Unable to launch GCS on Windows 11 Pro

[NerdEyeIndustries]

Application executes and appears in task manager but does not present either its window, nor does it appear on the Taskbar. I'm using the -s and -l switches to point both at my google drive instance. Works fine on my Microsoft Surface running Windows 10, but no love on my desktop (Win11 pro) from the same location, using the same .json settings.

[richardwilkes]

Three possibilities:

1. You're running into an error due to missing OpenGL 3.2+ support or a lack of available VRAM (other programs can sometimes consume most of the available VRAM, despite the system showing plenty available).
2. You have a rogue copy of GCS running in the background with no UI visible.
3. You're running into some other sort of crashing error.

For number 1, upgrading your video drivers may help. If OpenGL 3.2+ is definitely supported, then a reboot can often clear things up.

For number 2, assuming you can't locate it in the Task Manager to kill it for some reason, a reboot of your system will flush it out.

For number 3, checking the GCS log file for any errors reported and then sending that info to me to examine would be helpful.

[NerdEyeIndustries]

1. Its a NVIDIA 3060 card. VideoRAM not an issue. Latest Drivers.
2. This condition is what I see when I fire it off. It shows in task manager, but is otherwise "invisibile" to the desktop.
3. There is no crash. The app will continue in this fashion until I terminate the task.

[NerdEyeIndustries]

Logfile attached, tho, this is complainging about timeouts hitting Github...
GCS.Log

[richardwilkes]

OK, one other thing that this reminded me of... on Windows only, I've seen a strong correlation between machines that have this problem and those that report a failure to communicate with GitHub in the logs. What's weird is that it only seems to occur on Windows machines, and only a subset of them. Neither Linux nor macOS have any problem with that particular failure -- and the code certainly indicates that none of them should.

Anyway, two things have fixed this for previous people that had the problem:

1. Reboot your machine. Oddly, this sometimes fixes it.
2. Reboot your machine (to guarantee no lingering copy of GCS is somehow running), then before doing anything else when it boots up, go find and remove the GCS settings file.

If neither of those help but you're still seeing the failure to communicate with GitHub, try fixing that issue (i.e. some vpn software will cause this, so turning off the vpn stops the failure). For some cases, doing that magically fixed the issue.

None of this should be needed. The code in question runs on a background thread and the rest of the code doesn't care if it ever completes or not... why a failure to connect with GitHub is causing the failure on a small subset of Windows machines (and none of the Windows machines I have access to) is still a mystery to me. I'll continue to look for the actual cause, but it has been eluding me for a very long time now, so I'm not optimistic.

[frdenzer]

I have this issue, too:
Application executes and appears in task manager but does not present either its window, nor does it appear on the Taskbar
Windows 11, 4k/16:9 display. Only sign of life is the task manager entry. Cannot reboot the machine for a day or two, what to do....? Previous versions used to work fine with these drivers and setup, about two months ago.

Edit:
Okay the previous version faults now, too. So it is not a new bug, but something in my system is broken when starting GCS.exe - how do I debug this, so we find the actual reason?

PS - My desktop PC setup is roughly:

• Windows 11, 23H2,
• 64 Gigs RAM
• Nvidia GTX 1080 w/ recent driver, but no Geforce experience,
• AMD 5600X w/ per-cpu-core precision boost (PBO).
• Windows Defender is off
• Firefox, Steam, no other processes
• Dual monitor w/ different DPI scaling on first and second screen (4k, WQHD)

[frdenzer]

PS
Now the app in version 5.17 from last year, a well as the most current build 5.20.4, did start, at third try today. Yesterday, half a dozen runs/closes from task manager did not work.
Could the download of the news or template library have blocked the UI from showing?
Still, no restart in between as a large download was running, then overnight sleep mode was on. (Now the download is running again in background, too.)

[richardwilkes]

It shouldn't -- and certainly doesn't on any other platform. So far, I've been unable to find a reason to explain the behavior that is exhibited on some Windows machines.

[frdenzer]

My logfile repeats over and over:

ERR | 2024-02-10 | 22:37:17.879 | GitHub API request failed https://api.github.com/repos/richardwilkes/gcs/releases
[github.com/richardwilkes/gcs/v5/model/gurps.LoadReleases] github.com/richardwilkes/gcs/v5/model/gurps/release.go:60
[github.com/richardwilkes/gcs/v5/ux.CheckForAppUpdates.func1] github.com/richardwilkes/gcs/v5/ux/app_updater.go:85
Caused by: Get "https://api.github.com/repos/richardwilkes/gcs/releases": net/http: TLS handshake timeout

So the updater before the actual app launch failed critically? Strange, to have working a browser for github.com, but not an automated call to api.github.com route in the same timeframe.

[richardwilkes]

While that is indeed an error, it isn't a fatal one. GCS will just continue on, as that check is done in the background. It can fail for a number of reasons, the two most common being you don't have network access or you have turned on a VPN and it is preventing access to github. Regardless, that shouldn't actually be an issue -- but I have had a few scattered reports that fixing the network issue also fixes the weird launch problem on Windows. I can't confirm, as I can't replicate the problem.