FIX solution for Samsung Magician won't start / fails to open 7.1 7.2 7.3 8.0

[0x6A7232]

Thanks to @Neil23, I've got the solution down (I think!😞

Force-quitting Samsung Magician, even including the service, did not work for me until I added the argument -no-sandbox in the Task Scheduler (just add it after the /AUTOHIDE option that's already there). 

1) Hit Start,

2) Search Task Scheduler, open it,

3) Scroll down the list to Samsung Magician, double-click it to open,

4) Click the Actions tab at the top,

5) Then double-click on Start a program

6) Now, in the lower-right, click in the box Add arguments (optional), and after /AUTOHIDE put a space and then -no-sandbox

7) Then click OK,

😎 Then click OK on the next box. 

9) Restart your computer.

Looks like there is another potential issue involving the PATH environment variable being missing, here's the fix if that is the issue, thx @aurum79 :

Change your windows system PATH variable to include the new Samsung Director (C:\Program Files (x86)\Samsung\Samsung Magician). This is done by right clicking on the Start Button, Selecting System from the context menu, choosing Advanced System Settings, going to the Advanced tab, clicking Environment Variables, Clicking on the variable called "Path", then "Edit", selecting "New" and adding the path above

[jesta192]

I was unable to start Magician (as well as auto-start at startup not working) due to the same error. Until I re-enabled my discrete GPU (on ASUS laptop, changing from ECO mode to Standard).

EDIT: Well that worked until I restarted, now that's not having any effect either...

EDIT 2: In the end, I found that the problem was only triggered when I had a MicroSD card inserted into my laptops reader. Removing that allows Magician to start normally...

[star-affinity]

Thanks!
That really did work!

People, it's important that you close both SamsungMagician background processes in the Task Manager!

They are easy to find if you filter out other processes by typing "sams" in the search field in the Task manager. Then select each one of the processes and click "End task" so they disappear from the Task Manager:

Find the SamsungMagician application which by default is in: 

C:\ Program Files (x86)\ Samsung\ Samsung Magician

Now, the quickest way to create a desktop shortcut I think is to hold down the shift and ctrl keys on the keyboard and left-click drag the SamsungMagician icon onto the desktop. You should see "Create link in Desktop" show up when you move the icon over the desktop.

Then you right-click the newly created shortcut and choose "Properties".
In the "Shortcut" tab you paste in the text:

--disable-gpu-sandbox -no-sandbox

 so it comes in like this: 

Notice the space after "Magician.exe" before the parameter comes, otherwise it will complain when you click "Apply".

After that you go to the "Compatibility" tab and check "Run this program as an administrator":

Click "OK" and double-click the shortcut you just modified and say "Yes" to allow SamsungMagician to make changes to your computer and the software should now launch!

Now, if you restart your computer, SamsungMagician is by default set to run at Windows startup, which mean it will again launch those incorrect background processes that prevents the software from starting properly, even with your modified desktop shortcut!

To prevent this, go to "Settings" in SamsungMagician and uncheck "Run Magician at Windows startup":


Phew, that was quite a lot.
Hope it helps someone.

I'm also surprised this hasn't been fixed by Samsung since I remember having this exact problem a couple of years ago when I wanted to update the firmware on my Samsung drives. 🤔

[ElexorienGR]

Hi all.

For me, everything started with version 8.0 but more importantly after a switch to new hardware*. Board, CPU and RAM.

While after first setting up the PC, Magician worked fine, I noticed that after changing any overclock setting in the BIOS, Samsung would not start and return the message we all face:

First I just enabled XMP. Magician fails. Then disabled XMP, but raised the base clock a bit. Magician fails.

It's difficult to isolate specific OC settings, since everything work together and changing a setting may affect another.

So, the only solution for me is to NOT overclock. 

So now, every time i want to run Magician, I first switch to a non-overclock profile in my BIOS. Check whatever i want to check (drives health, new firmware etc.) and then, switch back to my OC profile.

Pretty annoying.

My case started few months ago, and it's still present today. Latest versions in everything (Windows, Drivers, BIOS).

I hope someone in here has some idea, or even better, Samsung support notices (since I have no intention or time to engage in conversation with them) and take action.

*My current hardware configuration is:

ASUS ROG Strix B860-F Gaming / Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF / 32GB DDR5 / RTX 5070 / 3 Samsung NVMe drives (2x 970 EVO Plus and a 990 PRO)

[Sgt_Slowpoke]

Last time, I couldn't solve this problem and rolled back to version 6.0. Many years later, I decided to check if Samsung had fixed it, but it turned out not to be the case. As far as I understand, the problem is related solely to the transition of old drives to new hardware.

[Sgt_Slowpoke]

I just found a solution for my problem, lol. I set the compatibility mode to Windows 7 in the properties and everything worked instantly. 😎

[ElexorienGR]

Tried that. Didn't worked for me.

[Mondudu]

 Hi @ElexorienGR 

I tried all the previous solutions that worked for others but did not for me (and also in this post  https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5/computers-it/samsung-magician-8-0-does-not-work/td-p/8309096/pag...).

What worked this morning was:

• Run Windows Powershell as administrator
• Run the following:  start "C:\Program Files (x86)\Samsung\Samsung Magician\SamsungMagician.exe" --no-sandbox

Running it with --no-sandbox worked for me this time and I could update the firmware on my 990 pro.

What didn't work for me before:

• Tried running in windows 11 Safe Mode with networking enabled - Samsung Magician does not run
• Closing all running software (eg OneDrive, GoogleDrive, Antivirus/firewall, Nvidia settings, MSI centre, anything open under hidden icons/taskbar) - Did not work
• Uninstall Samsung Magician, reboot, download and re-install Samsung Magician - Did not work
• "LanmanServer" is enabled and running. Stopped and started LanmanServer and start=auto - Still not working
• "--disable-gpu-sandbox" - adding this to the shortcut or running in PowerShell - Did not work
•  "--disable-gpu-sandbox --no-sandbox" - adding this to the shortcut or running in PowerShell - Did not work (which is weird)
• Running in compatibility model (tried all windows versions) - Did not work, also did not work with "--disable-gpu-sandbox" or  "--disable-gpu-sandbox --no-sandbox" or without any parameters

So this is a really strange problem as it seems different solutions work for different people's setups. For me running in PowerShell with only --no-sandbox works, any other parameters or combination does not work.  Using only this parameter on the shortcut doesn't work for me, only in PowerShell .... strange. Also worth noting a few months back on the previous version of Samsung Magician the --no-sandbox did not work for me. 

Hope this helps

[ElexorienGR]

Gave a try today. Nothing.

If I'm overclocked, Magician does not run. It's so frustrating!