[BUG] App does not start on Windows 11 Pro Version 22H2 Build 22621.2283

[fubaWoW]

Version

6.2.0

Windows Version

Windows 11 Pro Version 22H2 Build 22621.2283

Actual Behaviour

App does not start on Windows 11 Pro Version 22H2 Build 22621.2283

Expected Behaviour

Guess what? ^^

Reproduction Steps

1. Intalled the App 6.2.0 Revision 1 with VolumeControl-Installer.exe from https://github.com/radj307/volume-control/releases/tag/6.2.0-rev1
2. Tried to start the App with Desktop Link
3. Tried to start the App with Desktop Link as Administrator
4. Tried to start the App with VolumeControl.exe from the
5. Tried to start the App with VolumeControl.exe as Administrator

no error, no message, nothing -> just does not start!

I do not use Windows Defender so there is no "Unblock"
I'm using Norton and it does not care anything about VolumeControl, means not even False-Positive!

there are also no logs, not in ...\AppData\Local\Programs\VolumeControl (exe location) and also no directory like ...\AppData\Local\radj307

so...
why it does not start? ^^

Log

No response

[radj307]

Cannot replicate on Windows 11 Pro 22H2 Build 22621.1702 VM following the same steps (application opened normally on step 2).

Please try creating the .../AppData/Local/radj307/VolumeControl directory tree and try starting the program again. The program is supposed to create it if it doesn't exist, but you never know.

[radj307]

If the above steps don't work, try starting the app in a terminal and see if there is any output.

1. Open PowerShell or a command prompt window by R+Clicking on the start menu and selecting Windows PowerShell/Command Prompt
2. Navigate to volume control's installation directory.
   cd ~\AppData\Local\Programs\VolumeControl
3. Run the application
   .\VolumeControl.exe
4. Post any messages it prints out here.

[fubaWoW]

powershell output

PowerShell 7.3.8
[C:\Users\fuba] # cd appdata\local
[C:\Users\fuba\AppData\Local] # cd .\Programs\
[C:\Users\fuba\AppData\Local\Programs] # cd .\VolumeControl\
[C:\Users\fuba\AppData\Local\Programs\VolumeControl] # .\VolumeControl.exe
[C:\Users\fuba\AppData\Local\Programs\VolumeControl] #

cmd.exe output

C:\Users\fuba>cd appdata

C:\Users\fuba\AppData>cd local

C:\Users\fuba\AppData\Local>cd Programs

C:\Users\fuba\AppData\Local\Programs>cd VolumeControl

C:\Users\fuba\AppData\Local\Programs\VolumeControl>VolumeControl.exe

C:\Users\fuba\AppData\Local\Programs\VolumeControl>

it outputs nothing

also tried now to completely disable antivirus protection -> same result

[radj307]

Do you have .NET Core 6 (or newer) installed? It would look something like this in the Add or Remove Programs window:

The installer should have set it up automatically, and even when it's missing there's usually a message that appears to tell you it's not installed.

The only other thing I can think of is to check the windows event logs (Start Menu -> Event Viewer). When the application fails to start you should be able to see an error with .NET Runtime (or something similar) as the Source under Windows Logs -> Application.

[radj307]

If that doesn't work, b804b62 adds a wrapper around Main to hopefully catch and log any exceptions to STDERR (visible in terminal). Additionally, I added return codes to help with debugging.

The above features are now available in v6.0.3.
Please try running the new version through PowerShell again, and see if it gives you any output.

[fubaWoW]

Yes i have installed all .Net Runtimes from 3.5 up to 7.0.13 including 6.0.24 from update yesterday.

Also tried the new Version https://github.com/radj307/volume-control/releases/tag/6.3.0 with the same results and also no Console Message in Powershell...
I will test it soon on a VM because it seems very strange and my guess is Norton is Blocking it "silently" maybe?

i will report back soon!

[radj307]

Note: It shouldn't be necessary to have all of the different versions of the .NET Runtime installed; newer versions are backwards compatible. (that doesn't apply to .NET Framework or the SDKs, however)

Given that there still wasn't any output with 6.3.0, you're probably right about Norton being the cause. I haven't used it before so I wouldn't know for sure, but it's definitely possible for it to be silently preventing the application from starting. If it has an exclusion list that you can modify, try adding VolumeControl.exe and/or the installation directory to it before installing a whole virtual machine.

[fubaWoW]

Well...
I've now tested https://github.com/radj307/volume-control/releases/tag/6.3.0 it on a FRESH installed Windows 11 (see screenshot 1 for Build) on a VM with Windows Defender active.

Result is the same -> No start and no message at Powershell (see Scrennshot 2)

also tested Powershell Command:
Unblock-File -Path "C:\Users\fuba\AppData\Local\Programs\VolumeControl\VolumeControl.exe"
because there is not "Unblock" in my File-Properties! (see Screenshot 3)

my OS is German Language on both Main System and VM System but this hopefully can not be the problem ^^

i really don't know what is going wrong...

Screenshot 1

Screenshot 2

Screenshot 3

[radj307]

The unblock checkbox only appears with the portable version AFAIK, so it's no surprise that it doesn't appear for you when using the installer.

I'm starting to wonder if the problem is related to the OS language being set to German, #107 is having a similar problem & one of the exception messages in their log is in German, so it's a safe bet they are also have their OS language set to German.

If that's true, this makes debugging the problem much, much easier!
I'll download the German language pack on my VM and test again, will report back soon.

[radj307]

Confirmed - Previously working Volume Control installation (v6.3.0) stops working when the system language is set to the German (Germany) language pack on Windows 11 Pro 22H2 Build 22621.1702 VM

Volume Control appears in the task manager, briefly, before silently crashing. Log file was created and written to.

Application works normally again after changing the language pack back to English (United States).

Now I just need to figure out why this happens.

[radj307]

Well this is really strange, after setting the LogFilter to 95 and changing the language pack back to German the issue is gone, and the application works again.

[fubaWoW]

ok...
now i've tried the 6.4.0 and it's still the same problem BUT just for the installer version.
the portable version works... but... why? 🤣

anyway now im able to test your app first time for real 👍

[radj307]

Could be related to the installer version being a 64-bit process.

Now compiling installer version in x86 as of 2e4826c

[radj307]

Created version 6.4.0-dbg1 to test the 32-bit installer.

Please download the build artifact and see if the installer version works for you. (ignore the update prompt if it appears)

[fubaWoW]

very interesting...
both files in the package work, the portable exe as well as the installer version!
the installer now also create a log folder inside the folder AppData\Local\radj307\VolumeControl

[radj307]

Good to hear! These changes will be included in the next release.

That all but confirms that the issue was the 64-bit executable used by the installer, and also explains why you were unable to get any kind of output at all from the program.

I'm a bit confused as to why this was causing problems though, since AFAIK Windows 11 is 64-bit only. (This can be checked by running wmic os get osarchitecture in a terminal.)

[fubaWoW]

yeah im sure it is a 64-bit OS ^^
but why the f*** can this happen by only compile it in 64-bit?!
very strange and confusing 😂

but anyway it works now with the protable version for me and i think it will stay for now.

thanks

[radj307]

This issue has been fixed and is now available in v6.5.0.

[fubaWoW]

This issue has been fixed and is now available in v6.5.0.

Thank you! 👍