Start With Windows Updates and Uninstalling

Start with Windows, updates and uninstalling

ShadePlay guide › Using ShadePlay

How ShadePlay starts with Windows, how updates install, and what the uninstaller removes and keeps.

Start with Windows

ShadePlay registers itself to start when you sign in, the first time it runs. There is no box for it in Setup.

• It uses two entries, so one missing entry never leaves you without a recorder: a Task Scheduler task called ShadePlay (it starts ShadePlay 3 seconds after you sign in, with your normal rights, with no time limit and also on battery) and a ShadePlay entry in your sign-in list (HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run) as a fallback. When both fire, the second start exits quietly.
• Every start checks both entries and repairs them, for example after the program folder moved.
• Start with Windows on the settings page, Start with Windows in the advanced tray menu, and autostart in the settings file are the same setting. Unticking it removes both entries.
• Windows' own switch is respected. If you turn ShadePlay off in Windows Settings > Apps > Startup, ShadePlay doesn't turn itself back on: it stays closed at sign-in, and the settings page says Off in Settings > Startup. Tick it to turn it back on. Doing that turns it back on.
• If Windows refuses both entries, the tray menu shows ⚠ Start with Windows didn't work – try again in Settings. Tick Start with Windows in the settings to try again; the reason is in the log.

Copies that never register. A copy of ShadePlay.exe run from a temporary folder, a cloud-synced folder or a build folder, or started with --instance-name or --data-dir, never adds or changes Start with Windows entries, so a test copy can't take over your installed ShadePlay's start-up. Its Start with Windows box is greyed.

Updates

The update check

About 30 seconds after it starts, and then once a day, ShadePlay asks GitHub whether a newer version has been released. Only the installed ShadePlay does this; test and development copies never go online by themselves. The request carries nothing but the app's name and version (no cookies, no account, no ID), and nothing is downloaded unless you click Update now or have switched on automatic updates.

If there is a newer version:

• the tray icon gets a small red ! in its top-right corner (at 100 % display scaling, where the icon is tiny, a plain red dot);
• the tray menu starts with Update to X.Y.Z and What's new;
• the settings window shows a yellow bar at the top, in the simple and the advanced view, for example ShadePlay 0.2.0 is available (you have 0.1.0). Updating stops recording for a few seconds and clears the replay – press F10 first to keep it. (with your own save hotkey), with Update now, What's new and Skip this version.

There is no pop-up and no notification: you see it when you look at the icon, open the menu or open the settings.

• What's new opens the release page with the changes in your browser.
• Skip this version hides the badge, the menu items and the bar for that version. They come back when a newer version is released.
• Show advanced settings > Check for updates (asks GitHub once a day) switches the check off; ShadePlay then never contacts the internet, and an update that is shown but not running is hidden. To rule out every network request for good, set the environment variable SHADEPLAY_OFFLINE=1.
• If a check fails, nothing changes on screen. After a network problem it tries again after 10 minutes, then 1 hour, then 4 hours, then once a day; after any other problem, the next day. A check that falls due just after the PC wakes up waits until 30 seconds after the wake-up, so the network has a moment. Failed checks, failed updates and automatic updates are noted in %APPDATA%\ShadePlay\logs\update.log (the last 50 lines).

Update now

Updating stops recording for a few seconds, and the replay in memory is not kept. If you want the last minute, press your save hotkey first; the bar says so too.

1. If a game is running or a YouTube copy is being made, ShadePlay asks first, in the settings window (it opens the window and brings it to the front): Update ShadePlay now? For a game it says "A game is running. ShadePlay stops recording for a few seconds while it updates, and the replay it holds now is not kept. Press F10 first if you want to keep it.", for a YouTube copy "A YouTube copy is being made. Updating stops it; you can make it again afterwards." The buttons are Update now and Not now; Not now is the default, and Esc chooses it. An open settings window first saves what is still waiting; if a value there can't be used, it asks, for example, Clips folder isn't valid, so it wasn't saved. with Keep editing (no update for now) and Close anyway.

2. It asks GitHub once more and installs only the version you clicked. If GitHub no longer offers that version (the release was withdrawn, or a newer one came out meanwhile), it installs nothing and shows what GitHub offers now; an open settings window says ShadePlay X.Y.Z is no longer offered, so nothing was installed.

3. It downloads the installer from the project's GitHub release, over HTTPS and only from GitHub, into a new folder under %TEMP% that only your account (and the PC's administrators) can open. The bar says Downloading ShadePlay X.Y.Z…

4. The file is checked against its size and the SHA-256 fingerprint GitHub publishes for it. If anything doesn't match, it deletes the download and installs nothing. If GitHub lists no SHA-256 for the file, nothing is downloaded, and the bar says to get the installer from the release page (What's new). The file is locked and checked once more right before it runs.

5. If a game or a YouTube copy is running that the question in step 1 did not name (it started during the download, or a YouTube copy runs next to the game the question was about), it waits until it ends: Waiting for the game to end before installing ShadePlay X.Y.Z… Then, if a clip is being written, it waits for it to finish (Waiting for your clip to finish saving…, at most 90 seconds).

