What is this script error in Zwift’s launcher?

Recently an annoying script error has started to pop up in the Zwift launcher, at least in the Windows version. As some have found out the error is in a script coming from Pinterest, but how can that be, and can it cause Zwift to run poorly?

To answer the last question first: No, this does not cause Zwift to run poorly.

This is so because the Zwift launcher (zwiftlauncher.exe) is a separate program from the Zwift game itself (zwiftapp.exe). The launcher handles user authentication and login, and then it starts the Zwift game, which runs in its own process.

But why does this error suddenly appear?

The Zwift launcher does user authentication by showing regular web pages, coming from Zwift web servers, inside an embedded Internet Explorer control. If you investigate what those pages contain you will see that they include a whole load of different scripts and tracking stuff from many different sources, including Pinterest.

The same web pages for login are also used when you access Zwift web sites such as my.zwift.com. Apparently Zwift forgot to test that their pages also work properly in their own launcher when they updated something recently.

What can you do about it?

It is possible to change your Internet Explorer settings to block the script from Pinterest entirely, but the easiest is simply to answer ‘Yes’ to continue to run scripts. It will probably be fixed by Zwift zoon.

11 comments

  1. If you want to block the script in Internet Explorer :

    Open “Internet Options” on your Windows 10 machine (the Options are in Internet Explorer, not Edge)
    open Tab Security
    select Zone “Restricted Sites”
    Press Button “Sites”
    Add the URL that caused the error, i.e. https://s.pinimg.com/
    close and press o.k.
    Restart.

  2. Thanks Jesper! Does make you wonder about the privacy elements though if all of those scripts are working in the background without being able to opt out of the tracking cookies. I’m sure that there are a lot of Zwift users that do not realise that the login is driven by a webpage.

  3. “Apparently Zwift forgot to test that their pages also work properly in their own launcher when they updated something recently.”
    Par for the course really. They don’t seem to be testing _anything_.

    1. Even if you are using Edge and not Internet Explorer, you can still access the Internet Options. Just use Windows search with the search phrase ‘Internet options’.

  4. It blows my mind how bad Zwift are.
    They must collect millions in revenue, and they do NOTHING, they don’t fix bugs, they are incapable of making things work, their software, their website, a total embarrassing mess. Do they only have one developer or something? Their ineptitude is astonishing.

  5. I was having a horrible time getting Zwift to work on my Win10 machine. The script errors kept coming up and then Zwift wouldn’t launch (just a white screen). Then I finally went in to Settings -> Apps -> Optional Apps and removed Internet Explorer 11. I did this then added it back several times and it didn’t fix it. But then I once accidentally ran zwift while I had Explorer 11 uninstalled, and Zwift worked just fine.

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