Paratext 9 won't open: Can't load ICU library (version 54)

Question

A user reported that they could not not open Paratext and sent this error:

image846×254 61.6 KB

They also got this window:

In looking at a previous posting (Paratext won't open after update 8.0.100.69 (Can't load ICU library)), it appeared that something to do with FieldWorks might be causing the issue.

The user reported that they had FieldWorks installed a few months ago, but didn’t any more. Once they deleted the FieldWorks 9 folder (I’m assuming from C:\Program Files\SIL\FieldWorks 9 or C:\Program Files (x86)\SIL\FieldWorks 9), Paratext opened normally.

I wanted to share this here in case it helps other users/supporters.

Answer 1

This has usually been a problem with the C++ runtime libraries that are required for the ICU libraries.

Paratext 9.2 will install this along with the rest of the Paratext code, but the C++ libraries are a separate package, so they can be uninstalled later.

If you go to “Add or remove programs” and search for “C++ 2015”, you should see a x86 and x64 version of the runtime libraries that Paratext uses (it uses the x64 libraries, but both options are installed).

It the runtime library is missing, you can download it from here:
https://paratext.org/files/developer/VC_redist.x64.exe

If the runtime library is shown, I have found that uninstalling it and reinstalling it is the best option - it seems the library can sometimes be partially installed and repairing hasn’t fixed the problem.

John+Wickberg