And what is the error? I don't see an error on boot up...

I'm not sure about Michael-Maximin's problem, but his problem may be similar to my problem with recent versions of Vegas on my desktop (but not on my laptop), which is a start-up error message (this is from the most recent build of Vegas Pro 20), "So4HardwareDetection.exe has stopped working: A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available." And the message has a button that says: "Close program", which, if I press, closes the window but leaves Vegas open (so it is probably closing the So4 program).

I reported my problem originally (which presented a little differently with Vegas 19 Build 643), here: https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/vegas-pro-19-update-5-build-643--135608/?page=7#ca848443, which didn't receive an answer.

Is there something to disable automatic hardware detection in preferences? Thought there was in 20 not sure about 19.

Might be worth filing support requests if it remains a problem.

@Michael-Maximin Hi, this is a forum where you're talking to real people, it's not Google, so a little courtesy would be nice.

We must consider that English may not be their native language, so speaking in more detail might not come easy for them.

If you both (Michael and Ecquillii) can give us your computer's hardware specs, that will be a big help to us and might help us fix your problem faster.

My desktop computer's hardware specs:

Desktop: ASUS M32CD

Version of Vegas: VEGAS Pro Version 20.0 (Build 370)
Windows Version: Windows 10 Home (x64) Version 21H2 (build 19044.2846)
Cameras: Canon T2i (MOV), Sony HDR-CX405 (MP4), Lumia 950XL, Samsung A8, Panasonic HC-V785 (MP4)
Delivery Destination: YouTube, USB Drive

Processor: 3.40 gigahertz Intel Core i7-6700
RAM: 16 Gigabytes
Graphics Card: AMD Radeon R9 370
Graphics Card Driver Version: 15.200.1065.0
GPU acceleration of video processing: Optimal - AMD Radeon R9 370
Enable Hardware Decoding for supported formats: Enable legacy AVC is off; Enable legacy HEVC is on
Hardware Decoder to Use: Auto (Off)

Maybe time to allow your Intel GPU 530 to show up and after that can be used for decoding and/or encoding?

RogerS, if this is the preference item you are referring to, in Preferences: General: "Disable hardware detection launch warning" whether enabled or disabled, it does not affect the error message.

j-v, the only options I have on that tab for "Hardware decoder to use" are Auto or Off. Or is there another Preferences tab that you are referring to, to allow the GPU to show up?

@Ecquillii have you turned off Hardware Acceleration for the GPU? I'm not sure your AMD GPU meets the specs for Vegas, as per the requirements: Does your card have 4GB RAM and support VCE 3.0?

AMD/ATI® Radeon with 4GB and VCE 3.0 or higher

From Wiki:

VCE 3.0

Video Code Engine 3.0 (VCE 3.0) technology features a new high-quality video scaling and - since version 3.4 - High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC/H.265).

It, together with UVD 6.0, can be found on 3rd generation of Graphics Core Next (GCN3) with "Tonga", "Fiji", "Iceland", and "Carrizo" (VCE 3.1) based graphics controller hardware, which is now used AMD Radeon Rx 300 Series (Pirate Islands GPU family) and VCE 3.4 by actual AMD Radeon Rx 400 Series and AMD Radeon 500 Series (both Polaris GPU family).

Tonga: Radeon R9 285, 380, 380X; Mobile Radeon R9 M390X, M395, M395X, M485X

Tonga XT: FirePro W7100, S7100X, S7150, S7150 X2

Fiji: Radeon R9 Fury, Fury X, Nano; Radeon Pro Duo (2016); FirePro S9300, W7170M

Polaris: RX 460, 470, 480; RX 550, 560, 570, 580; Radeon Pro Duo (2017)

Looking at Intel for your Intel processor it states that this one has also a GPU, look here: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/88196/intel-core-i76700-processor-8m-cache-up-to-4-00-ghz/specifications.html
On many laptops (also mine) this iGPU is not showing up in your hardware, but there you have to allow this GPU to show up through the BIOS of your hardware.
Doing that gives you much more possibilities in a video program like Vegas like I said in my former post

I enabled the iGPU in the BIOS. Still getting the same error message. I checked and unchecked the File I/O options without a change to the error. Is there a second step to that procedure which I may have missed?

Yess, after that change in your hardware you have to reset Vegas so it becomes as after a complete new install.
That you have to do exactly following this link: https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/faq-how-can-i-reset-vegas-pro-to-default-settings--104646/

did you change the GPU acceleration in the Preferences>Video tab?

So4Hardware Protection has stopped working. This occurs on boot up

ReyFox.......What should I change the GPU accleration too?

j-v, I followed Nick Hope's instructions for resetting Vegas several times, and the So4 error repeated each time.

Reyfox and Michael-Maximin, I now have three choices under GPU acceleration, and I tried all three sequentially, and the error continued to occur with all three.

@Ecquillii
Sorry, but I don't know what the reason for this error is.
Never saw it myself and on this forum I cannot find a reason.
Maybe it has something to do with extra Windows options as .NET framework or so.
My last hint trying to overcom this is uninstalling Vegas 20 and completely remove all remnants and directories in C/Program files and C/ProgramData.
Restart the computer and try to install again

j-v, thanks for all your help.

I have uninstalled and reinstalled both Vegas 19 and Vegas 20 several times, on my desktop PC, trying to resolve this problem, trying different things each time.

With Vegas 19, what I ended up doing last summer was reverting to Build 550, which doesn't have the So4 error problem (which also makes me think that the problem is not necessarily my computer, per se, but rather some kind of change in the later builds.)

With Vegas 20, along with installing and completely uninstalling, I have tried each update since it has been released, without a resolution to the problem.

On my laptop, this is not an issue, the latest builds of both Vegas 19 and 20 work just fine, no So4 error message.

@Michael-Maximin my question was directed at @Ecquillii.

No one has any idea of what version you are referring to, or what hardware you are using. In order to try and help, you have to provide the information that is requested of you. No one here to my knowledge is a mind reader.

Read THIS and answer B and C.

Ecquillii might be worth looking for this file and open it in note pad to see what Vegas finds when it runs the GPU detection on start up (if it even gets to this stage). Your AMD GPU with 2GB of on board memory does not meet the min requirements for Vegas. The file can be found here:
C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\VEGAS Pro\20.0\gpu_video_x64.log

andyrpsmith, I followed your advice to look at the gpu_video_x64.log. I compared the logs for both Vegas Pro 19.0 (Build 550, the last build that does not generate the So4 error message at startup) and Vegas Pro 20.0 (Build 370, which does generate the So4 error message), and did not see anything discernibly different until the last six lines.

VP 19 had three lines that did not appear in VP 20:

1. 'OCL compile, bin: 920379d4, kernels: k273207df0',
2. 'CPWB successful' and
3. 'BP successful'.

Any errors? It would not be likely to pass your AMD Graphics card if has 2GB of on board memory?