Need to press spacebar twice

[Sebbe909]

Please search within existing issues before the submission. Has this issue already been reported?
Not that I'm aware of

Describe the bug
Since some while now, for more than a year, you sometimes need to press/tap the spacebar twice before the preview window is opened up. Sometimes it opens up after one press. But sometimes it requires two presses. I couldn't find any relation to file format.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Select file
2. Press spacebar
3. Sometimes nothing happens

Expected behavior
The preview window should show up after pressing spacebar once.

Desktop (please complete the following information):

• OS Version: Windows 11 24H2
• QuickLook Version: 3.7.3

[xupefei]

Maybe since c107732?
Tldr: press and hold Space will briefly show the preview window until the key is released.
The trigger threshold is 0.75 seconds. Are you pressing the key for a time longer than that?

[Sebbe909]

I believe it happened more recently than 2021. But I also never "long press" the space, so it can't be that. Now I think about it, I believe this began around the time Explorer got tabs. You've never experienced this yourself? I first thought it maybe was my older PC. But I've just got a brand new one, and the same issue exists.

Could it possibly be that I'm pressing space too quickly after selecting a file/folder? I tend to work quite fast. Also note that I have the details pane enabled in explorer. I haven't dug into the QL code, but maybe it could be related to QL needing to process stuff before it's able to detect an action?

Still weird though that/as the issue didn't occur in the past, so I'm just thinking out loud here.

[rabelux]

I'm also having this issue regularly on Win 10 and my impression so far is, that the first trigger after system startup or a long time not using QL does not open a preview window. To me it looks like some caches first need to be filled and then it works.

[Sebbe909]

@xupefei any chance to look into this or maybe have an update? :)

[mooflu]

I'm also having this issue regularly on Win 10 and my impression so far is, that the first trigger after system startup or a long time not using QL does not open a preview window. To me it looks like some caches first need to be filled and then it works.

I'm on Win11 and I see this, too. Though maybe not the same as it does open a preview eventually after 5-6 secs. I.e. no need to press space again.

I can repro pretty reliably after computer comes out of sleep, the first preview takes 5-6sec after pressing space bar. During the 5-6secs the screen freezes (mouse can still move) and can't interact with anything. Which makes it a pain to diagnose...

Tried with an older release and happens there, too.
Tried killing explorer and open QL preview via a dialog - same thing.
Tried disabling real-time protection temporarily - same thing.
Tried with network cable disconnected - same thing.
When running in debugger and recording cpu profile most cpu is in system calls (ntdll.dll).

#1526 and #1521 sound similar, too.

[mooflu]

Ran with Windows Performance Recorder and looks like a bulk of the time is spent in the nvidia driver and it seems to be stalling

...
nvlddmkm.sys!<PDB not found>
ntoskrnl.exe!KeStallExecutionProcessor
ntoskrnl.exe!HalpTimerStallExecutionProcessor

That's with driver version 560.94

Upgraded to 572.47 - no change.

Tried an older version from around Aug 2023 - 536.99 and I can no longer reproduce.

[emako]

Just Mark to myself:

========2025/5/10 19:29:46========
System.InvalidOperationException: Cannot set Visibility or call Show, ShowDialog, or WindowInteropHelper.EnsureHandle after a Window has closed.
   at System.Windows.Window.VerifyCanShow()
   at System.Windows.Window.CreateSourceWindow(Boolean duringShow)
   at System.Windows.Interop.WindowInteropHelper.EnsureHandle()
   at QuickLook.Common.Helpers.DisplayDeviceHelper.GetMonitorColorProfileFromWindow(Window window) in D:\GitHub\QuickLook\QuickLook.Common\Helpers\DisplayDeviceHelper.cs:line 75
   at QuickLook.ViewerWindow.BeginShow(IViewer matchedPlugin, String path, Action`2 exceptionHandler) in D:\GitHub\QuickLook\QuickLook\ViewerWindow.Actions.cs:line 177
   at QuickLook.ViewWindowManager.BeginShowNewWindow(String path, IViewer matchedPlugin) in D:\GitHub\QuickLook\QuickLook\ViewWindowManager.cs:line 195
   at QuickLook.ViewWindowManager.InvokePreview(String path) in D:\GitHub\QuickLook\QuickLook\ViewWindowManager.cs:line 164
   at QuickLook.ViewWindowManager.InvokePreviewWithOption(String path, String option) in D:\GitHub\QuickLook\QuickLook\ViewWindowManager.cs:line 130
   at QuickLook.ViewWindowManager.TogglePreview(String path, String option) in D:\GitHub\QuickLook\QuickLook\ViewWindowManager.cs:line 84
   at QuickLook.PipeServerManager.<>c__DisplayClass7_0.<MessageReceived>b__3() in D:\GitHub\QuickLook\QuickLook\PipeServerManager.cs:line 148
   at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.InternalRealCall(Delegate callback, Object args, Int32 numArgs)
   at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.TryCatchWhen(Object source, Delegate callback, Object args, Int32 numArgs, Delegate catchHandler)
   at System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherOperation.InvokeImpl()
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state, Boolean preserveSyncCtx)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state, Boolean preserveSyncCtx)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
   at MS.Internal.CulturePreservingExecutionContext.Run(CulturePreservingExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
   at System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherOperation.Invoke()
   at System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.ProcessQueue()
   at System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.WndProcHook(IntPtr hwnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam, Boolean& handled)
   at MS.Win32.HwndWrapper.WndProc(IntPtr hwnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam, Boolean& handled)
   at MS.Win32.HwndSubclass.DispatcherCallbackOperation(Object o)
   at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.InternalRealCall(Delegate callback, Object args, Int32 numArgs)
   at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.TryCatchWhen(Object source, Delegate callback, Object args, Int32 numArgs, Delegate catchHandler)
   at System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.LegacyInvokeImpl(DispatcherPriority priority, TimeSpan timeout, Delegate method, Object args, Int32 numArgs)
   at MS.Win32.HwndSubclass.SubclassWndProc(IntPtr hwnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam)
   at MS.Win32.UnsafeNativeMethods.DispatchMessage(MSG& msg)
   at System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.PushFrameImpl(DispatcherFrame frame)
   at System.Windows.Application.RunDispatcher(Object ignore)
   at System.Windows.Application.RunInternal(Window window)
   at QuickLook.App.Main()

Maybe something is wrong from this exception.

[emako]

Done in preview version.

The fix prevents the first Space keydown from being locked out before it is actually handled, so subsequent Space presses are no longer discarded.