pgAdmin 4 hangs on startup and creates multiple processes

Hello pgAdmin Support,

I am having an issue with pgAdmin 4 on Windows 11.

My PostgreSQL server is working correctly. PostgreSQL 16 is installed and its Windows service is running with status "Running" and startup type "Automatic".

However, pgAdmin 4 does not open. When I start pgAdmin4.exe, the application window does not appear and the process gets stuck in the background.

I checked the processes using:

tasklist | findstr /i pgadmin

and found that starting pgAdmin creates multiple pgAdmin4.exe processes (usually 4–7 processes), but no usable pgAdmin window appears.

I also tried terminating all pgAdmin processes using:

taskkill /F /IM pgAdmin4.exe

The processes can be terminated successfully, but the problem happens again every time I start pgAdmin.

I also tried:

pgAdmin4.exe --disable-gpu

but this did not solve the problem.

I checked the pgAdmin runtime directory:

C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\16\pgAdmin 4\runtime

The pgAdmin4.exe file and required DLL files are present.

The debug.log contains the following error:

[0814/222540.749:ERROR:registration_protocol_win.cc(107)] CreateFile: The system cannot find the file specified. (0x2)
[0814/224718.292:ERROR:registration_protocol_win.cc(107)] CreateFile: The system cannot find the file specified. (0x2)

I also renamed the pgAdmin user configuration folder:

C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\pgadmin

to:

C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\pgadmin_old

to rule out a corrupted configuration, but pgAdmin still does not open.

I have now uninstalled pgAdmin 4 v9.17 while keeping PostgreSQL 16 installed, and I am planning to reinstall pgAdmin 4.

Could you please help me determine what is causing pgAdmin 4 to start multiple processes and hang without opening the GUI?

System:

• Windows 11 64-bit
• PostgreSQL 16
• pgAdmin 4 v9.17
• pgAdmin installed under PostgreSQL 16
• PostgreSQL service is running normally

Thank you.

Start with pgAdmin4.exe in the runtime directory and reproduce the startup hang on Windows 11, then inspect debug.log alongside the multiple processes reported by tasklist. Check whether the registration_protocol_win.cc error and the renamed AppData\Roaming\pgadmin configuration are relevant; done means identifying a reproducible cause and a focused fix or clear diagnostic outcome.