Powertoys not properly starting on system start

[hpr1999]

ℹ Computer information

• PowerToys version: v0.31.2
• PowerToy Utility: Possibly all? Definitely Shortcut Guide, Keyboard Manager, Fancy Zones, Color Picker
• Running PowerToys as Admin: Not usually, but doing so doesn't change anything
• Windows build number: Version 20H2 Build 19042.804 Windows Pro

📝 Provide detailed reproduction steps (if any)

1. Configure PowerToys to automatically start with Windows
2. Restart PC (sometimes a hibernation / sleep seems to cause the same)

✔️ Expected result

PowerToys runs as before.

❌ Actual result

PowerToys don't work until a) PowerToys is manually quit and restarted or b) the toys in question are manually disabled and restarted in the settings.

📷 Screenshots

N/A

---

I'm sorry if there is an issue to track this already, I have searched extensively but they all seemed to be either closed or showing different symptoms.

I can add that this behaviour occurs / occured on three different devices of mine with wildly different hardware.
Do you have any idea what could cause this, and, if it's not a known issue, what system configuration could potentially cause trouble to the startup mechanism across my different devices?

I'll be happy to supply more information as needed.

[hpr1999]

I have an interesting update. Just now I restarted my System and can confirm that, immediately after startup, all services work. Then, one or two seconds later, they stop behaving correctly.

[crutkas]

1. Can you include the logs via "Report bug" tool in the system tray
2. Is this a new behavior since 0.31 or did it occur before?
3. Do you have Asus GPU Tweak?

@enricogior wonder if this is related to #9790

[hpr1999]

Hey, sorry for the late answer:

1. This report was generated while running fine, I'll restart the PC soon and attach another bug report when it doesn't work.
   PowerToysReport_2021-03-06-15-19-51.zip

2. This problem has been affecting me for quite some time, so I would think it is not specific to 0.31.

3. No, I do not have ASUS GPU Tweak.

I'm especially curious since it does work for a short moment, then seem to go non-functional.

[hpr1999]

Here the promised report with it not working after a short period on reboot.

PowerToysReport_2021-03-06-16-26-35.zip

[glittle]

Still seems to be a problem. (v0.33.1)

[crutkas]

@enricogior ton of the logs here are blank.

[enricogior]

@crutkas
because we don't enable tracing/debug mode by default.
In part because of #8419

[hpr1999]

Can I somehow provide better logs by enabling that Debug mode? I can confirm this problem still appears regularly on two of my machines (and a third one that is no longer in my possession had this problem as well).

[hpr1999]

To detail the symptoms of this: Some tools don't seem to be defunct completely:
For example, while the keyboard shortcuts of Fancy Zones don't seem to work, shift-dropping windows into zones does.

[stevemagruder]

I may be seeing the same problem when I restart. PowerToys is missing in the system tray but its process is running. I end the process, relaunch PowerToys, and all seems to well again.
I have "Always run as administrator" and "Run at startup" set to On.
My PowerToys version is 0.35.0, and my Windows version is Windows 10 Home 21H1, build 19043.899, Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.3530.0, Beta Channel.

[hpr1999]

As an update: I haven't noticed the problems since upgrading, maybe for a few days now. I think I haven't seen it since 0.36, but I have not done extensive testing.

[stevemagruder]

0.37 seems to have corrected the issues I was seeing, so far. I didn't install 0.36.

[enricogior]

@stevemagruder
thanks for the follow up.

@glittle
if you don't use the Video Conference Mute feature, consider updating to 0.37 https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/releases/download/v0.37.0/PowerToysSetup-0.37.0-x64.exe
I'll close the issue, please reopen it if you run into the problem again.
Thanks.

[stevemagruder]

I spoke too soon. I just had to restart due to a device driver update, and PowerToys isn't in my system tray after the restart.

[enricogior]

@stevemagruder
can you please run the Report Bug command and upload the zip? Thanks.

[stevemagruder]

Here it is:
PowerToysReport_2021-04-30-08-08-51.zip

[enricogior]

@stevemagruder
there is no error in the log, so it looks like it didn't start because Window didn't even try.
Can you check the Event Viewer Windows Logs -> Application to see if there is any error for PowerToys.exe?
Can you also turn off an on again:

Then restart Windows and let us know if PowerToys still doesn't auto-start.

[stevemagruder]

There's no errors or even any warnings or info messages about PowerToys in the Event Viewer Windows Log.
Turning "Run at startup" off and then on again didn't help. I restarted, and PowerToys is missing from my system tray, even though it's running as a process, "PowerToys Runner". Like I said above, I can close that process and relaunch PowerToys to get the system tray icon back.

