I don't really have much to go on with that one.  That information dialog is telling you it never got past the "4-exist" stage and the only thing happening between stage 4 and stage 5 is initialization of some variables.  If it fails there, the only thing I can think of is bad RAM or antivirus.  The other (actual) error message is more important: the one that says "Cannot wait for an externally created thread".  Can you get a screen snap of that one, particularly if it mentions an error address?

One thing you can try is starting Qimage with the Shift key held so it resets all settings: if a corrupted setting is involved, that would clear it.  Might also be worth a try to reboot the PC and see if that solves it if you haven't already; you mention application restart but not a full PC restart.

Regards,
Mike

Hi folks

QIU is running very erratic today for me. I have added a screenshot of the error message. Udated to latest version. No change. Eorror message appears after every application restart. Thumbs keep trying to reload even though they were just built/rebuilt on last attempted restart. Also seeing another error "Cannot waitr for an externally created thread. I added Qimage.exe to antivirus exclusion list, ran disk checks (all good), checked for HDD space (all good). The image files are loading from a dropbox synced folder that resides on a dedicated storage disk (been using this for years without issues but thought I would mention it). I'm on a Windows 11 PC with a reasonably high spec workstation. Strangely when I clear obove error it start rebuilding thumbs again. (Only 6 images in folder I am accessing, all TIFF files).

Any ideas?

Regards
John

Mike, Thanks for the explanation. Something I never noticed before.  I'll just have to keep an eye out for the file sizes on my drive.

I have to guess what you're talking about.  Since you said "opening to Qimage..." maybe you mean you open them in Lightroom and then send them to Qimage with the plugin?  That's the only way a .tif file will be created: Lightroom creates it when you export because it is the only way Lightroom can export images.

Regards,
Mike

Opening Nikon .NEF images to Qimage Ultimate creates a .tif file. is this supposed to create a .tif file? I don't remember this happening. Do I have an incorrect setting in Qimage Ultimate?

OK.  Fixed in 2026.103.

Regards,
Mike

https://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage-u

2026.103    Aug 18, 2025

Priority: Med

v2026.103 corrects an issue where the new DFSv2 sharpening could produce a slight tint in pure white areas.

Mike

https://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage-u

2026.103    Aug 18, 2025

Priority: Med

v2026.103 corrects an issue where the new DFSv2 sharpening could produce a slight tint in pure white areas.

Mike

I really only need to know the image profile was Prophoto.  I do see something that might need a slight tweak to force LCMS to do higher precision color conversions (full precision vs high precision).  White seems to end up at 254,255,254 in some cases when using the faster "high precision" method.  That might be what is causing a tiny color cast in white.  Surprised you can even see a 1 RGB change near white but I suppose depending on the printer profile it could cause the printer to put a tiny amount of ink on the paper.  I'll release a 2026.103 and we'll see if that fixes it.

Regards,
Mike

after a few tests, some additional info:
changing printer output profile has no effect, issue remains
changing image colour profile has no effect, issue remains
printing to file, output to sRGB: issue remains
turning sharpening on and off has no effect, issue remains
changing interpolation method has no effect, issue remains