VLC not appearing - not even as icon on task bar, but plays on 2nd attempt - still no icon or window

[JM1]

When I right click on a directory to run VLC, or even hit the taskbar icon to run it, VLC will NOT show up in Task Manager as an application, but DOES show up as a process in Task Manager and Process Explorer, but nothing plays.

If I right click again on a directory to run VLC, I'll hear music, but again, nothing seen in the Applications part of the Task Manager, but it's still showing up as a single entry in Task Manager and Process Explorer, but now it plays. There is NO tab for the process on the task bar. No window is evident, but music is playing.

I've tried embedding VLC as an entry on my task bar, so that I can show it as the active application and use ALT-Space to try to move it (I run dual monitor, but do switch one monitor for a backup on a separate machine.) The attempt to move it locks to some other window and I can use the keyboard to more that other window (like firefox, etc). So there's no "window" to grab.

So for some reason vlc is not being recognized by explorer as an application that's running, and doesn't show up as an entry in the Applications tab in the Task Manager - just as a process.

I would LOVE for anybody to be able to provide an answer for this. I've tried reinstalling and it doesn't seem to work.

This is Windows 7, x64, btw.

[JM1]

There was one time when I did a right click on the process in Process Explorer AFTER it's been playing for awhile, I got an option to bring the window to the front, and VLC appeared, I moved the screen slightly to have it (hopefully) remember where it was located on my screen. But after I killed it and restarted it twice (as described above), I can hear the music, but no window shows up, no application entry on the task manager, nothing seen on the task bar.

I haven't been able to reproduce this window bring to the front possibility.

[Lotesdelere]

Exit VLC, reset the preferences (the manual way) and try again:
https://wiki.videolan.org/VSG:ResetPrefs

[JM1]

Thanks for the link. That did not work. I used both the application to try to reset preferences, as well as remove %APPDATA%/vlc

[Lotesdelere]

Run VLC with this command line for creating a log file:

Code: Select all

vlc --extraintf=logger --verbose=2 --logfile=C:\vlc.log --logmode=text --file-logging

and then paste the full resulting log here or on Pastebin.com if it's too long.

Make sure you have full access rights to the destination path.

[Hitchhiker]

There's an option in the Qt menu to start vlc from a systray icon. There's also an option to not display that icon.


(click to enlarge)

That it doesn't appear as a process in Windows Explorer could be due to the process itself having stopped working: https://www.howtogeek.com/198815/use-th ... n-windows/

[JM1]

It shows up as a process, but not with a window or under the application tab in the task manager.

I can't get the VLC window to appear to even see the Qt menu.

I'll give a shot at the VLC command line option.

Here's the output (I had to use a mp3 file on the end of it, otherwise I got 0 byte log files)

Command: vlc --extraintf=logger --verbose=2 --logfile=C:\vlc.log --logmode=text --file-logging 01-Caldonia.mp3

?-- logger module started --
main debug: VLC media player - 3.0.17.4 Vetinari
main debug: Copyright c 1996-2022 the VideoLAN team
main debug: revision 3.0.17.4-0-gc650ce1a4e
main debug: configured with /builds/videolan/vlc/extras/package/win32/../../../configure '--enable-update-check' '--enable-
able-flac' '--enable-theora' '--enable-avcodec' '--enable-merge-ffmpeg' '--enable-dca' '--enable-mpc' '--enable-libass' '--e
ble-realrtsp' '--enable-live555' '--enable-shout' '--enable-goom' '--enable-sse' '--enable-mmx' '--enable-libcddb' '--enable
-enable-nls' '--host=x86_64-w64-mingw32' '--with-contrib=../contrib/x86_64-w64-mingw32' '--with-breakpad=https://win.crashes
t' '--enable-skins2' '--enable-dvdread' '--enable-caca' 'host_alias=x86_64-w64-mingw32' 'CFLAGS= ' 'CXXFLAGS= ' 'PKG_CONFIG=
BDIR=/usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32/lib/pkgconfig:/usr/lib/x86_64-w64-mingw32/pkgconfig'
main debug: using multimedia timers as clock source
main debug: min period: 1 ms, max period: 1000000 ms
main debug: searching plug-in modules
main debug: loading plugins cache file c:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\plugins\plugins.dat
main debug: recursively browsing `c:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\plugins'
main debug: plug-ins loaded: 496 modules
main debug: opening config file (C:\Users\J User\AppData\Roaming\vlc\vlcrc)
main debug: looking for logger module matching "any": 2 candidates
file debug: opening logfile `C:\vlc.log'
main debug: using logger module "file"
main debug: translation test: code is "C"
main debug: looking for keystore module matching "memory": 3 candidates
main debug: using keystore module "memory"
main debug: CPU has capabilities MMX MMXEXT SSE SSE2 SSE3 SSSE3 SSE4.1 SSE4.2 FPU
main debug: creating audio output
main debug: looking for audio output module matching "any": 6 candidates
mmdevice debug: using default device
mmdevice debug: display name changed: VLC media player (LibVLC 3.0.17.4)
mmdevice debug: version 2 session control unavailable
mmdevice debug: volume from -64.000000 dB to +0.000000 dB with 0.031250 dB increments
main debug: using audio output module "mmdevice"
main debug: keeping audio output
main debug: looking for interface module matching "logger,none": 16 candidates
logger error: The logger interface no longer exists.
logger: As of VLC version 0.9.0, use --file-logging to write logs to a file.
main debug: no interface modules matched
main error: no suitable interface module
main error: interface "logger,none" initialization failed
main debug: Creating an input for preparsing '01-Caldonia.mp3'
main debug: looking for interface module matching "hotkeys,none": 16 candidates
main debug: using interface module "hotkeys"
main debug: looking for interface module matching "globalhotkeys,none": 16 candidates
main debug: using interface module "win32"
main: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface.
main debug: looking for interface module matching "any": 16 candidates
main debug: looking for art finder module matching "any": 2 candidates
lua debug: Trying Lua scripts in C:\Users\J User\AppData\Roaming\vlc\lua\meta\art
lua debug: Trying Lua scripts in c:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\lua\meta\art
lua debug: Trying Lua playlist script c:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\lua\meta\art\00_musicbrainz.luac
lua debug: skipping script (unmatched scope) c:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\lua\meta\art\00_musicbrainz.luac
lua debug: Trying Lua playlist script c:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\lua\meta\art\01_googleimage.luac
lua debug: skipping script (unmatched scope) c:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\lua\meta\art\01_googleimage.luac
lua debug: Trying Lua playlist script c:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\lua\meta\art\02_frenchtv.luac
lua debug: skipping script (unmatched scope) c:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\lua\meta\art\02_frenchtv.luac
lua debug: Trying Lua playlist script c:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\lua\meta\art\03_lastfm.luac
lua debug: skipping script (unmatched scope) c:\Program Files\

[JM1]

Well, I don't know what happened, but now it's working! I did uninstall an old version of zone alarm that was still running, but I couldn't open it to see if perhaps it was blocking vlc from connecting outwards or something.

I occasionally have a problem with my two hard disks as well, with the 2nd one somehow switching over to think it's a boot partition, and I have to go through a ritual of shutting down the system, (because rebooting gives me a blinking cursor during the bios startup), disconnecting one of the 2nd drive's cables, reboot, come up with the one drive, and then shutdown again, reconnect the cable and then rebooting up again. When it hits that state, some odd things happen.

It sure is good to have VLC back again!