This guide aims to provide some basic troubleshooting steps you can follow if your Movie Studio 13 Platinum - Steam Powered is affected by the Missing Executable error. If you are still affected by this error after following the steps outlined in this guide, please contact our technical support team[www.custcenter.com] for further assistance.

The next section briefly explains why this error occurs. If you'd like to skip the "why" and get straight to troubleshooting, feel free to jump ahead.

As it pertains to Movie Studio 13 Platinum - Steam Powered, the Missing Executable error indicates the software has not been successfully installed. There are a number of reasons the installation can fail, several of which we'll cover in this guide, but essentially the error is telling you the executable is missing because the executable was never installed in the first place.


For a variety of technical reasons, our software doesn't install in quite the same way as most Steam games. When you click the Install button in the Steam Library, all Steam does is download our installer package, and when you verify the cache Steam just checks whether the installer package is present. The actual installation doesn't occur until the first time you click Launch:



When you see this window, it means the installer is running silently in the background. Steam waits for the installer to stop running, then tries to launch the program. For the vast majority of users Movie Studio installs and launches without a hitch, but if you're reading this guide that probably isn't the case for you.


There is no way for our installer to report problems or failures to Steam. Steam simply waits for the installer to stop running and assumes it has completed successfully, whether it actually has or not. Because the installer is run as part of the first time setup process, Steam won't try to run the installer package directly again unless you Delete Local Content, click Install, then Launch again.

Fortunately, it usually isn't necessary to get Steam to run the installer directly more than once. The steps in this guide should allow you to quickly and efficiently diagnose the problem and hopefully get up and running in short order.

If you're currently getting the Missing Executable error when you try to launch Movie Studio 13 Platinum - Steam Powered, the first thing to do is get back to a "clean slate" by uninstalling/removing any currently installed components of our software and starting over.

In your Steam Library, right-click on the listing for Movie Studio 13 Platinum - Steam Powered and choose "Delete Local Content".

This option can also be called "Add/Remove Programs", "Programs and Features", or other similar names. It lists all software currently installed on your computer.

After restarting your computer, it's time to try installing again. Return to your Steam Library, select Movie Studio 13 Platinum - Steam Powered, and click Install.

This will download the installer package. After Steam tells you the program is finished downloading, click the Launch button. The first time setup window appears which means, as explained in an earlier section, our installer is running in the background.

In many cases, this installation attempt should be successful. The most common reason our installer fails is because the computer is waiting to be restarted. Since you restarted your computer in the last section, this will resolve the problem if that was the issue on your system.

Don't worry! We're not done. If you're still seeing the error at this point, it's likely your installation is failing for another reason. Now it's time to find out why. To do that, you'll need to run the installer manually.

Security software like antivirus, antimalware, and other similar products can sometimes interfere with software installation. Remember to re-enable these programs after the software is installed!

The default path is C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\MovieStudioPlatinum130

In this folder, you should find at least a file called vmspe130_x64.exe; the other pictured items may or may not be present.



You'll need this folder later. If this folder already exists, check to see what it contains. It should either be empty or have just one or two files inside.


This launches the installer, which normally runs silently if it's launched directly from Steam.


The default location listed is C:\Program Files\Sony\Movie Studio Platinum 13.0\
Do NOT install to this default directory. Instead, click Change. Find and select the "Movie Studio Platinum 13.0" folder you created previously.

If you've done this correctly, your install location should now be listed as C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\MovieStudioPlatinum130\Movie Studio Platinum 13.0\


At this point, one of two things will happen: Either the installer will complete successfully, or it will fail with an error message.

If the installer finishes successfully, great! Return to your Steam Library and try to launch Movie Studio 13 Platinum - Steam Powered. It should start correctly.

If you get an error message, carry on to the next section.

Error messages generally fall into one of two broad categories: descriptive messages and technical messages. We'll cover both here.

