Error messages from Windows 11 Ver 22H2

[BirkB]

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XMBC Version: 2.29.2
Installed or Portable version:
Windows Version: Windows11/64 22H2
Mouse Information (brand/model): Kensington Expert Mouse

After installing and setting XMouse to start with Windows; upon restarting error messages appear saying XMouseButtonhook and BugTrapU-64 cannot be found. But XMouse starts anyway.

How to eliminate the error messages?

[phil]

Urm, I don't honestly know. I have Win11 22H2 on my desktop now (dual boot with Win 10 cos I'm not enamored with 11 yet!).
However, Ive had no such messages from Windows or XMBC with such messages so I can only imagine its something specific to your setup (or at least, not a general problem).

How did you set XMBC to start with windows? Using the standard install or by doing something funky to start it? Did you install it to the usual location (under program files on the main drive) - I wonder if there are two conflicting locations, and one is working while the other is not? Unfortunately, I can only guess... Do the messages suggest the location in which it is looking?

Regards,
Phil

[BirkB]

I first tried the app as portable and it seemed to work OK. Then I did the standard install and I thought it would add itself to the auto-start list. But that didn't happen, so it took me a while to figure out how to get it to start when Windows first loads. I found a link that showed how to get it listed in Settings/Apps/Startup, so once I did that I just set it to On. That got it to start when Windows loads - but it only started after I clear the 2 error messages.

I just fixed that problem by adding the full directory path to XMouse to the Windows Path list. Maybe this is how it's supposed to be. The error messages don't give any info other than not being able to find the files. I knew putting the XMouse directory path into the Windows Path variable would fix it - is that what the installer does behind the scenes?

[phil]

No, the installer installs and SHOULD setup a registry entry to start automatically on startup - you shouldn't have to do anything!

The registry key usually goes into: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Screenshot 2022-09-27 232047.png

Have a look in RegEdit (don't change anything unless you know what your doing of course) and just see if the highlighted entry is in there. If it is not, then I guess the installation must have failed to do it for some reason).

As you can see, it uses the full path, so there should be no need to put the XMBC folder into the PATH environment folder!
If its in there, it should also show up in the startup applications in task manager or settings. If its not, then that's the problem (the question is then why is it not!)

Note the screenshot is from Win11 original (not 22H2) as its from my laptop on which I have not yet been offered the update nor bothered to pursue by other means!

[BirkB]

Great information - thanks. I'll check the registry and see what's there. The install routine ran without any messages, so at this point there's no telling why I had to tweak the path list.

[BirkB]

Very interesting...

Your registry entry is there and looks fine. So I removed the statement I put in the Environment/Path set and rebooted. And the 2 error messages appeared again. I exited them and XMouse was there and seems to be function OK.

The only thing I noticed that looked odd to me was the /delay parameter you put on the end of the registry entry. Maybe this should not be there? (Just a guess.)

[phil]

No, the delay is just used to delay the installation of the tray icons slightly - it does not need to be there, but that's put in by the installer by default.
Delaying such things should make no difference really, but there were some issues many moons ago where by XMBC may fail to load the tray icons if it started too soon after logon.

The release version you are running is rather old now (before Windows 11 was released even) and I am using a much newer (beta) version that is available here on the forums. I guess its possible that there may be something wrong in the installer for 2.19.2 and Win 11 (although I don't believe anything has changed there, I will try installing 2.19.2 on my 22H2 installation after work to check that it is working as expected). Likewise, you could try the latest beta (its available in the Beta thread here) but I don't expect it will make much/any difference!

[BirkB]

Of course I know nothing about the internals of 22H2, but I do know it is a pretty major change that affects all sorts of things. So it may be that MS made some little tweak that is causing this strange behavior. I'll try your Beta version and see what happens. Hopefully I'll post some results later today.

In the meantime, here are some other tweaks for your consideration:

1. My primary monitor is 38" 4K one, and XMBC's text is hard to read. I tried all of the Windows DPI settings options, but none of them had any effect. If I drag the XMBC window over to my secondary monitor (regular 1920 x 1200) the window gets truncated and is not scrollable. So it would be nice if there was some way to control/adjust the overall window & font size.

2. At one point I found an option that let me specify in which directory the SMBC settings would be stored. But now I can't find that option. It seems to me it should be in the main Settings window.

3. For some reason the XMBC window pops up when the my system boots. Shouldn't there be a Settings option to control this?

4. My mouse is actually a 4-button trackball (Kensington Expert Mouse) and I'd like to use the top 2 buttons together to shut down my system. But I'm having difficulty understanding how to use Button Chording to do this. I'm sure I'll figure it out, so I may propose some updates to your very comprehensive User Guide.

[phil]

1. is a real pain in the backside.. XMBC is written in C++/MFC using rather old now frameworks. It is not properly DPI aware and that is a failing of the older frameworks. But it will be far to much effort to effectively re-write the whole thing, so its something I have just lived with myself (admittedly, Ive steered clear of 4K monitors for many reasons so I'm less affected!). It would be great to be able to use newer frameworks (and maybe .NET) but XMBC was designed to be small and slim (its tiny and take little to no resources) building on top of .NET, while making the GUI far easier, would wipe out all of that advantage so that's not on the cards either).

