

Where did you download CCleaner portable from? (And where did you get those old versions?)
https://download.ccleaner.com/portable/ccsetup614.zip

Your screenshot shows it using 24.1% of the CPU and power usage is showing as 'Very High' - which indicates that it is actively doing something , it is not just sat idle in the background.
What means of something? It is normal when I run same portable version on another PC

[nukecad]

This is CCleaner Portable open on my laptop,.
As you can see it is sat there using 0% CPU. It only uses the CPU when it is actively scanning for junk or doing something else.

I also note that mine when loaded but not scanning it is taking 39.9 MB of RAM, whereas yours is only showing 5.7 MB of RAM in use.

All of which suggests to me that something is preventing it from loading properly on your machine; for some reason it is 'stuck' during loading and that is why you don't see a user interface.

Are you trying to run it as an Admin user or a Standard user?

What antivirus are you using, and if it isn't Windows Defender then what version is your AV?
Have you been adding extra blocks to your firewalls or hosts file?

You say you run it from the desktop,
Have you simply extracted the files from the zip onto the desktop? or have you extracted it to somewhere else and then made a shortcut on the desktop?

I assume that you are using the portable for your own reasons, but have you considered installing CCleaner?

 

 

[tkrojam]

19 hours ago, nukecad said:

This is CCleaner Portable open on my laptop,.
As you can see it is sat there using 0% CPU. It only uses the CPU when it is actively scanning for junk or doing something else.

I also note that mine when loaded but not scanning it is taking 39.9 MB of RAM, whereas yours is only showing 5.7 MB of RAM in use.

All of which suggests to me that something is preventing it from loading properly on your machine; for some reason it is 'stuck' during loading and that is why you don't see a user interface.

Are you trying to run it as an Admin user or a Standard user?

What antivirus are you using, and if it isn't Windows Defender then what version is your AV?
Have you been adding extra blocks to your firewalls or hosts file?

You say you run it from the desktop,
Have you simply extracted the files from the zip onto the desktop? or have you extracted it to somewhere else and then made a shortcut on the desktop?

I assume that you are using the portable for your own reasons, but have you considered installing CCleaner?

Thanks for your reply.

Are you trying to run it as an Admin user or a Standard user? Admin privilege already

What antivirus are you using, and if it isn't Windows Defender then what version is your AV? Default Windows Defender
Have you been adding extra blocks to your firewalls or hosts file? Never

You say you run it from the desktop,
Have you simply extracted the files from the zip onto the desktop? Yes
or have you extracted it to somewhere else and then made a shortcut on the desktop? I run the .exe instead of shortcut

I assume that you are using the portable for your own reasons, but have you considered installing CCleaner? I know but I copy and paste the whole folder to another PC and run smoothly that's why I seek help here to investigate what happened on this PC

 

[lmacri]

Hi tkrojam:

If you go to Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features can you see CCleaner listed as an installed product? If so, the high CPU usage you see in your Task Manager may be a scheduled task that is running in the background by your "regular" installed CCleaner software, and not CCleaner Portable. I do not have a "regular" version of CCleaner installed on my system, so I only see CCleaner listed in my Task Manager after I launch Cleaner Free Portable.

This is what I see when I run CCleaner64.exe to launch CCleaner Free Portable and the interface is opened but idle (Note that I have disabled both settings at Option | Update so CCleaner doesn't automatically check for updates, and I only run Custom Clean - I never allow CCleaner to run a Health Check on my system) ...

... and this is an example of what I see when I go Custom Clean and click Analyze to check what items need to be cleaned.

Also note that CCleaner Portable is designed to be run from a removable USB stick.  You should not be running CCleaner Portable or any other portable application from your desktop since this will create subfolders and files (e.g., ...\Data, ...\Log, ...\Setup, ...\x86, ...x64, ...\Lang and the ccleaner.ini file) on your desktop.

I created a folder called E:\Portable\CCleaner on a removable USB stick and I unzip the ccsetup6xx.zip file there.  When I want to run CCleaner I plug that USB stick into my computer and run the CClean64.exe executable.  When I want to update CCleaner Free Portable I delete all the files and subfolders in E:\Portable CCleaner except ccleaner.ini (you want to keep this ccleaner.ini file since this is where your configurations settings are stored), download the latest ccsetup6xx.zip from https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner/builds and save it to that E:\Portable\CCleaner folder, and then unzip to re-create all the necessary files on my USB stick.