A descriptive message will explain a problem in plain, straightforward language and usually suggest a course of action. An example of a descriptive message would be, "Please restart your computer," or, "You must have a different version of Windows." If you receive this type of error message, please follow the suggested course of action if possible to see if doing so resolves the issue.

If you receive a descriptive message but following its suggestion is either impossible (i.e. the installer tells you you need Windows 7 or 8 even though you're running Windows 8) or doesn't resolve the problem (i.e. you're told to restart your computer, but restarting doesn't clear the message), please contact our technical support team[www.custcenter.com] for further assistance.

A technical message will usually list one or more Microsoft error codes, indicate a problem with a specific component, and ask you to contact support. The details of the message will vary from case to case, but it will almost always be formatted in this way.

It wouldn't be practical for this guide to cover every single possible technical error individually. However, most of these errors are caused by a problem with one of these Microsoft components:

• Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable
  
• Microsoft .NET Framework

We'll target troubleshooting these components in the next section.

These Microsoft components must be installed and functioning properly in order for most Windows software to install and run correctly. We won't go into detail in this guide about what these components are or what they do; we'll just stick to troubleshooting them as it relates to getting Movie Studio 13 Platinum - Steam Powered up and running.

Return to the "Uninstall a program" list in Windows Control Panel we visited earlier. This time, we're looking for entries called Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable. You'll probably have at least several, and you might have quite a few:

We're looking for Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable (x64). If you don't have any entries for 2012 Redistributable, please download and install[www.microsoft.com] this component from Microsoft before continuing.


Once you find the listing(s) for Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable (x64), it's time to run what's called a Repair installation. (NOTE: You need to do this even if you just installed this component.) To run a Repair installation, right-click the item in the list and choose Change:

If you're prompted to allow the program to make changes to your computer, click Yes.

You should see an installer window appear.

Click the Repair button and wait for the installer to finish. If you have more than one entry for Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable (x64), repeat this process for each of them.

Once you've finished running the repair installation(s), restart your computer. After restarting, follow the instructions provided in an earlier section to run the installer manually again. If the installer completes successfully, you should be set to Launch from Steam. If the installer still fails, move on to .NET Framework below.

Return once more to the "Uninstall a program" list we've visited previously. This time, click on "Turn Windows features on or off" in the upper left part of the window.

This opens a new window listing many Windows features. On Windows 7, 8, or 10, you should have an entry for .NET Framework 3.5. On Windows 10 only, you should also have an entry for the latest version of .NET Framework (4.6 at the time this guide was written):

Remember that on Windows 7 and 8, you'll only have .NET Framework 3.5 listed here. If these are turned off, turn them on and click OK.


If you're on Windows 10 and you just turned on one or both of the .NET Frameworks, you're ready to run the installer manually again according to the instructions in a previous section. If you're on Windows 7 or 8, there's one more step before we do that.

Go back to the "Uninstall a program" list which should still be open. Look for any entries for Microsoft .NET Framework:


If Microsoft .NET Framework is not listed, or you don't have the current version (4.6 at the time this guide was written), please download and install[www.microsoft.com] this component from Microsoft.


Once you have the current version of .NET Framework installed, or if you already had it installed, it's time to run a Repair installation on this as well. Right-click on the .NET entry and choose "Uninstall/Change":

If you're prompted to allow the program to make changes to your computer, click Yes.

An installer window should appear.

Choose the Repair option and click Next. Once the Repair installation is complete, restart your computer and follow the instructions in a previous section to run the installer manually.

If you're still having trouble after carefully following all the instructions in this guide, you'll need to contact our technical support team[www.custcenter.com] for further assistance. The tech support team will work with you to find the source of the problem.

When you contact technical support, be sure to include the following information:

• Let them know if you've already followed this guide, or if you weren't able to complete one or more of the steps.
  
• Attach your installer log files[www.custcenter.com] to your incident. These logs contain information about the installation failure.
  
• Attach a TXT file export of your system information.

This information will help the tech support team assist you more quickly.