VCM editor crashing on file reads

[Junkrunner]

I recently redid my older Toughbook with a fresh install of Win 7 x64 and had a tough time getting .NET 4.8 installed to satisfy the requirements of the latest stable version of VCM Suite. Got it installed finally and then installed VCM Suite. VCM Editor won't read any .hpt file without crashing. I tried win7 compatibility mode, tried running as admin, still crashing. Crash log looks like this:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: CLR20r3
Problem Signature 01: VCM Editor.exe
Problem Signature 02: 5.0.4.0
Problem Signature 03: 6319ab94
Problem Signature 04: VCM Editor
Problem Signature 05: 5.0.4.0
Problem Signature 06: 6319ab94
Problem Signature 07: 3f3d
Problem Signature 08: 77
Problem Signature 09: System.NullReferenceException
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 0a9e
Additional Information 2: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789
Additional Information 3: 0a9e
Additional Information 4: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789

Has anyone else had this problem and how did you solve it please? I don't want to upgrade to Windows 10 on my old Toughbook because it slows it down to a crawl, nor do I want to get a newer Toughbook because I can't afford a new one. Any insight would be much appreciated. Thank you.

[Bill@HPTuners]

I would suggest trying the newest 5.1 beta to see if that cures your issue

[Junkrunner]

Solved it. Figured I'd post in case someone else has this issue. After some research I found that the event name CLR20r3 is usually related to .NET issues. I tried reinstalling .NET 4.8, tried downgrading to 4.0.30319 which is the bare minimum that VCM Editor requires to run. Nothing worked. Then I just removed .NET 4.8 and let Windows Installer fetch it as an update and everything works now. Yay! It stinks to have several tuned vehicles in the yard and have no working tuner laptop.