I suggest you uninstall any "regular" versions of CCleaner from Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features (if present) and delete all traces of CCleaner Portable from your desktop. Then download a fresh copy of ccsetup614.zip from https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner/builds and save it to a removable USB stick in a folder your created (e.g., something like D:\CCleaner or D:\Portable\CCleaner) so all the files and folders you need to run CCleaner Portable are created in their own folder [Note: if you don't have a removable USB stick then create a subfolder called CCleaner in you Downloads folder (e.g., C:\Users\<yourusername>\Downloads\CCleaner) and unzip it there]. Then run the CCleaner64.exe file, and you should see something like this after the ccsetup614.zip file is deleted  (Note:  at this point I usually delete a few unnecessary files and folders I don't need like the 32-bit CCleaner.exe but I can post back about that later if necessary):

Once you have unzipped CCleaner Portable on a removable USB stick then use Task Manager to see if you are still seeing high CPU usage by CCleaner64.exe.  If you are then tell us what task you are running with CCleaner Portable when this high CPU usage occurs.
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Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.3208 * Firefox v116.0.2 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.23050.9-1.1.23060.1005 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.34.275-1.0.2089 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7279 * CCleaner Free Portable v6.14.10584

[tkrojam]

19 hours ago, lmacri said:

Hi tkrojam:

If you go to Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features can you see CCleaner listed as an installed product? If so, the high CPU usage you see in your Task Manager may be a scheduled task that is running in the background by your "regular" installed CCleaner software, and not CCleaner Portable. I do not have a "regular" version of CCleaner installed on my system, so I only see CCleaner listed in my Task Manager after I launch Cleaner Free Portable.

This is what I see when I run CCleaner64.exe to launch CCleaner Free Portable and the interface is opened but idle (Note that I have disabled both settings at Option | Update so CCleaner doesn't automatically check for updates, and I only run Custom Clean - I never allow CCleaner to run a Health Check on my system) ...

... and this is an example of what I see when I go Custom Clean and click Analyze to check what items need to be cleaned.

Also note that CCleaner Portable is designed to be run from a removable USB stick.  You should not be running CCleaner Portable or any other portable application from your desktop since this will create subfolders and files (e.g., ...\Data, ...\Log, ...\Setup, ...\x86, ...x64, ...\Lang and the ccleaner.ini file) on your desktop.

I created a folder called E:\Portable\CCleaner on a removable USB stick and I unzip the ccsetup6xx.zip file there.  When I want to run CCleaner I plug that USB stick into my computer and run the CClean64.exe executable.  When I want to update CCleaner Free Portable I delete all the files and subfolders in E:\Portable CCleaner except ccleaner.ini (you want to keep this ccleaner.ini file since this is where your configurations settings are stored), download the latest ccsetup6xx.zip from https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner/builds and save it to that E:\Portable\CCleaner folder, and then unzip to re-create all the necessary files on my USB stick.

I suggest you uninstall any "regular" versions of CCleaner from Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features (if present) and delete all traces of CCleaner Portable from your desktop. Then download a fresh copy of ccsetup614.zip from https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner/builds and save it to a removable USB stick in a folder your created (e.g., something like D:\CCleaner or D:\Portable\CCleaner) so all the files and folders you need to run CCleaner Portable are created in their own folder [Note: if you don't have a removable USB stick then create a subfolder called CCleaner in you Downloads folder (e.g., C:\Users\<yourusername>\Downloads\CCleaner) and unzip it there]. Then run the CCleaner64.exe file, and you should see something like this after the ccsetup614.zip file is deleted  (Note:  at this point I usually delete a few unnecessary files and folders I don't need like the 32-bit CCleaner.exe but I can post back about that later if necessary):

Once you have unzipped CCleaner Portable on a removable USB stick then use Task Manager to see if you are still seeing high CPU usage by CCleaner64.exe.  If you are then tell us what task you are running with CCleaner Portable when this high CPU usage occurs.
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Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.3208 * Firefox v116.0.2 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.23050.9-1.1.23060.1005 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.34.275-1.0.2089 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7279 * CCleaner Free Portable v6.14.10584

CCleaner Portable is designed to be run from a removable USB stick. < This is the key point!

