9

Closed

Loosing access to applications

description

I just installed beta 0.3 and set desktop count to two. After switching from 1 to 2, opening a pdf inside Acrobat Reader, switching back to 1 no program was visible on desktop 1 anymore - just the blank desktop :(
 
I closed VDM but still no access to any running application. Inside the task manager I can see all my running programs..
Closed Nov 3, 2007 at 2:01 AM by zhuman

comments

cfincher wrote Apr 25, 2007 at 9:58 PM

I have the same problem. I went back to the pervious release because it made it unusable for me.

zhuman wrote Apr 26, 2007 at 9:18 PM

What programs did this happen with? I haven't been able to recreate it. There is a similar (but pretty much unfixable) problem sometimes where windows with admin privileges can't be moved between desktops, but I haven't seen this one. Are you saying that the program is still open in the processes list?

I'm sorry for having such a problematic bug to cause you to downgrade releases.

Jensthebrain wrote Apr 30, 2007 at 8:05 PM

I'm still trying to reproduce it - I can recreate it but can't describe the circumstances..

embronne wrote May 7, 2007 at 8:42 AM

I have lost access to programs on several occasions. I don't use the virtual desktop any more because of this.

You are correct: the applications still show up in the processes list. And MS Word will e.g. ask if I want to save a changed document when I shut down the computer.

cfincher wrote May 7, 2007 at 8:20 PM

mine happens with outlook, internet explorer, firefox, windows explorer, windows live messenger, yahoo messenger, excel, gvim and notepad. Those are all of the programs that I have had to kill at one time or another. And yes it is still running in the process list but not on any window. One of the things I have is my sirius radio playing in an IE window and you can still hear it playing but it no longer has a window. In order to get my outlook to come back up I had to open the task manager and shut it down that way then reopen it. It would happen about 3 or 4 times a day. The straw that broke the camels back was when I was working on a program and changed windows to my "internet window" and lost some previous changes when I switched back to find my window gone.

The programs that I listed are pretty much the only ones I have used and all of them are open at the same time. I have not found any special circumstances that are causing them. I have a very limited set of things that I do on this computer so there isn't many variables that change.

And you don't have to apologize, it is part of the development process. This will not be the last bug. I still check back in daily to see when the next version is comming up. Other than this one thing I love your product. I am sure it will only get better.

igorbrejc wrote May 9, 2007 at 4:58 AM

I had the same problem. Applications still keep running, but looks like they loose their windows. I even tried to switch to a missing application using ProcessExplorer, but the context menu to do that was disabled for those applications.

embronne wrote May 9, 2007 at 10:30 AM

According to the "work item details", this problem occurs with version 0.4. I believe I had the problem with version 0.3.

zhuman wrote May 11, 2007 at 12:42 AM

I have come up with a workaround to help this issue until I figure out what the real cause is. I will add a feature called "Recover Windows" to VVDM. This will be a dialog displaying all valid non-visible windows that could have been switched to other desktops and left orphaned. You will be able to select your orphaned windows and bring them to the current desktop. Even when I solve this issue, it can still be useful during debug sessions.

azriyeti wrote May 12, 2007 at 7:49 PM

I have also uninstalled due to this problem. I will reinstall for the next release or whenever this bug is fixed.

wrote May 16, 2007 at 8:59 PM

Starting with 0.4, whenever this happens, simply open the VVDM menu from the system tray icon and select "Recover Windows". It will give you a list of non-visible windows that you can choose to show. This can also be used if VVDM previously crashed with windows open on other desktops.

Elessar wrote May 31, 2007 at 8:57 PM

Is the fix just the 'recover windows' feature? After all, I am using 0.4.1 and the issue still occurs.

the4thchild wrote Jul 2, 2007 at 5:29 AM

I'm also still seeing this bug with ver. 0.4.1beta. Otherwise, this is quite a nifty program!

theultramage wrote Jul 14, 2007 at 12:20 PM

I lost a putty terminal today when switching.'Recover lost windows' just crashes VDM and exits the application so I am unable to attach a debugger to get the crash report.

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