program not opening upon reinstall

any idea whats causing it? i double click but nothing happens

 

leftover registry entries, or leftover files in %programdata% or %appdata% or %localappdata% locations

 

What is the name of the program? Windows 10 or 11?

Have you tried a system restore. Look for a restore point at some time prior to the problem.

 

right click on the icon, go to properties, "open file location" and make sure the program is actually there.
if the icon isn't pointing to the right program location you can click all day and it wont do a damn thing.

also, have your file extensions turned on so you can see where the .exe file resides.

also install a good search program like "agent ransack" and search for the name of the program and see if its there ad where its at. you also search by date and leave the search name empty and it will show you all the programs that have changed since whatever date range you choose, which is handy for seeing whats going on.