BUG: Hotkey does nothing, apparently after earlier exception

Checks

• I have checked that this issue has not already been reported.

• I am using the latest version of Flow Launcher.

Problem Description

Sometimes when I use the hotkey (Alt+Space in my case) to bring up the Flow Launcher search bar, it doesn’t respond. Flow Launcher is still running, appearing in Task Manager and in the system notification area, but it does not respond to the hotkey.

When the process is killed and restarted, it works fine again.

To Reproduce

Reproduction steps are unknown. However, when I see this behavior, inspecting the most recent log shows exceptions, some time earlier. (i.e. These errors are not caused by using the hotkey.) These appear in batches every 10 minutes, perhaps linked to periodic indexing operations?

Screenshots

No response

Flow Launcher Version

1.15.0

Windows Build Number

10.0.19045.3086

Error Log

[these exceptions appear quite soon after startup, and I believe the program is still working properly after these.]

20:52:02.0986+01:00 - ERROR -  - ------------- BEGIN Flow.Launcher.Plugin.Program exception -------------
20:52:02.0986+01:00 - ERROR -  - 
Exception full name: System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException
Error status: UNKNOWN
Class name: IShellLinkW
Calling method: retrieveTargetPath
Program path: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Windows Media Player.lnk
InnerException number: 1
Exception message: Error HRESULT E_FAIL has been returned from a call to a COM component.
Exception error type: HResult -2147467259
Exception thrown in called method: Void GetDescription(System.Text.StringBuilder, Int32)
Possible interpretation of the error: Error caused likely due to trying to get the description of the program
Possible resolution: Not yet known
20:52:02.0986+01:00 - ERROR -  - ------------- END Flow.Launcher.Plugin.Program exception -------------

20:52:02.2278+01:00 - ERROR -  - ------------- BEGIN Flow.Launcher.Plugin.Program exception -------------
20:52:02.2278+01:00 - ERROR -  - 
Exception full name: System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException
Error status: UNKNOWN
Class name: IShellLinkW
Calling method: retrieveTargetPath
Program path: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools\ODBC Data Sources (32-bit).lnk
InnerException number: 1
Exception message: Error HRESULT E_FAIL has been returned from a call to a COM component.
Exception error type: HResult -2147467259
Exception thrown in called method: Void GetDescription(System.Text.StringBuilder, Int32)
Possible interpretation of the error: Error caused likely due to trying to get the description of the program
Possible resolution: Not yet known
20:52:02.2278+01:00 - ERROR -  - ------------- END Flow.Launcher.Plugin.Program exception -------------

[...........followed by many of these exceptions later...., and I think it's after one or more of these that the search bar stops appearing]

23:14:36.1035+01:00 - ERROR - ImageLoader.Load - Failed to get thumbnail for C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam\games\b0ff6bdb2da01a5924a7f67359af45b8c69ff5b9.ico on second try
EXCEPTION OCCURS: System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80004005): Error while extracting thumbnail for C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam\games\b0ff6bdb2da01a5924a7f67359af45b8c69ff5b9.ico
 ---> System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x8004B201): 0x8004B201
   at IntPtr Flow.Launcher.Infrastructure.Image.WindowsThumbnailProvider.GetHBitmap(string fileName, int width, int height, ThumbnailOptions options) in C:/projects/flow-launcher/Flow.Launcher.Infrastructure/Image/ThumbnailReader.cs:line 129
   at BitmapSource Flow.Launcher.Infrastructure.Image.WindowsThumbnailProvider.GetThumbnail(string fileName, int width, int height, ThumbnailOptions options) in C:/projects/flow-launcher/Flow.Launcher.Infrastructure/Image/ThumbnailReader.cs:line 120
   at ImageResult Flow.Launcher.Infrastructure.Image.ImageLoader.GetThumbnailResult(ref string path, bool loadFullImage) in C:/projects/flow-launcher/Flow.Launcher.Infrastructure/Image/ImageLoader.cs:line 239
   at async ValueTask<ImageResult> Flow.Launcher.Infrastructure.Image.ImageLoader.LoadInternalAsync(string path, bool loadFullImage) in C:/projects/flow-launcher/Flow.Launcher.Infrastructure/Image/ImageLoader.cs:line 163

23:24:36.1167+01:00 - ERROR - ImageLoader.Load - Failed to get thumbnail for C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam\games\dca530aba423efd0d3cf5794fe63675e88bf60a0.ico on first try
EXCEPTION OCCURS: System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80004005): Error while extracting thumbnail for C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam\games\dca530aba423efd0d3cf5794fe63675e88bf60a0.ico
 ---> System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x8004B201): 0x8004B201
   at IntPtr Flow.Launcher.Infrastructure.Image.WindowsThumbnailProvider.GetHBitmap(string fileName, int width, int height, ThumbnailOptions options) in C:/projects/flow-launcher/Flow.Launcher.Infrastructure/Image/ThumbnailReader.cs:line 129
   at BitmapSource Flow.Launcher.Infrastructure.Image.WindowsThumbnailProvider.GetThumbnail(string fileName, int width, int height, ThumbnailOptions options) in C:/projects/flow-launcher/Flow.Launcher.Infrastructure/Image/ThumbnailReader.cs:line 120
   at ImageResult Flow.Launcher.Infrastructure.Image.ImageLoader.GetThumbnailResult(ref string path, bool loadFullImage) in C:/projects/flow-launcher/Flow.Launcher.Infrastructure/Image/ImageLoader.cs:line 239
   at async ValueTask<ImageResult> Flow.Launcher.Infrastructure.Image.ImageLoader.LoadInternalAsync(string path, bool loadFullImage) in C:/projects/flow-launcher/Flow.Launcher.Infrastructure/Image/ImageLoader.cs:line 163

[...and many other similar exceptions

[Kylotan]

I’ve updated and will comment again if it does, but it happens too infrequently for it to be easy to tell.

[jjw24]

That’s ok, let’s keep this open for a while and if you could update when you see a pattern to repro this issue.