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PowerToys crashes when desktop composition is disabled (0x80263001) #45563

@tomarmayankk

Description

@tomarmayankk

Microsoft PowerToys version

0.95.0.0

Installation method

Microsoft Store

Area(s) with issue?

PowerToys Run

Steps to reproduce

  1. Start PowerToys normally.
  2. Trigger a system theme change or unlock the system.
  3. Desktop composition becomes temporarily disabled.
  4. PowerToys shows a dialog: "PowerToys ran into an issue" and crashes.

This appears to happen during startup or when the system theme changes.

✔️ Expected Behavior

PowerToys should handle the desktop composition being disabled gracefully
and continue running without crashing.

❌ Actual Behavior

PowerToys crashes and shows a dialog saying
"PowerToys ran into an issue".

Log shows:
System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80263001):
Desktop composition is disabled

Additional Information

OS version: Windows 11 (Build 26200, Insider)
.NET version: Default bundled with PowerToys
System language: English
Installation type: User installation
Running as admin: No

This appears to be the same issue as PowerToys Run crash
when desktop composition is disabled (issue #31226).
Log file attached.

Other Software

No response

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    Issue-BugSomething isn't workingNeeds-TriageFor issues raised to be triaged and prioritized by internal Microsoft teamsduplicateThis label was added by a GitHub action and this issue may be a potential duplicate

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