I copied and pasted the portable ccleaner folder to a USB drive first then I run the .exe directly and the main window can prompt!

I found it created subfolders and files (e.g., ...\Data, ...\Log, ...\Setup, ...\x86, ...x64, ...\Lang and the ccleaner.ini file) inside the USB drive.

I tried to copy that portable ccleaner folder back to my desktop and run the .exe directly from desktop and the main window can also prompt!

I think the principle is you have to run on an external drive first for portable version in order to create necessary subfolders and files first.

Finally, the issue was resolved now.

Thanks a lot, lmacri. You are so helpful!

Edited August 9, 2023 by tkrojam

[nukecad]

Yes it needs those folders to run properly. At the very least it needs the DATA folder and its sub-folders, and the LOG folder.
And I believe that they need to be in the same place as the .exe so that it knows where to find them.

Presumably you had deleted the zip after extracting CCleaner64.exe but before running it? (See below).
 

2 hours ago, tkrojam said:

I think the principle is you have to run on an external drive first for portable version in order to create necessary subfolders and files first.

Not quite, there is another way:
If I copy/paste only CCleaner64.exe out of the zip to the desktop, but leave the zip where it is, (it was in Downloads) then the first time I double-click CCleaner64.exe on the desktop CCleaner itself extracts the needed folders and sub-folders from the zip to the desktop and then opens. (The zip can then be deleted).

[lmacri]

5 hours ago, tkrojam said:

I copied and pasted the portable ccleaner folder to a USB drive first then I run the .exe directly and the main window can prompt!

I found it created subfolders and files (e.g., ...\Data, ...\Log, ...\Setup, ...\x86, ...x64, ...\Lang and the ccleaner.ini file) inside the USB drive.

I tried to copy that portable ccleaner folder back to my desktop and run the .exe directly from desktop and the main window can also prompt!...

Hi tkrojam:

That's good news.  However, I would still advise that you do not run CCleaner Portable from your desktop.  If you don't want to run it from a removable USB stick then you should run it from a location on your hard drive like your personal Downloads folder (e.g., from C:\Users\<yourusername>\Downloads\CCleaner) as I suggested <above>.

On 08/08/2023 at 08:18, lmacri said:

... Also note that CCleaner Portable is designed to be run from a removable USB stick.  You should not be running CCleaner Portable or any other portable application from your desktop.... [Note: if you don't have a removable USB stick then create a subfolder called CCleaner in you Downloads folder (e.g., C:\Users\<yourusername>\Downloads\CCleaner) and unzip it there]. Then run the CCleaner64.exe file, and you should see something like this after the ccsetup614.zip file is deleted  (Note:  at this point I usually delete a few unnecessary files and folders I don't need like the 32-bit CCleaner.exe but I can post back about that later if necessary)...

Further to my post <above>, this is what my CCleaner Free Portable files look like on my removable USB stick after I have launched CCleaner64.exe for the first time and deleted the files and subfolders I don't need:

After launching CCleaner64.exe for the first time I normally delete:

1.  The 32-bit CCleaner.exe executable and ...\x86 subfolder because I don't have a computer with a 32-bit operating system.
2. The ...\Lang subfolder because I use the English version of CCleaner (you must keep this subfolder if want to use a non-English interface).
3. The ...\x64 subfolder (which contains CCleanerBugReport.exe and CCleanerDU.dll) because I don't want the CCleaner Bug Reporter collecting and sending telemetry data back to Avast (see xClean's 22-Sep-2022 C:\Program Files\CCleaner\CCleanerBugReport.exe as Part of v6.04 Pro) and I don't want CCleanerDU.dll (part of the CCleaner Driver Updater) because CCleaner Driver Updater is buggy and unsafe - see the user feedback in the CCleaner Driver Updater board, and note that you must purchase a CCleaner Professional license to unlock all the features of CCleaner Driver Updater.

