Getting Started

This page walks you through installing ROM Validator and completing your first validation.

Requirements

Component Requirement
Operating system Windows 10 or Windows 11
Architecture x64 or ARM64
Runtime .NET 10 Desktop Runtime (the release zip is framework-dependent)

The application refuses to run from a temporary folder or directly from a zip archive. Always extract the release zip to a permanent folder before launching it.

Install

  1. Open the latest release.
  2. Download the zip that matches your system:
    • release_<version>_win-x64.zip for Intel/AMD machines
    • release_<version>_win-arm64.zip for Windows on ARM devices
  3. Extract the zip to a permanent folder, for example C:\Program Files\ROM Validator or D:\Tools\RomValidator.
  4. Run RomValidator.exe.

Each zip contains a single-file RomValidator.exe (framework-dependent), the bundled 7-Zip fallback executables (7za.exe / 7za_arm64.exe), and LICENSE.txt, ReadMe.md and WhatsNew.md.

If the .NET Desktop Runtime is missing, Windows prompts you with a download link. Install it and start the application again.

First run

When the application starts you will see:

  • the Validate ROMs and Generate DAT tabs in the header,
  • the App Data, About and Exit buttons on the right,
  • a status bar at the bottom that reports what the application is doing.

The application checks GitHub for a newer release on every launch. If an update is available you are asked whether you want to open the release page. See Updates.

Quick start: validate a folder

  1. Open the Validate ROMs tab.
  2. Click Browse… next to ROMs Folder to Scan and select the folder that contains your ROM files.
  3. Click Browse… next to DAT File and select a No-Intro XML DAT file (.dat or .xml). DAT files can be downloaded from no-intro.org or with the Download Dat Files button.
  4. Keep the default options:
    • Move successful items to _success folder
    • Move failed/unknown items to _fail folder
    • Automatically rename files when hash matches but filename differs
  5. Click Start Validation and watch the live log and statistics.

When the run finishes, the results are organized in subfolders of the folder you selected:

Folder Contents
_success Files that matched the DAT file
_fail Files that did not match or are unknown
_duplicate Files that matched but whose target name already existed

See Validating ROMs for the full workflow.

Quick start: generate a DAT file

  1. Open the Generate DAT tab.
  2. Click Select Folder and choose the folder that contains your ROMs.
  3. Optionally fill in Name, Description and Author for the DAT header.
  4. Click Start Hashing, then Export DAT and choose where to save the .dat file.

See Generating DAT Files for details.

Where your data lives

Data Location
Logs %LOCALAPPDATA%\ROM Validator\Logs
Fallback screenshots %LOCALAPPDATA%\ROM Validator\Screenshot
Screenshots (primary) Screenshot\ next to RomValidator.exe

Click App Data in the header to open the per-user folder in File Explorer. See Screenshots and Application Data.

Next steps