Hello everyone,

I’m experiencing a persistent issue with Trados Studio 2022 and MultiTerm 2022, and after extensive troubleshooting, I’ve reached a dead end.

Main issue (MultiTerm / Terminology)

Whenever I try to:

• create a new termbase (in MultiTerm), or

• add a new term (in Trados Studio),

I consistently get the error:

“Object reference not set to an instance of an object.”

Important detail:

• Existing termbase entries are recognized and displayed in Trados.

• However, adding new terms is impossible.

• The error occurs even with newly created termbases.

Additional issue (after troubleshooting)

After running Trados Fresh Start (Repair):

• Trados Studio no longer starts.

• It shows the loading screen briefly and then closes immediately.

MultiTerm, however, still opens normally.

What I have already tried

I went through extensive troubleshooting:

General

• Restarted system multiple times

• Reset window layout (Trados + MultiTerm)

Reinstallation / cleanup

• Reinstalled Trados Studio and MultiTerm

• Used Trados Fresh Start (Repair)

• Deleted settings files:

  • BaseSettings.xml

  • plugincache.xml

  • UserSettings.xml

• Cleaned folders in:

  • %AppData%\Trados

  • %AppData%\SDL

  • C:\ProgramData\SDL\SDL MultiTerm

Environment

• Installed latest Visual C++ Redistributable (x64)

• Tested termbases:

  • from Dropbox

  • from local desktop

MultiTerm

• Tried creating termbases:

  • inside Trados

  • directly in MultiTerm
    → same error in all cases

Current situation

• MultiTerm opens, but cannot create or edit termbases

• Trados Studio does not start anymore

• Uninstall also fails with:

  Suite load exception / error reading suite file (package cache issue)

Questions

1. Has anyone encountered this exact combination (MultiTerm null reference + Studio crash)?

2. Could this be related to:

   • broken MSI/package cache?

   • plugin conflict?

   • known bug in MultiTerm 2022?

3. Is there a reliable way to fully clean and reinstall Trados in this situation?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. At this point, I’m trying to determine whether this is a fixable local issue or something that requires RWS support.

Best regards,
Adrian Bejan