6. It runs the installer silently: Installing ShadePlay X.Y.Z – it closes and comes back by itself in a few seconds. The installer closes ShadePlay the normal way (a clip still being written is finished first), installs the new version over the old one (same folder, no administrator prompt) and starts ShadePlay again: with the settings window if you clicked Update now in the window, in the tray if you used the tray menu. Your settings, Start with Windows and the desktop shortcut stay as they are.

7. If the installer stops after it closed ShadePlay (for example a locked file or a full disk), it starts the installed ShadePlay again as soon as the old one is gone (it waits up to 30 seconds for that). The tray menu then shows Update to X.Y.Z failed – open settings, and the settings window's bar says what happened:

   • The update to X.Y.Z did not install, so ShadePlay 0.1.0 was started again. It will be offered again. Nothing changed.
   • The update to X.Y.Z stopped partway, so ShadePlay's files may be a mix of two versions. To repair it, run the installer from the release page (What's new). If the update is offered again, Update now repairs it too.

   If ShadePlay never closed, it reports the failure itself: when the installer ends early, or hasn't closed ShadePlay after three minutes, the bar says Update to X.Y.Z failed: <reason>. Nothing was installed; Update now tries again.

While an update runs, the tray item reads Updating to X.Y.Z… (greyed); if it fails, it reads Update to X.Y.Z failed – open settings, which opens the settings window, where the bar says why. Every failure is also noted in update.log.

Automatic updates

Off unless you switch them on. While an update is offered, the update bar also asks, until you answer it once: Install updates automatically when no game is running? with Yes and No.

• Yes switches automatic updates on, for this update and later ones: Updates now install by themselves when no game is running (Show advanced settings > Install updates automatically).
• No leaves them off: Updates stay manual: Update now installs them (Show advanced settings > Install updates automatically).
• Clicking Update now or Skip this version instead counts as an answer too, so the question does not come back.
• You can change your mind any time under Show advanced settings > Install updates automatically.
• It is a line in the bar, never a pop-up or a notification.

When they are on and an update is found:

1. ShadePlay waits for a quiet moment: no game running, no clip being saved, no YouTube copy being made and the settings window closed, for 5 minutes in a row. Any of these starts the 5 minutes over, so an update never starts while you play. Time the PC spends asleep does not count.
2. It then does what Update now does (steps 2 to 4 and 6 above); the bar says Downloading ShadePlay X.Y.Z to install it automatically…. If, when the download is done, a game is running, a clip is being saved, a YouTube copy is being made or the settings window is open, it throws the download away and waits again.
3. ShadePlay comes back in the tray, never with a window, and for its first 5 minutes it shows no notifications unless you do something. The next time you open the settings, the bar says ShadePlay updated itself to X.Y.Z. (What's new opens that release), until ShadePlay restarts or a newer version is offered.

A skipped version is never installed automatically. If an automatic update fails, that version is never tried again automatically: the bar says why (Automatic update to X.Y.Z failed: <reason>. …), later offers of it add Its automatic update did not work, so it waits for Update now., and Update now works as usual. A newer release gets its own try. Only a network problem is different: the automatic update then tries again 10 minutes later, then after 1 hour, then after 4 hours, and after that not before the next daily check.

Automatic updates need Check for updates on, and work only for the installed ShadePlay started the normal way: not with --instance-name, --data-dir or --log-level, and not with SHADEPLAY_NO_SHELL=1.

Updating by hand

Download the new installer from the release page and run it.

• It closes the running ShadePlay first and waits for clips being written, up to about 100 seconds (What the installer does), installs over it, keeps your settings, and starts ShadePlay again.
• If you cancel it, or it stops after it closed ShadePlay, it starts the installed ShadePlay again, so you are never left without a recorder.
• A silent update (/SILENT or /VERYSILENT) starts ShadePlay again only if it was running before, and keeps your desktop shortcut as it is.

Uninstalling

Go to Windows Settings > Apps > Installed apps > ShadePlay > Uninstall. The uninstaller:

• asks a running ShadePlay to quit;
• removes the Start with Windows entries (the task and the sign-in entry) that start this copy;
• removes update downloads left in %TEMP% (ShadePlay-update-… folders);
• removes the FFmpeg files that a copy of ShadePlay.exe run without Setup unpacked (%LOCALAPPDATA%\ShadePlay\ffmpeg; files another running copy still uses stay);
• removes the program;
• asks "Also delete your ShadePlay settings? Your clips are kept either way." The default answer is No, which keeps them for a later reinstall. Yes deletes the settings (config.json and its backup copies, which also hold the update state), the list of YouTube copies, the logs (update.log too) and the crash dumps from %APPDATA%\ShadePlay, and the folder itself when nothing else is left in it.

A silent uninstall always keeps your settings. Your clips are never deleted, and neither are YouTube copies you made.

A copy that was never installed (ShadePlay.exe on its own) has no uninstaller. Untick Start with Windows in its settings (that removes its start-up entries), choose Exit, then delete ShadePlay.exe, the folder %LOCALAPPDATA%\ShadePlay\ffmpeg (its unpacked FFmpeg) and, if you want, %APPDATA%\ShadePlay (settings and logs, shared with an installed copy).

Coming from Hindsight

Earlier private builds of ShadePlay were called Hindsight; on its first start, ShadePlay moves their settings and clips over by itself.

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Next: Advanced settings overview

See also: Installing ShadePlay · The tray menu and notifications · Privacy