[stevemagruder]

I just wanted to check in to say the issue is still occurring for me with PowerToys 0.37.2.
My current Windows version is Windows 10 Home 21H1, build 19043.1052, Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.3740.0, Beta Channel.

[hpr1999]

While it hasn't been a problem for me for a while, it has started appearing again (I believe yesterday).
I'm currently on v0.41.4 with Windows 10 Home 21H1, build 19043.1055 and the Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.2020.0.

After booting, PowerToys Keyboard Manager did not work until I manually disabled and reenabled it in settings.

[stevemagruder]

It's still occurring for me with PowerToys 0.41.4.
My current Windows version is Windows 10 Home 21H1, build 19043.1083, Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.3920.0, Release Preview Channel (I left Beta because I don't want Windows 11 betas at this time).

[mykhailopylyp]

@stevemagruder
can you please run the Report Bug command and upload the zip? Thanks.

[stevemagruder]

I had to end the PowerToys Runner task and restart it first.
When I run Report Bug, it shows me a dialog saying "Bug report .zip file has been created on your Desktop." But it's nowhere to be found.

[stevemagruder]

Never mind - now they are appearing. I'll attach the last one.
PowerToysReport_2021-07-13-21-47-43.zip

[mykhailopylyp]

@stevemagruder
Can you list modules with which you experience this issue? Is the tray icon absent even though PowerToys.exe process is running?
I checked Keyboard Manger and ShortcutGuide logs and they seem to work fine.

[stevemagruder]

I don't know if a module as such is causing the overall issue of the disappearing tray icon, but the modules I have currently enabled are Color Picker, File Explorer add-ons, Image Resizer, Keyboard Manager, PowerRename, PowerToys Run and Shortcut Guide.

The process is running and I know this as I can bring up the Shortcut Guide and I see the task in Task Manager.

[stevemagruder]

Also, here's an aspect I'm not sure has been brought up before: Sometimes I see a filler space in my tray icons, like an icon is supposed to be there but is invisible and unclickable.

And my latest Windows configuration is Windows 10 Home 21H1, build 19043.1147, Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.3920.0, Release Preview Channel.

[stevemagruder]

As a quick test, I turned off all the modules, then restarted my system. The PowerToys tray icon is still not displaying after restart. This must be an issue in the base code unrelated to modules.

[stefansjfw]

@stevemagruder Can you try disabling PowerToys Run from Settings and then see if the issue is still there?

[stevemagruder]

The issue is still there. What you just described is a subset of my "quick test" above.

[jaimecbernardo]

Hi @stevemagruder ,
Any chance you're using TaskBarX, as in these comments? #12557 (comment)
Or any other sort of Task Bar manager?

[stevemagruder]

That looks to be it. I added a delay to TaskBarX's startup in Task Scheduler, and I saw as it started, it wiped out PT's tray icon.
Thank you for following up. I had a hunch that maybe another app was the culprit but I just haven't had the time to investigate it.

[jaimecbernardo]

@stevemagruder ,
Could you please try adding some delay to the PowerToys task trigger and check if it fixes the issue for you?
The default is 3 seconds but adding more might make it work. (10-15 seconds, for example)

[stevemagruder]

I have it set to 15 seconds now. The fix for the issue related to PowerToys was unchecking the Extra setting "Show Tray icon". TaskbarX's tray icon was somehow interfering with PowerToys and even some other tray icons, although not as consistently as with PowerToys.

[dedavis6797]

@jaimecbernardo I'm going to add this as a known compatibility issue with TaskbarX.

@hpr1999 are you also using TaskbarX or a similar application? If disabling/delaying that application resolves the issue with PowerToys we can mark this as resolved.

[hpr1999]

@hpr1999 are you also using TaskbarX or a similar application? If disabling/delaying that application resolves the issue with PowerToys we can mark this as resolved.

As far as I can remember, I was never using TaskbarX (and I'm not sure what kind of similarity would be important, but I'd also say I wasn't using similar software).

However, I have not been able to reproduce this error in a long time, especially since I've moved hardware, but even on the machines where it used to happen.

From my perspective, this issue was probably fixed in some version along the way, at least for me.

Now, the only problem I have at startup is Fancy Zones erroring out, but I believe that to be a different issue due to different symptoms.

[crutkas]

@dedavis6797 did you confirm this with taskbarx? The original issue creator says he doesn’t have the issue anymore so I’m assuming these are different issues and need to be tracked in different issues.

[dedavis6797]

I can create a separate issue to track TaskbarX compatibility against. We can close out this issue as it seems to have been resolved.

@hpr1998 for the FancyZones erroring out issue you're facing, can you create a new issue with a description of the error and steps to repro so we can investigate?