iMovie not responding every time I use it. Why ? and how to fix it...

Hi,

You didn't mention what version of iMovie and operating system that you are using.

Could be a number of reasons for iMovie not responding, such as insufficient free space on your internal drive, version incompatibility between iMovie and operating system, corruption in iMovie, corruption in the iMovie ibrary, a conflict on your computer or in the user account, System Management Controller or PRAM needs resetting, etc. Nothing to do but trouble shoot.

The first thing to do is check to see that you have sufficient free space on your internal drive. Click on Apple Logo/About This Mac/ Storage. iMovie can function with 5 GB, but 20-25 GB is preferable. If you are low on free space see if you can remove some unwanted files.

Make sure that you iMovie version is updated to highest version that your operating system will run. (See below for updating method.)

If all O.K. with the above, try working your way through these diagnostic procedures:

Safe Mode

Try booting up in Safe Mode and, after everything loads, immediately shut down and reboot in normal mode. Then see if iMovie works properly.

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

Deleting Preferences

Open iMovie while holding down the Option and Command keys and select to delete preferences in the box that appears. iMovie will open in a new library. Reopen your old library to get back to your projects. Possibly you may need to reboot to set the changes.  Deleting preferences is a safe procedure that will not cause data loss or disruption to your project.

Opening iMovie in a new library

Try opening iMovie in a new library.  To do that, open iMovie while holding down the Option key and then selecting to create a new library in the box that appears.

Opening iMovie in a new user account

Create a new user account from System Preferences/Users and Groups and try to open and use iMovie in the new account. You can use the Guest account on your Mac for this purpose.

Change Users & Groups settings on Mac - Apple Support

 Updating iMovie

To update/redownload iMovie 10, drag your iMovie 10 app from the Applications folder into the trash, but do not empty the trash. Sign in to the app store and open your purchases folder by clicking on your name at the bottom of the app store side bar. (NOTE: For El Capitan and older, click on the Purchases tab at the top of the app store screen and then sign in. Click on Purchases again to reveal your purchases.)  You will see your purchases displayed, including iMovie 10. Redownload/update iMovie from there. If not successful, drag your present iMovie app out of the trash and return it to the Applications folder.

Resetting the System Management Controller

Try resetting the System Management Controller (but no longer available for the newM1 computers):

Reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support

Resetting the NVRAM or PRAM

Try resetting the NVRAM or PRAM, although this issue would be fairly rare:

Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

Contact Apple Support

If none of the above resolve your issue, contact Apple Support.  The techs there have the capability of remotely accessing your computer that we cannot do here.  To contact apple support click on the Support item above this forum’s screen.  Navigate to a place where you can enter your phone number.

-- Rich

I now it looks a little daunting with all those procedures. Hopefully starting up in Safe Mode will cure it. The other procedures, if you need to work through them, are easy to do and shouldn't take longer than 10 minutes.

When you say iMovie is "not responding" what exactly are you observing? Spinning beach ball? Or does it open but the functions don't work? Or does nothing happen at all when you try to open it? Any error message?

Do other applications work?

If none of the diagnostic procedures isolate the problem, then to rule out a hardware issue you might try running the Hardware diagnostics procedure on your Mac.

Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac - Apple Support

-- Rich