Blank screen on startup

[Arnak]

Microsoft PowerToys version

0.75.1

Installation method

Microsoft Store

Running as admin

Yes

Area(s) with issue?

General, Welcome / PowerToys Tour window

Steps to reproduce

Just open power toys.

✔️ Expected Behavior

A normal power toys window

❌ Actual Behavior

Run power toys and received a blank window.
PowerToysReport_2023-11-01-18-13-35.zip

Other Software

No response

[jaimecbernardo]

Can you please send a screenshot? Is this the Settings app we're talking about? Do the File Locksmith or PowerRename utilities work correctly? Wondering if this might be a WinUI3 issue /needinfo

[Arnak]

Sorry, but I can't tell if anything is working, from the task manager the utilities are there but not visible.
This issue has been ongoing for several releases but only on this pc, an older dell optiplex.

[eclectice]

Dear Arnak,

Please save the results of DirectX Diagnostics (DxDiag.exe) and System Info (MsInfo32.exe) and post them here. Both tools have a save feature, which you can access from the File > Save menu or the save button. To run the tools, type DxDiag.exe and MsInfo32.exe into the DOS command prompt or PowerShell command prompt. The saved results will be in editable text format, so you can remove any sensitive information, such as your PC username.

These results will help MS developers understand your PC's system VRAM, system RAM, and other resources, which is especially important for WinUI library. It appears that this is a WinUI issue on a legacy PC system, but we need more information, such as your graphics card, DirectX hardware support, and video RAM.

In my previous experience with this issue, it occurred on a legacy HP Compaq dc7700 Slim Form Factor PC with the integrated graphics GMA 3000 card with a fixed 256 MB of VRAM (up to DirectX 9.0c).

The problem doesn't occur with VRAM over 1 GB tested on the legacy HP Compaq dx7510 Minitower PC with the integrated graphics GMA 4500 (up to DirectX 10) with Intel Dynamic Video Memory Technology (DVMT).

In both PC systems, they are running the latest Windows 10 Pro 22H2 (either 32 or 64 bit) with 4 GB system RAM. I tested PowerToys 0.74.1 on these systems.

#29340

[Arnak]

msinfo.txt
Files are attached as requested.
DxDiag.txt

Sorry I couldn't comment without closing.

[Arnak]

I'll get the hang of this one day, please re-open.

[eclectice]

While your PC system (Q35 chipset) has a larger 8GB of system RAM, its performance is limited by the integrated Intel GMA 3100 graphics card with a fixed 256MB VRAM (up to DirectX 10). This is similar to the performance of my HP Compaq dc7700 SFF PC (Q965 chipset), which uses an integrated Intel GMA 3000 graphics card with a fixed 256MB VRAM (up to DirectX 9.0c). It seems that WinUI framework doesn't work well for the legacy integrated desktop graphics with a fixed 256 MB VRAM.

Can you perform the WinUI 2 and WinUI 3 demo app tests like I did for my issue and the one I reported in microsoft/microsoft-ui-xaml#9024? Also check for the color picker in Window 10's Personalization Settings > Colors > Custom Color. Maybe you can post the your results in that issue thread.

This issue is likely to arise when more people upgrade their legacy PC systems to the latest Windows 10 before Windows 10 support expires in 2025.

[Arnak]

Hi eclectice, thanks very much for the reply.
Unfortunately, I have reached the limit of my expertise in helping to solve this problem, running demo tests is beyond me.
From what you have discovered so far and as far as I understand it I think you are correct.
It could be that there may need to be a separate release for these legacy systems just to solve these problems or code to perform a system test to run a slightly different version from within the program.
Just a suggestion for the coding team.

[Arnak]

Are there any updates on this issue, please?

[Arnak]

Is there any news on this issue yet as it has been around for a long time with no resolution?

I suspect it's something to do with the old pc it's running on.