XMBC is a hobby project, back in the day when I started it, I had loads of free time and not a lot else going on - that's not the case these days, so I just don't have the time to spend on it making such significant changes! Ironically, the seemingly "simply" GUI components are the most work and effort to change (always the way with software development)

2. Its in the installation. Once installed, you cant currently change this (manually). Its stored in the registry so it can be done, but normally it's stored in (under) HKLM which you need admin access to change - and XMBC does not run as administrator by default which makes it more difficult to change from within the application itself, hence why its an installation option at present.

3. This may well be related to the messages etc. that you are getting. If you run XMBC for a second time, it opens the settings/configuration dialog. Therefore I would assume you are still running XMBC more than once at startup, and the second time it runs, it tells the initial instance to open the settings window. This is by design (so you can open it again to get to settings - particularly useful if you have disabled/hidden the system tray icon). As I say, it may help explain your original problem - somehow you must have two startup entries for XMBC!

4. Button chording works by detecting one button press, followed by another (without releasing the first button). So you do need to be careful on the order you press the buttons (or you need to setup the same chord on both buttons). There's lots of tweaks you can do to configure the way chording works, how long it waits etc. If there is something specific your struggling with let me know, otherwise I'll leave you on your path of discovery!

Regards,
Phil

[BirkB]

Thanks for your helpful reply. I give feedback on that after I deliver this bad news:

The current Beta version does prevent the 2 error messages I initially reported, but instead it displays this:



Needless to say I have no idea what to do about that, so I'll go back to the regular version and adding the SMBC directory name into the Path statement.

Feedback on my points 1 - 4:

1. Yup, I understand completely. I can live with it.

2. Yup, I found it when I did the Beta install. When I go back to the production version I'll tweak it to be the SMBC directory. (I like to keep stuff together.)

3. I hadn't thought about double-starting it. I'll check on how that might be the case. My guess is I did something to cause that. Thanks for that tip.

4. Ah! A time delay. Got it. That should help me get squared away.

I do identify with your situation - a hundred years ago I started doing software for one of the S100 bus precursors to the IBM PC. I continued with that for a number of years (BASCOM, Quick Basic, VB), but I finally had to give up on it because I had a real job that paid the bills. So my hat's off to you for finding a way to keep this going.

[BirkB]

You were correct - I found 2 entries for SMBC in the Apps/Startup page. Turning one off fixed the popup window. Thanks.

[phil]

The error you are seeing has some interesting paths in it, and again I believe is pointing to the problem on your machine.
It appears to be loading XMBC from a very unusual folder, under the start menu.

XMBC should be installed to c:\program files\highresolution enterprises\xmousebuttoncontrol and it should run in there.
But the error is from something running directly under/from your start menu folder. The leaves me to believe to copied the EXE file to the windows start menu folder (maybe in an attempt to start it with windows). That will also explain the weird messages about missing files (because if you only copy the EXE there, it wont find the DLLs required that should be in the same folder as the EXE).

The windows start menu "startup" folder should never have direct EXE files in it. If you are going to use it, you should add a shortcut to the application rather than copy the application exe file! I believe that explains the errors you had earlier (and also the popup of the second instance maybe)

Delete any reference to XMBC in your start menu "startup" folder.
By adding the XMBC folder to the environment path, means that it will find the DLL's because they are in the path. But in this case, its finding the new (beta) versions of the DLL's which don't have the same interface (function names) as 2.19.2 (new stuff, rejigging of existing stuff etc). So you get the error message saying that it cant find the entry point (function name).

The good news is I think we are getting to the crux of the issues

[BirkB]

I think you are correct - I did try several things to get SMBC to start with Windows. SO I'll have to go back and see if I can re-discover what I did. Interestingly enough there is no Windows/Startup directory any more.

But I think I've found the problem...In the Task Manager/Startup Apps section there are 2 entries for SMBC - one is enabled and one is disabled. So I'll disable the enabled one, take out the Path statement, and reboot. I'll post the results soon.

[BirkB]

That did it - disabling the entry from Task Manager/Startup apps fixed the problem. When I rebooted there was a small square window that flashed on the screen for maybe 1/10 second - I couldn't really catch what it was. But the boot processed finished in fine time nevertheless, so I'm happy with the results.

It's interesting that the Task Manager/Startup apps screen doesn't seem to know or care what is set in the registry for auto-startup. That sounds like a bug to me, but it could be an unintended consequence MS implemented some time ago, and that can't be fixed now.

Thanks again for helping me get on the right track here.

[phil]

My laptop's task manager start up tab in task manager does show XMBC from the registry key (bear in mind this one is not 22H2 - so maybe they have broken it!)

Screenshot 2022-09-28 214311.png