CppWinRT - Gaming Gamebar IsInputRedirected or IsInputRedirectedChanged Blocking on Windows 11 Shortcuts

Question

CppWinRT - Gaming Gamebar IsInputRedirected or IsInputRedirectedChanged Blocking on Windows 11 Shortcuts

leeroy 6

We are running into a scenario with a user of Windows 11 when they launch our application via a shortcut, even if they create that shortcut right next to the executable it sits at, it blocks at winrt::Windows::Gaming::UI::GameBar::IsInputRedirected() or winrt::Windows::Gaming::UI::GameBar::IsInputRedirectedChanged(inputHandler) and never comes back... For additional context this does run within CEF (Chromium Embedded framework) and is running in the MAIN or UI thread.

We've been unable to reproduce and there doesn't seem to be anything unique about this users machine. Is there any reason any of these would get "stuck"? I don't have a lot of experience working with Windows Runtime APIs, but cppwinrt has certainly transformed that experience.

I've even tried using WRL and it seems to get stuck on GetActivationFactory as well, so likely not a problem with cppwinrt specifically.

leeroy 6

I tried to whittle this down and believe I have it reproduced. Just create a shortcut of the binary executable and launch that.

I created a simple Windows Console Application (C++/WinRT) in VS with the following in main:

#pragma comment(lib, "windowsapp")

#include "pch.h"

#include <winrt/Windows.Gaming.UI.h>
#include <iostream>

using namespace winrt;
using namespace Windows::Foundation;

int main()
{
    init_apartment();
    std::cout << "Pre  - Check Gamebar Input: " << std::endl;
    std::cout << "Input Redirected: " << (Windows::Gaming::UI::GameBar::IsInputRedirected() ? "True" : "False") << std::endl;
    std::cout << "Post - Check Gamebar Input: " << std::endl;
    std::cin.get();
}

Also downloadable from: ShortcutBlocker.zip

leeroy 6 Reputation points

2022-04-12T23:44:09.427+00:00

It seems to block in get_runtime_activation_factory_impl, line 5956 hresult hr = handler(*(void**)(&name), guid, result); (combase.dll). In the "non-shortcut" version it just rolls past that with a successful hresult and is done.

name: L"Windows.Gaming.UI.GameBar"
guid: {IID___x_Windows_CGaming_CUI_CIGameBarStatics}
Xiaopo Yang - MSFT 12,736 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-04-13T08:41:44.66+00:00

Hello @leeroy , What project template is your application(not the demo) based on?
leeroy 6 Reputation points

2022-04-13T18:03:54.557+00:00

Hi @Xiaopo Yang - MSFT , our application is not based on any particular template, but based on CEF (Chromium Embedded Framework). Namely the cefclient test example.

Please see: https://bitbucket.org/chromiumembedded/cef/wiki/Home
Cefclient: https://bitbucket.org/chromiumembedded/cef/wiki/GeneralUsage.md#markdown-header-cefclient
Test Example: https://bitbucket.org/chromiumembedded/cef/src/4951/tests/cefclient/
leeroy 6 Reputation points

2022-04-13T21:22:30.823+00:00

On the original application. It appear this problem goes away when the user unlinks OneDrive. Reconnecting OneDrive breaks this again. I do not understand this relationship with OneDrive, Shortcuts, and Gamebar.
Anonymous

2022-04-14T08:39:25.397+00:00

I could reproduce this behavior. That's an interesting behavior. I'm asking other engineers to see if we could dig further about this. There might be some time delay.

1 answer

Your answer

leeroy 6 Reputation points

2022-04-12T22:21:25.75+00:00

I tried to whittle this down and believe I have it reproduced. Just create a shortcut of the binary executable and launch that.

I created a simple Windows Console Application (C++/WinRT) in VS with the following in main:

#pragma comment(lib, "windowsapp") #include "pch.h" #include <winrt/Windows.Gaming.UI.h> #include <iostream> using namespace winrt; using namespace Windows::Foundation; int main() { init_apartment(); std::cout << "Pre - Check Gamebar Input: " << std::endl; std::cout << "Input Redirected: " << (Windows::Gaming::UI::GameBar::IsInputRedirected() ? "True" : "False") << std::endl; std::cout << "Post - Check Gamebar Input: " << std::endl; std::cin.get(); }

Also downloadable from: ShortcutBlocker.zip
leeroy 6 Reputation points

2022-04-12T23:44:09.427+00:00

It seems to block in get_runtime_activation_factory_impl, line 5956 hresult hr = handler(*(void**)(&name), guid, result); (combase.dll). In the "non-shortcut" version it just rolls past that with a successful hresult and is done.

name: L"Windows.Gaming.UI.GameBar"
guid: {IID___x_Windows_CGaming_CUI_CIGameBarStatics}
Xiaopo Yang - MSFT 12,736 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-04-13T08:41:44.66+00:00

Hello @leeroy , What project template is your application(not the demo) based on?
leeroy 6 Reputation points

2022-04-13T18:03:54.557+00:00

Hi @Xiaopo Yang - MSFT , our application is not based on any particular template, but based on CEF (Chromium Embedded Framework). Namely the cefclient test example.

Please see: https://bitbucket.org/chromiumembedded/cef/wiki/Home
Cefclient: https://bitbucket.org/chromiumembedded/cef/wiki/GeneralUsage.md#markdown-header-cefclient
Test Example: https://bitbucket.org/chromiumembedded/cef/src/4951/tests/cefclient/
leeroy 6 Reputation points

2022-04-13T21:22:30.823+00:00

On the original application. It appear this problem goes away when the user unlinks OneDrive. Reconnecting OneDrive breaks this again. I do not understand this relationship with OneDrive, Shortcuts, and Gamebar.
Anonymous

2022-04-14T08:39:25.397+00:00

I could reproduce this behavior. That's an interesting behavior. I'm asking other engineers to see if we could dig further about this. There might be some time delay.

Answer 1

leeroy 6

@Anonymous and @Xiaopo Yang - MSFT Looks like the issue is that Game Bar uses the caller’s App User Model ID. When a process is launched by a shortcut the system tries to figure one out from the shortcut context, but gets stuck. Processes launched by ShellExecute or double-clicking on the .exe don't have the shortcut context, so they get an AUMID correctly.

Being tracked @ http://task.ms/39033892

For the full details: I thought I had included this link with my original post, but originally filed this with cppwinrt at https://github.com/microsoft/cppwinrt/issues/1133

Anonymous

2022-04-15T01:10:40.633+00:00

Glad to hear that. Other engineers told me that they've replied with a workaround on Github. Thank you for sharing it here. Having a nice day.

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CppWinRT - Gaming Gamebar IsInputRedirected or IsInputRedirectedChanged Blocking on Windows 11 Shortcuts

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