element-hq / element-hq/element-web

System tray icon rendered blurry at HiDPI on Windows while a second instance's icon is sharp

Open
#34,867 1 comment 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
O-Occasional S-Minor T-Defect Z-Platform-Specific Z-Windows
Dominant language
TypeScript
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Forks
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Description

### Steps to reproduce

1. Windows 11 with a mixed-DPI multi-monitor setup: a 3840x2160 display alongside a 1920x1200 panel, system scaling 150% (`AppliedDPI` = 144), with different per-monitor DPI offsets.
2. Enable the system tray icon.
3. Start two instances from the same Element Desktop installation: one with the default profile, one with `--profile `.
4. Leave them running across display changes, and compare both tray icons in the notification area.

### Outcome

#### What did you expect?

Both tray icons rendered crisply at the current display scaling.

#### What happened instead?

One instance's tray icon is visibly blurry and upscaled - soft, smeared edges on both the Element logo and the unread badge - while the other instance's icon sits right next to it on the same tray and is sharp.

Observations:

* Both instances run from the same installation and the same version, so differing icon assets can be ruled out.
* The affected instance is the one started with `--profile`, which is also the one that had been running considerably longer (roughly 3 days, against roughly 1 day for the sharp one).

Hypothesis, untested: the tray icon may be rasterised once at the resolution or DPI of the display it is created on at startup, and then not re-rendered when displays are plugged in or out, or when scaling changes during the session. That would fit the longer-running instance being the affected one, and would make the `--profile` flag incidental rather than causal.

### Operating system

Windows 11 Education, 10.0.26200

### Application version

Element Desktop 1.12.26 (x64)

### How did you install the app?

Windows installer from element.io (per-user install under `%LOCALAPPDATA%\element-desktop`)

### Homeserver

_No response_

### Will you send logs?

No

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by locating the Windows system-tray icon entry point and reproduce the mixed-DPI, multi-monitor scenario with two instances, including one started with --profile. Compare the icons before and after display or scaling changes; done means both tray icons remain crisp at the current display scaling.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
typescript
Domain
desktop
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
42/100

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