Why won't the cleaner start on Windows 7? CCleaner won't start. What to do if nothing helps

CCleaner is one of the most popular computer cleaning programs that helps avoid various failures in the Windows system. But sometimes it fails to start due to errors or for some unknown reason. Let's try to figure out why such a necessary program may not work.

CCleaner does not start on windows 7, 8.1, 10

It happens that for unknown reasons, CCleaner simply stops starting. This could be due to viruses or a system glitch.

You need to download Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool and use it to check your computer for viruses, especially the program folder. Even if you have Nod or another antivirus installed, this will not hurt. If a virus was found, remove it. After this the program will work. If we find nothing, then we move on.

Rename the CCleaner folder to anything else, for example, add a number at the end. It's strange, but sometimes it helps.

If the previous methods did not help, then move on to the last method, which usually solves the problem with launching CCleaner in 90% of cases.

Treatment with AVZ antivirus utility

Download the AVZ antivirus utility: Download AVZ 4

Go to the folder with the program and rename the avz.exe file to any other file (for example, avz2.exe).

Launch the program, select the file, database update and click start. Next, go to the Troubleshooting Wizard, select System problems and launch.

As a result, select the entire list and click “Fix problems”.

And the last step. Download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and run a scan. Remove any viruses found.

What to do if nothing helps?

You need to do some work on your system. We suggest doing this using two useful programs.

1. Update drivers with Driver Booster. This is really cool software that often helps. Updating old drivers to new ones is one of the key requirements for the normal functioning of games and programs on a computer.

You might think that Windows always alerts users when new updates are available. That's right, it shows alerts, but only for updates for Windows and the video card. But besides this, there are many more drivers that need to be updated regularly.

2. PC repair with Reimage Repair. Run this program to analyze your system for errors (and there will be 100% of them). You will then be asked to cure them, either individually or all at once.

CCleaner is the most popular program for cleaning your computer from junk, unnecessary programs, accumulated temporary files and other unnecessary information that leads to a decrease in computer speed. Today we will look at the problem where CCleaner refuses to launch on the computer.

Problems starting CCleaner can occur for various reasons. In this article we will look at the most popular reasons, as well as ways to solve them.

Reason 1: lack of administrator rights

In order to clean your computer, CCleaner requires administrator rights.

Try right-clicking on the program shortcut and selecting "Run as administrator" .

In the next window, you will need to agree to grant administrator rights, and also, if prompted, enter the administrator password. As a rule, after performing these steps, the startup problem is eliminated.

Reason 2: the program is blocked by antivirus

Because The CCleaner program can make quite a lot of changes to the operation of the operating system, so you shouldn’t exclude the possibility that the program was blocked by your antivirus.

To check this, pause your antivirus and then try to launch the program. If the program launched successfully, open the program settings and place the CCleaner program in exceptions so that the antivirus will not pay attention to it in the future.

Reason 3: outdated (damaged) version of the program

In this case, we suggest that you reinstall CCleaner to eliminate the possibility that an old version of the program is installed on your computer or that it has been damaged, making it impossible to launch.

Please note that, of course, you can remove a program from your computer using standard Windows tools, but it will probably not be a discovery for you that after uninstalling a program through the “Control Panel”, a huge number of unnecessary files remain in the system, which not only slow down the system, but also and may never solve the startup problem.

To efficiently and completely remove CCleaner from your computer, we recommend that you use the RevoUninstaller program, which will allow you to first remove the program using the built-in uninstaller, and then scan for files, folders and registry keys associated with CCleaner. After completing the uninstallation, reboot the operating system.

After you uninstall CCleaner, you will need to download a new version of the program, and this must be done from the official website of the developer.

After downloading the program distribution, install the program on your computer, and then check that it starts.

Reason 4: presence of virus software

The inability to run programs on a computer is an alarm bell that may indicate the presence of viruses on the computer.

