Pairing screen problems using ANT dongle

Bugs and Support
1

As soon as I updated to 1.68, the pairing screen grinds almost to a halt.
This happens upon game launch and also any time entering the pairing screen from the main menu.

Zwift functions absolutely fine so long as avoiding pairing screen.

Never had the problem before.
Exit and re-launch does not resolve.
Reboot PC does not resolve.

Windows 11, no OS updates, GPU driver updates or other software installed since it last worked.

Direct Connect for trainer/cadence
HRM paired via Android companion app.

2

Do you have an ANT+ and/or Bluetooth dongle plugged in? If so, close Zwift, unplug them, restart Zwift and see if the pairing screen is ok. Assuming it is, close Zwift, plug the dongles back in and try Zwift again.

1 Like
3

I did have an ANT+ dongle plugged in.
Pairing screen with it plugged in - stuttering, almost crashing.
Unplugged the ANT+ and it immediately started responding again. Plugged it back in - no problem.

Closed the game down, ANT+ still plugged in, and relaunched the game.
Issue has gone…

Zwift config or ANT+driver must have had something corrupted which was resolved by removing and re-inserting.

Thanks for the suggestion Arend.
Hope this assists others should they ever run into the same problem.

4

It’s one of those bizarre things that happens very infrequently and somehow rebooting doesn’t reset it but the unplug/replug does.

5

Tnx, had exact same problem. Missed a race and one hour of deleting, reinstalling and frustration before stumbeling over this solution:)

2 Likes
6

I have been seeing the same issue in the same time frame (last month).

Effectively almost impossible to run Zwift two days in a row without rebooting or replugging the dongles.

This is on a Zwift-dedicated Windows 11 system that has been stable and unchanged other than Zwift for over a year.

7

Well, this issue is not gone in 2025 in Windows. About two hours of troubleshooting, re-installing Zwift twice, rebooting Windows many times, even updating Windows.

The problem: Zwift (1.83.2) stared normal on Windows 11 (good hardware, Game-pc), but as soon as I landed in the pairing screen, it was constantly not-responding. And then for a brief moment it seems it did (like a small part of a second and then few seconds hanging again (not responding). So I treid re-installing with even deleting everything Zwift concerend (I believe). Eventually I pressed ‘skip’ and after some time, I had a perfect running Zwift in-game again!

But nothing paired, so pressed the paring screen again… and same not-responding issue again, complete app frozen, as if running on a pentium 1 20Mhz cpu. Turning on or off the Bluetooth adapter made no difference.

Then just unplugged my Tacx ANT+ USB adapter and bam, pairing screen all normal again. Plugged same ANT+ adapter back in, no issue! Working like a charm, as the 100’s of hours before.

I guess the ANT+ adapter was maybe stuck or so… and when my desktop PC is restarted, the power to the USB isn’t interrupted I guess.
Just to let know, maybe it helpt others when finding this post (via keywords).

I was digging into Webview2, re-installed that one too, tried turning off efficiëncy mode of that one, went through zwift logs… no luck all.

8

Ok, this is not over yet for me. I forgot to mention that the weeks before my post, I had sometimes that ingame Zwift suddenly froze… just for a few seconds… and then continued (without any issue when continuing, still paired to everything).

Then the above post from few days back.

And today, the Zwift app (on Windows 11) froze again mid-game, but did not resume!!

Whilst livestreaming Youtube, so it can be re-watched what happened if helpfull: paste /live/c-85CsNYSdw?si=25kP0U0AhOq2cnc3&t=3287 after youtubeDOTcom in url.

First I figured… I’ll wait some moments as I expected the game would resume as it did the oter times past weeks. Meanwhile I checked other Windows apps if still working, they did and Windows was just responsive, it was just the Zwift app frozen. But the freezing took way too long, so I assumed, no, it will not resume anymore (gutted).

At some point I figured, maybe unplug the ANT+ from USB, see what that brings me. As soon as I did that, the game resumed, as can be seen in the video. I also instantly plugged it back in, but had to re-pair but then Zwift worked fine again for the rest of the session (but lost off-course position, but yeah, TdZ isn’t a race, right :wink: )

I use this Tacx T2028 since january 2020 (or is it my second, I am not sure…). I love this Tacx T2028 ANT+ thing, but now it seems giving up, or Zwift has changed some files concerning ANT+ maybe in past weeks?

I will use a cheap ANT+ (CYCPLUS ANT+ dongle) coming days/weeks, I have it lying around and found it and it’s pairing :relieved:. If I report back here, I probably have the same issues with that one and would like some help from Zwift.
If I do not post anymore in this topic, most likely I have had no problem anymore with that cheap ANT+ dongle and my ‘good old’ Tacx T2028 seems to have given up…
(however, I am not ‘agreeing’ that Zwift just completely freezes due to a malfuctioning ANT+ device, but I cannot be anywhere sure for now).
Keep up the good rides! And hope this experience could help others in future when facing similar issue!

9

Freezing has returned for me too.
I’ve had the freezing several times in the past 2 weeks.
Unplug ANT+ dongle and it works again, unfortunately, ANT+ doesn’t start working when plugging it back in without a game restart.
Please fix this Zwift.