issue while using Open-Shell and NoMachine

[duey]

Hello, I'm experiencing a random issue with Open-Shell while using the remote desktop software called NoMachine. I haven't figured out what causes it or how to reliably trigger it yet, so, I haven't opened an issue for it. It usually occurs when I'm controlling another computer and press the Windows key on my local keyboard. The local Start Menu (ie. Open-Shell) and taskbar freezes (ie. cannot interact with it via mouse or keyboard), and then, after several seconds, will disappear completely and then come back. I'm guessing a crash happens and Open-Shell restarts itself, but I'm not sure.

I'm using Windows 10, and have no problems with Open-Shell (version 4.4.196) otherwise. So far I've only triggered this issue with the Windows key, and it only happens when I use NoMachine. I'm assuming it's some sort of issue where NoMachine will try to pass the Windows key input to the remote machine. I've tried turning off NoMachine's key capture settings, but it still happens. On another computer I'm using Windows 11, without Open-Shell, and haven't experienced this particular issue.

Something that I just thought of, and have not tried yet, is to close Open-Shell while using NoMachine, to see if the same thing happens with Microsoft's Start Menu. I'll check that soon and report back.

[duey]

I don't have any solutions yet, but, wanted to provide some updates.

It's been some time since I installed and set-up "OS" (Open-Shell), but I realized that I only use it to make the Start Menu look like the one from Windows 7. The taskbar and system tray are still managed by Windows. So, when the taskbar freezes and restarts itself, it seems more likely to be a Windows issue.

I'm not sure I mentioned this, but for the NoMachine software, I'm only using the "player" (ie. not the server) portion of it.

I've setup a shortcut in the "OS" Start menu to close it down (via the -exit parameter), and revert back to Windows 10 Start Menu for testing. Doing that, I haven't been able to make the Windows Start Menu & taskbar disappear/restart, but I've seen it freeze a couple of times. It will only freeze for (at most) a few seconds, but, then recover itself without a restart.

So, now, after testing this setup (ie. using Windows' Start Menu, with "OS" exited), it seems that I can almost reliably trigger a Windows Start Menu freeze by opening NoMachine and right away repeatedly pressing the Windows key. "Almost reliably" means it doesn't happen every time, but it's the only time I've been able to trigger it.

Hmmm, and, now while writing this comment, I was playing with it some more and I was able to get the taskbar to disappear/reappear... Just like I described in my original post. I'm fairly certain that I had "OS" closed at the time (I'm not 100% certain because, when the taskbar & Start Menu reappeared, "OS" was restored as well). I've tried getting it to happen a second time, but now I'm seemingly unable to trigger it.

I've just now tried looking through the Windows Event Log, and, I think (not 100% sure), it's probably indicating that the issue is not with "OS". So, as a work-around, I'll just close "OS" before using NoMachine, and re-start it afterwards. It's also possible that, since I've been using this Windows 10 install for a few years, something has fubar'd and causing a weird interaction with this set of various programs.