You can scan your computer using the free Dr.Web CureIt utility, which allows you to perform a thorough and complete scan of the system and then eliminate all detected threats.

Reason 5: CCleaner is running but minimized to tray

After installing the program, CCleaner is automatically placed in startup, so the program starts automatically every time you start Windows.

If the program is running, then when you open the shortcut you may not even see the program window. Try clicking the arrow icon in the tray, and then double-clicking the CCleaner miniature icon in the window that appears.

Reason 5: broken label

If you have Windows 10, click on the search icon in the lower left corner and enter the name of the program. If you are the owner of Windows 7 and earlier versions of the OS, open the Start menu and, again, enter the name of the program in the search bar. Open the displayed result.

If the program started normally, then the problem was with the desktop shortcut. Remove the old shortcut, open Windows Explorer and navigate to the folder where the program was installed. Typically the default is C:\Program Files\CCleaner .

There will be two EXE files in this folder: “CCleaner” and “CCleaner64”. If you have a 32-bit system, you will need to send a shortcut to the first version of the file to your desktop. Accordingly, if you have a 64-bit system, we will work with “CCleaner64”.

If you do not know the bitness of your operating system, open the "Control Panel" menu, set the view mode "Small Icons" and open the section "System" .

In the window that opens, next to the “System type” item, you can see the bitness of your operating system.

Now that you know the bit depth, go back to the “CCleaner” folder, right-click on the desired file and go to “Send” – “Desktop (create shortcut)” .

Reason 6: blocking program launch

In this case, we can suspect that some process on the computer (we should also suspect virus activity) is blocking CCleaner from launching.

Go to the program folder (usually CCleaner is installed at C:\Program Files\CCleaner), and then rename the program's executable file. For example, if you have 64-bit Windows, rename "CCleaner64" to something like "CCleaner644". For a 32-bit OS, you will need to rename the “CCleaner” executive file, for example, to “CCleaner1”.

After renaming the executive file, send it to the desktop, as described in reason 5.

We hope this article helped you. If you fixed the problem with launching CCleaner using your own method, please tell us about it in the comments.

In this article, we will take a closer look at CCleaner for Windows 10. Many have heard about this program, but they are unlikely to know about all the possibilities. Let's start with the terminology, CCleaner version 5 32 6129, like earlier versions, is one of the most powerful and fairly easy-to-use tools for optimizing and cleaning your PC. The software was developed by Piriform, whose head office is located in the UK in the western part of central London.

The first release was in September 2006, and the version with step-by-step instructions was published in July of this year (2017).

Download and install!

The Windows version (64 bit) downloads automatically; if this does not happen, you will be provided with an additional link. You can download it for free.

We would like to remind you that by downloading programs from third-party sites, you compromise the security of Windows and the information available on your PC. After you have successfully downloaded CCleaner for Windows 10 for free, you need to proceed with installation.


Section "Settings"


Section "Cleaning"

  1. “Windows” – allows you to analyze system errors, cash browsers, defragmentation processes and much more.


  2. “Applications” - finds traces of no longer existing programs that were incorrectly or incompletely removed:

Section "Register"

Let's move on to a very important step that requires concentration and knowledge - cleaning the Windows 10 registry using CCleaner. This way we can check the integrity of Windows system files.


Let's proceed to the remaining “Startup” item:


Section "Service"

This menu provides options for uninstalling programs, entries from Windows startup, managing browser add-ons, and much more. Briefly about each position.

  1. “Remove programs” speaks for itself; it will help you quickly get rid of software that, for various reasons, cannot be removed in the standard way.

  2. “Startup” - allows you to enable/disable and remove utilities and applications with almost one click.

  3. “Browser add-ons” - will come to the rescue in the fight against intrusive and unnecessary extensions.

  4. “Disk Analysis” - quickly orients you to the occupied space to optimize work.

