Can't start Vuforia Studio: uncaughtException HOME directory does not exist

[hornhaut]

Starting Vuforia Studio results in an error and the following Log entry

[2022-05-10T20:49:24.661Z] Studio 9.3.2.5397
[2022-05-10T20:49:24.708Z] Status Message: Vorbereitung läuft...
[2022-05-10T20:49:24.708Z] Starting node.exe
[2022-05-10T20:49:29.036Z] error: [twx-studio:index] uncaughtException HOME directory does not exist. Environment variable HOME=C:HOMEPATH% Fix the env variable and relaunch studio.
studio dir: C:HOMEPATH%\Documents\VuforiaStudio, home dir: C:HOMEPATH%\Documents Error: HOME directory does not exist. Environment variable HOME=C:HOMEPATH% Fix the env variable and relaunch studio.
studio dir: C:HOMEPATH%\Documents\VuforiaStudio, home dir: C:HOMEPATH%\Documents
at _verifyHomeDir (C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\VuforiaStudio\studio-download.vuforia.io\dist\server\commonProperties.js:42:11)
at Object.<anonymous> (C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\VuforiaStudio\studio-download.vuforia.io\dist\server\commonProperties.js:45:1)
at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1072:14)
at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1101:10)
at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:937:32)
at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:778:12)
at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:961:19)
at require (internal/modules/cjs/helpers.js:92:18)
at Object.<anonymous> (C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\VuforiaStudio\studio-download.vuforia.io\dist\server\ssl_support\ssl_config.js:19:24)
at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1072:14) uncaughtException

 The HOME variable is set to %HOMEDRIVE%HOMEPATH% and if changed to the absolute path (C:/Users/username) it resets on the next start of windows.

Best

Sebastian

[VladimirN]

 Hi Sebastian,

Similar error message from earlier: https://community.ptc.com/t5/Vuforia-Studio/vufforia-studio-installation-error/td-p/588563 

[hornhaut]

Thanks for the suggestion, unfortunately I cannot reply in the other post, so I go on here. NodeJS is not installed and, as mentioned in the other post, it might be an issue with the home variable. But I could not solve the issue using google in general, so it might be something specific to how Vuforia Studio accesses the variables (but of course I don't know).

Best

Sebastian

[hornhaut · Accepted solution]

OK, I found I work around.
Apparently the HOME variable is overwritten by my system somehow with %HOMEDRIVE%HOMEPATH% (One % missing between HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH). Hence, Home returns "C:/HOMEPATH%" when it is requested. When I fix that in the environment variables it works for some time after restarting the PC but then it seems to return what it was before and refuses to work. Since I do not want reboot everytime I need to use vuforia studio, I wrote a batch file which resets the HOME variable for the current session:

set HOME=%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%
wt RefreshEnv.cmd
cd C:\users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\PTC Inc"
".\Vuforia Studio.appref-ms"
pause

to call RefreshEnv.cmd you need to install the chocolatey package manager, but I am not sure if it is needed at all, since set HOME=... the HOME for the current cmd/powershell session. And RefreshEnv.cmd refreshes the system environment variables.

pause just keeps the cmd/shell window to see if everything worked out