microsoft / microsoft/microsoft-ui-xaml

WinUI Application Freezes with DirectX Software Rendering

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area-Animations area-Performance Regression team-Core
Dominant language
C++
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Description

## Issue Description
When running a WinUI application with DirectX Software Rendering enabled, the application freezes on a blank black screen. This appears to be a regression in Windows App SDK, as the issue occurs after upgrading to 1.6.240829007.

### Environment
- Windows App SDK version: 1.6.240829007
- OS: Windows 11
- Configuration: DirectX Software Rendering mode
- Application type: Standard WinUI 3 application (boilerplate)

### Steps to reproduce the bug

1. Create a basic WinUI 3 application
2. Configure the environment for DirectX Software Rendering
3. Run the application
4. Observe that the application freezes on a blank black screen

### Expected behavior

The application should render correctly in software rendering mode, albeit potentially with lower performance.

### Actual Behavior
The application freezes on a blank black screen with no visible UI elements. No error messages are displayed in the console.

### NuGet package version

Windows App SDK 1.6.0: 1.6.240829007

### Packaging type

Packaged (MSIX)

### Windows version

Windows 11 version 23H2 (22631, November 2023 Update)

### IDE

Visual Studio 2022

### Additional context

- This issue was not present in Windows App SDK 1.4.230822000
- The same application works correctly with hardware rendering
- This appears to be a WinUI-wide issue, as it's reproducible in a minimal boilerplate application without any additional SDKs or dependencies
- When a VSTest is added on top of the application, the error "0x8898008D - No HW rendering device is available for this operation" is observed, further confirming that some component is attempting to use hardware rendering despite software rendering being configured

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with a minimal packaged WinUI 3 application configured for DirectX Software Rendering and compare behavior between Windows App SDK 1.4.230822000 and 1.6.240829007 on Windows 11 23H2. Confirm the blank-screen freeze and the VSTest error 0x8898008D; done means the minimal application renders its UI correctly in software mode without requiring hardware rendering.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
cpp
Domain
computer-graphics, desktop-dev
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
28/100

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