Unable to open the main window

[Qingtian-Zou]

Environment

Windows build number: 10.0.18362.32
PowerToys version: 0.11.0
PowerToy module for which you are reporting the bug (if applicable): 

Steps to reproduce

Reboot.

Expected behavior

An icon should appear in system tray, on which I can double click to open the main window. Or I should be able to open the main window by clicking PowerToys in the start menu.

Actual behavior

No icon appears in system tray. (Though it was there right after install&run before I reboot my machine.) Clicking on PowerToys in start menu brings up a dialog asking for privielge escalation, but nothing happens after then, no matter I click "yes" or "no".

The PowerToys seems to be running. I hold WIN and I see the shortcut hints. I hold down SHIFT and drag windows and I see FancyZone react. However, my FancyZone configuration disappears. Now I only have one zone that takes up the whole screen.

Screenshots

[eagleEggs]

Having similar issue: nothing opens on launch, no main window, no system tray icon . Functionality seems to be working though.

10.0.17763 Build 17763

[Qingtian-Zou]

One work around:
Open task manager, look for "PowerToys Runner" (PowerToys.exe), right click on it and select "end task". Then you can reopen it from start menu as if you have not checked "start at login".

[eagleEggs]

Aah, thanks for that quick fix :)

System try icon is now there, however the main settings window is completely blank :O

I guess I'll do a reboot, nothing else going on right now...

[enricogior]

@Qingtian-Zou @eagleEggs
thank you for reporting the issue, if you still have the blank screen in the Settings window, we are tracking the problem here: #243
Thank you.

[eagleEggs]

Yep, after reboot same thing. Will track there - Thanks @enricogior

[enricogior]

Closing this since we track it in #243
EDIT: that was a mistake.

[Qingtian-Zou]

No I don't think this issue should be closed. The problem with start at login is different from the blank settings window.

[enricogior]

Hi @Qingtian-Zou
the issues was closed by mistake, sorry about that.

@Qingtian-Zou, @eagleEggs
can you please confirm that:

• rebooting the system doesn't solve the missing tray-icon problem
• uninstalling and reinstalling PowerToys doesn't solve the problem

Can you provide more information on your system configuration:

• is the computer for personal use or is it connected to a domain?
• are you running 3rd party antivirus software?
• are you running 3rd party Windows shell?

Thank you.

[Qingtian-Zou]

Have been using PowerToys for some days, and below is what I find:

The system tray disappearing only happens the first time I reboot my computer. After that, the same issue does not happen, during which I have rebooted my computer for 4 or 5 times.

The computer is for personal use. There is no 3rd party antivirus or shell program installed.
Antivirus: Windows Defender
Shell: powershell, cmd, wsl (ubuntu 18), Windows Terminal

[Qingtian-Zou]

I have installed PowerToys on another Win10 PC of mine, checked "start at login", and rebooted. The problem does not appear. I guess the trigger is not rebooting, but I have not idea what is the other possible causes.

[Qingtian-Zou]

This may be out of the scope, but I find something very interesting when I try to re-do what I did when I first install PowerToys:

Firstly, uninstall PowerToys, and reboot. After that, re-install PowerToys. During the installation process, uncheck "start at login". After installation, in the main settings window, I check "start at login", create one custom FancyZone layout, save configurations, and then reboot. Now, after the this second reboot, I double click on the PowerToys system tray icon, and two PowerToys main windows appear. One is almost empty, with onely one tab "General settings", tab title "PowerToys General Settings", and the save button on the right, so I close it. The other window seems good, but nothing works. For example, in "FancyZones" tab, I click "edit zones", but nothing happens; I check and uncheck some options and click on save button, but only get the circle rolling without stop.

After discarding the changes, I am able to close the second window. Then I double click again on the PowerToys system tray icon to reopen the main window. This time everything works fine.

[enricogior]

Hi @Qingtian-Zou
I prepared an unsigned debug build that may help to determine the cause of the missing try icon.

You can either build the binaries yourself from the dev/enricogior/debug-trace branch: https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/tree/dev/enricogior/debug-trace

or download the zip file from the release assets:
https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/releases/download/v0.11.0/unsigned-debug-build.zip

First uninstall PowerToys, then install it again leaving all the default checkboxes.
After the installation is completed, please replace the installed files in C:\Program Files\PowerToys and C:\Program Files\PowerToys\modules with the corresponding files from the unsigned debug build.
Before rebooting, try to launch C:\Program Files\PowerToys\PowerToys.exe you may receive a Windows Defender SmartScreen alert that the application is unrecognized.

The unsigned-debug-build.zip contains a README FIRST.txt file with instruction on where to find the trace files (i.e. C:\PowerToysTrace).
Thank you.

[enricogior]

@Qingtian-Zou
have you tried the latest release https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/releases?
Does the issue still reproduce?

[crutkas]

This is now fixed in PowerToys 0.14.0 https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/releases