ColorProof 5.4 Can't Launch "side-by-side error"

The error we will talk about in this article occurs when ColorProof services launch but Application will not launch. You get a message "Error while starting colorproof.exe Reason: The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect"

There are usually three ways to fix this error.

1. Go into Colorproof directory in C/Program Files (or x86)/GMG/colorproof05. Delete "ColorProof.exe.config" from ColorProof folder, then rename the file "ColorProof.exe.backup.config" into "ColorProof.exe.config Launch Colorproof successfully. If you cant see the file "ColorProof.exe.backup.config" check in C/users/public/gmg/colorproof folder if you have a newer version.

If this method doesnt fix your error,

2. Try running the prerequisites and make sure all are coming up as installed. 

Sometimes when you run the prerequisite, the dot net framework will show up as missing, even though it is installed. It seems that windows update may update the dot net and it affects ColorProof. Uninstall the dot netframework and reinstall the prerequisites.

Sometimes a repair install after this is necessary as well. 

The third thing you may notice is that you have a directory for ColorProof in 3 seperate places 

C:\Users\Public\GMG\ColorProof

C:\Program Files (x86)\GMG\ColorProof05

C:\Program Files\GMG\ColorProof05

This would have happened after upgrading from an older version of ColorProof to a newer version and not selecting the correct directories to install to that you were previously using. 

To fix this, we will need to uninstall colorproof and delete the created folders. It is best to contact support in this instance to ensure everything is removed correct but you don't lose any data. Please contact support if this happens and you have noticed it!