  5. “Search for duplicates” - will perform a qualitative analysis of the data and display a list of identical files; you set the search criteria yourself.
  6. “System Restore” - will display a list of all restore points, first blocking the most recent one, allowing you to deftly manage the storage of copies.

  7. “Erase Discs” - allows you to completely / partially delete the contents. The proposed parameters for the number of passes can satisfy even professional users.


    In addition, the site offers a version of CCleaner portable for Windows 10, which does not require installation.

CCleaner won't launch on Windows 10

There are times when this useful tool becomes unresponsive and simply won't run on Windows. There may be several reasons:

  • System failure - in this case you need to use an antivirus, in particular we recommend AVZ from the official website http://www.z-oleg.com/secur/avz/download.php, update and run a system check, suggestions for correction should be accepted.
  • A virus attack is even more likely than errors in the operating system. Download MALWAREBYTES 3 from the link https://ru.malwarebytes.com and carry out a full scan, moreover, also try Dr.Web CureIt! - https://free.drweb.ru/cureit.
  • Sometimes simply renaming the launched file helps - add a letter or number.

Have a great day!

According to the statistics of requests to the site's technical support, in 99% of cases, problems with launching CCleaner arise due to viruses, conflicts with anti-virus software, damage to program files due to incorrect installation or uninstallation, and user inattention.

Let's look at the solution to each problem in the instructions below.

Solution 1

Right-click on the CCleaner shortcut and open properties.

In properties, look at the working directory. Open this folder in Windows Explorer. Or just click on the button File location».

Rename the file that the shortcut refers to - add the number 2 to the end of the name so that it looks like the screenshot below.

Try running CCleaner.

Solution 2

Check if your antivirus is blocking CCleaner from launching. Nod32, for example, at one time considered the program as a potentially unwanted application and blocked its launch and sometimes installation by default.

Review your antivirus blocking and notification history, try disabling it while CCleaner is running to see if it's really the cause, or add CCleaner to your antivirus exceptions.

P.S. To check the security of the installed program, use the virustotal.com service. It is enough to check only its installer.

Solution 3

Reinstall CCleaner if you haven't tried it before. Use the instructions for installing and completely uninstalling the program to avoid mistakes during the process.

Solution 4

If CCleaner still does not start after reinstalling, check your computer for viruses. Hackers deliberately break the launch of programs to clean the operating system so that they cannot detect their viruses and do not remove them.

To check, it is better to use the free anti-virus utility AVZ, and specifically its portable version.

After downloading AVZ, open the folder with the utility, find the file avz.exe and rename to avaz2.exe. Then run the renamed file (double-click with the left mouse button) and update the utility database.

After updating, open "File" - "Troubleshoot Wizard", select the "System problems" category and the severity level "All problems", and click Start.

Once the scan is complete, note and correct any problems found. Then check your computer for miners with your antivirus (if it can do this), or Malwarebytes Anti-Malware antivirus (according to user reviews, this particular antivirus found malware that prevented CCleaner from starting).

After completing all checks, restart your computer.

Solution 5

Make sure that CCleaner really does not start, that the program icon is not in the Windows notification area (bottom right).

If CCleaner loads automatically with Windows, it is minimized to the tray, and when you try to launch it (it turns out that this is already the case again), nothing happens, since the program is already running.

If the CCleaner icon is present in the tray, double-click on it with the left mouse button.

If CCleaner does not start, there can be many reasons. Perhaps the user simply did not give this “cleaner” administrator rights. Or maybe it's due to some kind of glitch within the program itself.

In any case, this problem is very common on the operating systems Windows 10, Windows 8 and Windows 7. Now we will look at everything that can be done in this situation.

1. Run CCleaner as administrator

The first thing to do when any system cleaning software refuses to work is to run it as an administrator.

The fact is that without such rights, any program and any operation related to access to system resources will not work.

Therefore, right-click on the CCleaner shortcut (on your desktop or in the Start menu) and select “Run as administrator” from the list of options.

