Random crashes on Windows 10 Pro

Andrey

It was working smooth for a few years and after some update (about 1-2 weeks ago) it started to crash randomly.
I can't explain how to reproduce the crash: it happens usually whenever I start a new task (press "Start work" button). The UI freezes and then the app closes. The app event log is full of errors like this: Activation for Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy!ShellFeedsUI failed. Error code: Unknown HResult Error code: 0x80040905. Activation phase: COM App activation

WorkingHours version: 2.14.5.0 Pro,
Windows 10 Pro, Version 2009, OS Build 19045.5965

Device model: Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-9900K CPU @ 3.60GHz 3.60 GHz
Installed RAM 64,0 GB (63,8 GB usable)
Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (8 GB), Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 (128 MB)

timo

Since 2 weeks ago the app is using a completely new technology, that's why a few of those new issues arised. Unfortunately I am unable to reproduce this particular one. I'm assuming some Windows system component or that Microsoft.Windows.Search package is corrupted and causing the crash.

Are you sure the logged issues are related to the problems you see in WorkingHours?
Do any other errors show in the Event Viewer under "Windows Logs"->"Application"?
Is updating to Windows 11 an option? I would strongly assume this would resolve the issue.
What "non-default" options do you have enabled (e.g. Windows notifications)?
Are there any pending app updates in the Microsoft Store (e.g. for that Microsoft.Windows.Search package)?
Did you try reinstall the app?
Can you record a video of the issue and send it to me via mail?

TimStaehle

Hi Timo. Love your app and I have exactly the same problem since the last update on my office computer with Windows 10 Pro. It happens when starting a new task (no error information or anything), the app just crashes.

Sometime I can start two or three tasks in a row without any problem, then it happens again. Thought it could be a Windows10 Pro Problem, now I had the same crash the first time today with my Windows 11 Pro laptop...

Thank you so much for your work! Tim

timo

@TimStaehle I'm not sure if this is the same problem. Could you please provide the errors that show in the Event Viewer under "Windows Logs"->"Application"? What app version are you running? Can you please share a screen capture video that shows the exact moment when the app crashes?

TimStaehle

Thanks for the answer, I will write you an E-Mail, Timo!

Andrey

I can not upgrade to Win11. The bug is random - it's hard to catch, but it happens pretty often. Here are the recent crash details from Windows Logs -> Application event log:

Faulting application name: WorkingHours.exe, version: 1.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x689e323d
Faulting module name: Microsoft.UI.Xaml.dll, version: 3.1.7.0, time stamp: 0xabafd337
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x000000000039b800
Faulting process id: 0x5714
Faulting application start time: 0x01dc112fb924f934
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\49297T.Partl.ClockOut_2.14.5.0_x64jr9bq2af9farr\WorkingHours.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.WindowsAppRuntime.1.7_7000.522.1444.0_x648wekyb3d8bbwe\Microsoft.UI.Xaml.dll
Report Id: f9f1c21d-9069-4931-81d6-c1b5f805b270
Faulting package full name: 49297T.Partl.ClockOut_2.14.5.0_x64__jr9bq2af9farr
Faulting package-relative application ID: App

I tried installation repair - no effect. And no, I'm not sure that "Activation for Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy!ShellFeedsUI failed. Error code: Unknown HResult Error code: 0x80040905. Activation phase: COM App activation" is related to WorkingHours. But the one above is truly related to the crash.

timo

Andrey Thanks.
Did you try completely reinstalling the app? Does the crash happen when using the default settings after reinstall, not enabling any features in the settings (like notifications, cloud sync etc), only importing the database backup?
When exactly does the crash occur? This is important for me to know. When you click at the "start work" button? Or when you click on an item of the task selection popup that shows after clicking on the "start work" button? Does the crash happen in any other situation or only there?

Andrey

timo The app crashed whenever I pressed the "Start work" button (this is for sure). Not sure if it ever crashed whenever I was selecting a task. The crash happened up to 2-3 times per day, sometimes it did not crash at all. I made a clean install from Windows Store and will let you know in a few days if it resolved the issue.

timo

Thanks. So in the cases where it did not crash, the task-popup/dropdown showed up? If so, can you try to enable to always start the default task when clicking the start button in the app settings? If crashes stop then, we can probably narrow down the issue to the task-popup window.

timo

@Andrey How many (active) tasks do you have that are shown in the dropdown? Perhaps it's such a large number that the popup cannot handle it.
Just to confirm, as it wasn't clear in your original post: does the crash only happen when clicking the "start" button or in other situations also?

Andrey

I have 143 tasks in the drop-down list. After complete reinstall I did not encounter crashes so far. The crash only certainly happened on pressing "Start work" button and probably (not sure) could happen on task selection from the drop-down list.

timo

@Andrey thanks! I believe it is related to the amount of tasks that the app wants to show in the task selection popup. 143 tasks is quite a lot. The popup list is very inefficiently implemented by Windows/Microsoft and I was able to reproduce a noticable hang when showing hundreds of popup items when the "Start work" button is clicked. I think when Windows recognizes a hang that is above a certain threshold, it forcibly shuts down the app.
I was able to improve the performance of that popup list by reducing the internal complexity of the menu item UI and in my tests this made the popup 3-4 times faster. This change will be in the next version 2.14.8 - I'd be interested to hear if the problem occurs less frequently or disappears completely with that app update.
Since the problem would persist if someone has hundreds of visible tasks (paired with a rather slow Windows machine), I might consider to limit the amount of tasks shown in the popup (maybe to only the first 200). However, this would prevent users from picking tasks that aren't shown. Maybe I have to rework the entire UI, but this would be a rather large change and take more time to implement

timo

v2.14.8 is now rolling out and can be installed by manually searching for updates in the Store