Win32 ShowWindow() crashes VMware Workstation

[Anon Cat]

VMware Workstation crashes if you hide the window using ShowWindow(SW_HIDE) and then make it reappear uisng ShowWindow(SW_SHOWNORMAL).

Error: 

VMware Workstation unrecoverable error: (vmui)
Exception Oxc0000005 (access violation) has occurred.
A log file is available in
"C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local\Temp\vmware-<USERNAME>\vmware-
ui-16460.log".
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OS: Windows 11 IoT Enterprise (24H2, 26100.1)

VMWare Workstation: 25.0.0.24995812

I wrote a small C# program that triggers the crash:

using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Threading;

class _
{
	[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
	public static extern int ShowWindow(IntPtr hWnd, SHOWWINDOW nCmdShow);

	[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
	public static extern IntPtr FindWindow(string className, string windowName);

	[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
	public static extern int SetWindowPos(IntPtr hWnd, IntPtr hWndInsertAfter, int x, int y, int cx, int cy, SETWINDOWPOS uFlags);

	static void Main(string[] args)
	{
		IntPtr result = FindWindow(null, "VMware Workstation");
		ShowWindow(result, SHOWWINDOW.SW_HIDE);
		Thread.Sleep(2000);
		ShowWindow(result, SHOWWINDOW.SW_SHOWDEFAULT);
	}
}

public enum SHOWWINDOW
{
	SW_HIDE = 0,
	SW_SHOWNORMAL = 1,
	SW_NORMAL = 1,
	SW_SHOWMINIMIZED = 2,
	SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED = 3,
	SW_MAXIMIZE = 3,
	SW_SHOWNOACTIVATE = 4,
	SW_SHOW = 5,
	SW_MINIMIZE = 6,
	SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE = 7,
	SW_SHOWNA = 8,
	SW_RESTORE = 9,
	SW_SHOWDEFAULT = 10,
	SW_FORCEMINIMIZE = 11
}

public enum SETWINDOWPOS : uint
{
	SWP_NOSIZE = 0x0001,
	SWP_NOMOVE = 0x0002,
	SWP_NOACTIVATE = 0x0010
}

Compile it using : C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727\csc.exe vmware.cs and run it with VMware Workstation running and the home page being the title of the window.

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[James Lin]

Thanks for the report, but I can't reproduce the crash.

Can you attach C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local\Temp\vmware-<USERNAME>\vmware-ui-16460.log ?

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[Anon Cat]

I have attached the log. I have tested on a laptop and it doesnt crash, the only difference I can think of is the laptop doesnt have a dedicated gpu.

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Attachment(s)

vmware-ui-18208.log   121 KB 1 version

[James Lin]

Are both of your machines running the same version of Windows with the same Windows updates?

The backtrace in the UI log suggests that the crash is occurring in code related to Aero Peek thumbnails.  On the machine that is encountering the crash, does going to Edit > Preferences > Workspace and unchecking "Show Aero Peek thumbnails for open tabs" change the behavior?

Also, I see that you are running Windows 11 build 26100.1, which I believe is a developer preview release.  Could you possibly try updating that machine to a stable release of Windows 11?  I have noticed that Microsoft seemed to have made some changes to the behavior of Aero Peek thumbnails in some builds of Windows 11.

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[Anon Cat]

going to Edit > Preferences > Workspace and unchecking "Show Aero Peek thumbnails for open tabs" change the behavior?

That seems to have fixed it ! And I have now been able to replicate it on my second device too which is on the same 26100.1 build (no updates installed). For some reason the first time I tried it after installing vmware in that device it did not trigger this issue, and disabling aero peek thumbnails seems to work there as well. The solution works for me now and will try it on a newer version of windows as well if I can and let you know.

Thank You !

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