As I previously noted, I only use the Custom Clean feature of CCleaner Portable for disk cleaning and have Options | Settings | CCleaner Home Screen set to Custom Custom as shown below.  I never run Health Check on my system since the default PC optimization settings are too aggressive and can make unwanted changes to your system, and most features are locked unless you purchase a Professional license.  I will run the registry cleaner on occasion but only if a software program I have uninstalled (e.g., a third-party antivirus) leaves behind remnants in the registry that prevents other software from running correctly.   I never allow the registry cleaner to clean all the "stray" registry entries it finds because these registry entries are almost always harmless and deleting all "stray" registry entries can sometimes damage installed software.  The support article Clean the Windows Registry warns that "We've made CCleaner's fixing options... to help reduce potentially harmful results. It’s always safer to leave an entry than to remove it if you’re not 100% sure".

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Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.3208 * Firefox v116.0.2 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.23050.9-1.1.23060.1005 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.34.275-1.0.2102 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7279 * CCleaner Free Portable v6.14.10584

[MereFouras]

I have the same problem :

- running portable from an USB key, which I have been doing for years with no problem

- no ccleaner window opens

- systemexplorer shows a Ccleaner64.exe process running ( and as many such processes as I tried to lauch Ccleaner...

If someone could help !

-----------------------------------------------------------

Édition    Windows 10 Famille
Version    22H2
Installé le    ‎2020-‎06-‎17
Build du système d’exploitation    19045.3393
Expérience    Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.19044.1000.0
 

Ccleaner 6.15 portable downloaded from https://www.ccleaner.com/fr-fr/ccleaner/builds

[lmacri]

1 hour ago, MereFouras said:

I have the same problem :

- running portable from an USB key, which I have been doing for years with no problem

- no ccleaner window opens

- systemexplorer shows a Ccleaner64.exe process running ( and as many such processes as I tried to lauch Ccleaner...

Hi MereFouras:

Have you recently changed the location where your CCleaner files are located?  For example, have you unzipped your CCleaner files in a different folder than you usually do, or have you started using a different removable USB stick?

Try the following to troubleshoot your problem.

Unplug your removable USB stick, open Task Manager,  and make sure that you right-click on each instance of your CCleaner64.exe executable and choose End Task to make sure that CCleaner is no longer loaded in memory.

Next, plug in your removable USB stick and see what drive letter your computer automatically assigns (e.g., D:\, E:\. etc.). Disk Management (Start | Windows Administrative Tools | Computer Management | Storage) shows the USB stick I use to run CCleaner Portable is always recognized as E:\ drive.

Then open a Run dialog box (Windows key + R) and enter regedit to open your Windows registry.  Browse to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Piriform\CCleaner and  make sure the drive letter and location of your current  CCleaner64.exe executable matches the path in registry values for DataFolder and ProgramFolder. Note that my CCleaner Portable files are currently located in a folder I created on my removable USB stick at E:\Portable\CCleaner.

If the path in your registry is correct then try launching CCleaner64.exe from your removable USB stick again and see if your CCleaner interface opens correctly.

 

I ran into a similar problem as you last week because I copied all my portable apps (including CCleaner) from an 8 GB USB 2.0 stick to a faster 16 GB USB 3.0 stick.  All my other portable apps ran correctly, but CCleaner would not launch from the new USB 3.0 stick even though I could see CCleaner64.exe running in Task Manager and consuming high amounts of CPU and memory.  I eventually realized that the problem occurred because the new USB 3.0 stick was assigned the drive letter D:\ when it was plugged in and my CCleaner program was now in D:\Portable\CCleaner, which did not match the expected location in my registry of E:\Portable\CCleaner.  This is one of the many problems that can occur when a portable app like CCleaner creates registry entries instead of storing all necessary data in the local ccleaner.ini file (see my 21-Jul-2023 post about this in Wisewiz's Welcome back to CCleaner Professional ???).
_____________________________________

Just an aside , but your Windows 10 OS is currently at Build 19045.3393, which is the KB5029331 (OS Build 19045.3393) Preview released on 23-Aug-2023.  Is there any specific reason why you are installing optional Preview builds for your Windows OS?  These preview builds are beta versions released for early testing that could include bugs, and I generally avoid installing any Preview builds on my system.
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Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.3324 * Firefox v117.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.23080.2006-1.1.23080.2005 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.6.1.280-1.0.2117 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7279 * CCleaner Free Portable v6.15.10623