It is quite possible that the program will work after this. If not, move on to the next tip.

2. Check your antiviruses and firewalls

It is likely that your antivirus or firewall (aka firewall) for some reason decided to block CCleaner. In this case, the “cleaner” will not start and there will be no identifying signs of third-party software participating in this process.

That is, you won’t even know that it’s all in the antivirus program. Therefore, disable it and the firewall for a while. If everything works, then the problem is with them.

Clue: Turning off the antivirus is quite simple - click on its icon in the tray and select the “Exit” option.

With a firewall, things are a little more complicated. The process to disable it is as follows:

  • Open the command line (in the Start menu) also as an administrator (right mouse button and select the desired menu item).
  • Type the command “netsh advfirewall set allprofiles state off” and press “Enter” on your keyboard.

If the problem really lies with your antivirus, then you need to add CCleaner to its exceptions. This is done differently depending on the program.

For example, in Avast you need to go to settings and on the “General” tab find the “Exceptions” section, and then use the “Browse” button to specify the path to the CCleaner shortcut.

The same process in Windows firewall looks like this:

  • In Control Panel, open Windows Firewall. Next, in the open window, on the left, click on “Allow interaction...”.

  • After that, click “Change Settings”. In the window that opens, click “Allow another application...”.
  • The Add Application window appears. Next to the “Path” inscription, click on the “Browse” button and specify the path to the same CCleaner shortcut.
  • Click Add. The program will be included in exceptions.

3. Check tray

The solution to the problem may be much simpler than it seems at first glance.

The fact is that after installation, CCleaner is immediately placed in the startup folder and then launched along with the operating system, regardless of the user. In this case, the program is simply minimized to tray and does not open when using the shortcut on the desktop.

If you use an abbreviated quick launch panel, that is, there is an arrow on the left, clicking on which opens the entire list of programs in the tray, click on it and launch CCleaner.

And if this shortcut is immediately visible, double-click on it with the left mouse button. Then the program should start.

4. Rename the shortcut

In some cases, simply renaming the shortcut also helps.

To do this, go to the folder where CCleaner is installed. Usually this is “Program Files” on the “C:” drive or on another system drive. There will be two files - “CCleaner64” and simply “CCleaner”. The first is designed to run on a 64-bit system, and the second is designed to run on a 32-bit system.

Advice: When you go to the folder, try running both of these files. Perhaps then they will start. This will mean that the shortcut on the desktop is broken and you just need to copy the shortcut from the open folder to the desktop.

If CCleaner does not start here either, rename “CCleaner64”, for example, to “CCleaner641” and do the same with the “CCleaner” shortcut (for example, let it be “CCleaner2”).

5. Try running in compatibility mode

Another very interesting way to solve the problem is as follows:

  • Right-click on the CCleaner shortcut.
  • In the menu that appears, select “Properties”.
  • In the window that opens, go to the “Compatibility” tab.
  • In the “Compatibility Mode” block, check the box “Run the program in compatibility mode...”.
  • Select any version of the operating system below, for example, Windows 8. If CCleaner still does not work, do the same, only select a different OS.

If this does not help, you will have to uninstall and install CCleaner again.

6. Reinstall the program

To uninstall CCleaner, you need to go to the “Control Panel” and select “Uninstall a program” there.

In the window that opens, you just have to find CCleaner and click on it, and then follow the removal wizard’s instructions - click on the “Next” button several times and agree to uninstall the program.

Then download the latest version of CCleaner, for example, and install it on your computer. It is likely that the computer cleaning software will work normally again.

7. Check your computer for viruses

Ultimately, you need to check your OS for viruses. If none of the above helped, this is definitely the reason.

Those who have a reliable antivirus, for example, Kaspersky, can use it and conduct a full scan of all files. But owners of unreliable antivirus software, for example, Dr.Web, should download one of the viruses removal utilities.

Here are the best of them:

This will help solve the problem with CCleaner refusing to launch.



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