Why is the Obsidian installer stuck?

The installer freezes most commonly because: antivirus is scanning every file as it extracts, another Obsidian process is already running and locking files, or the disk has insufficient free space.

How do I fix Obsidian install stuck at 0%?

Pause your antivirus for 60 seconds, kill any running Obsidian process in Task Manager, then re-run the installer. This solves the stuck-at-0% issue in most cases.

Obsidian Install Stuck or Freezing

Why Does the Obsidian Installer Get Stuck?

🦠 #1 cause

Antivirus Scanning

Real-time antivirus scans every file as the installer extracts them. On slow disks or aggressive AV settings this causes the installer to freeze or time out.

⚙️ Very common

Obsidian Already Running

If Obsidian is open or stuck in the background, the installer cannot replace locked files and hangs indefinitely.

💾 Occasional

Low Disk Space

Obsidian requires ~250 MB free space. If the drive is full, the installer silently stalls after writing partial files.

Step-by-Step Fixes

Pause antivirus and retry

→Locate your antivirus icon in the system tray (bottom-right).
→Right-click → Pause / Disable for 10 minutes.
→If using Windows Defender: Settings → Windows Security → Virus & threat protection → Manage settings → Real-time protection → Off.
→Run the Obsidian installer again.
→Re-enable antivirus immediately after installation completes.

Kill all Obsidian processes first

→Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
→Click the Details tab.
→Find every entry named obsidian.exe.
→Right-click each one → End task.
→Run the installer again.

Check available disk space

→Open File Explorer → This PC.
→Check the free space on the drive where Obsidian installs (usually C:).
→Obsidian needs at least 250 MB free. If space is low, clear temporary files with cleanmgr (Disk Cleanup).
→Retry the installer after freeing space.

Re-download a fresh installer

→The current download may be incomplete or corrupted.
→Delete the existing Obsidian-1.12.7.exe from Downloads.
→Download a fresh copy using the button below — verify the file is ~90 MB.
→Run the new installer.

⬇ Download Fresh Obsidian Installer

Obsidian Install Stuck Fix