Workarounds if ENVI is frozen while starting SARscape tools.
On Windows, it may happen that starting SARscape tools from the ENVI toolbox will freeze ENVI.
Here is an example while selecting the /SARscape/Preferences/Preferences specific menu: no error is returned but the full ENVI session is frozen and the process must be killed to close the application.
This behavior can happen when the username of the session that is starting SARscape includes special characters such as Ç, Ğ, I, İ, Ö, Ş, Ü, .....
Username can be retrieved in a DOS prompt with the below command:
echo %USERNAME%
In case the above command confirms the username includes special characters, it is recommended:
- To work with the IT in charge of the system to remove the special character from the username or to create a new user session without special characters in the username. Indeed, it is generally not recommended to use special characters (or spaces) in a username, as it may badly affect many software or applications.
- In case the above suggestion is not feasible, another option is to set the following environment variable to point to a directory that does not include special characters:
Variable name:SARMAP_APPLICATION_DIR
Variable value:\Path\without\Special\Characters\
This will move the SARscape Working, Preferences and Batch directories to this new location and should prevent the ENVI sessions from freezing.
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created by BC on 6/16/2026
reviewed by CS & MM on 6/16/2026