Question compatibility made Chrome no longer display windows

[barleysinger]

Win Pro 11

We have repeatedly found instances where using Properties->Compatibility to get an application to run, makes that user account have serious odd problems from that point onward. The most common being that Chrome no longer displays it's windows. The only functional repair appears to be is to kill the user account entirely and then re-create it.

We have had this happen with more than one application on more than one user account. This tends to effect Chrome and sometimes Edge so that you can no longer see their windows. Yesterday it was the USER account with no password, so it got nuked and re-created. Today it is my account and I'm not looking forward to having to kill the account (and start over from scratch) to have a functional account for myself again.

Last time our guess is that it was something associated with Steam.

In the most recent instance (today) a member of the household installed an old game (they did pay for it after all) and used Properties->Compatibility - to try and get it to work. It did odd things to the screen so nothing was functional (oh well can't figure it out yet). The day continued. Except Chrome no longer works on that user. Oh it runs but you can't see the windows. Logging out doesn't help.

After this, that user (and only that user) was no longer able to display any chrome window. You can ALT-TAB through them but they do not display. All other users were fine. This is the same behavior we have seen before.

I uninstalled Chrome just to see if this was limited to Chrome or had effected which OS resources were being used by that account. Then I installed Chrome. That user STILL has the same problem and only that user. So whatever Properties->Compatibility did, it corrupted the user account in some manner. It all works fin for the other users.

I suggest that before people try and install ANYTHING that might have compatibility issues, create a system restore point, then create a new user to test everything in. then install the software while you are that user so if doing this somehow screws up that user account, it isn't your main account. Or use some other method to sandbox your install.

 

[barleysinger]

I found a repair method that doesn't require killing Chrome. Go into AppData and delete the data for

C:\Users\THISUSERNAME\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome

Then launch Chrome in safe mode and log into google. Your bookmarks and logins will be gone but you can run Chrome again without killing the entire account. Unfortunately I have no idea how to save my bookmarks and history and extensions as I don't know where in

C:\Users\THISUSERNAME\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome

those things reside. I have no idea how using Properties->Compatibility to get an application to run can screw up Chrome but it can. I find that disturbing.

--------- edit ----------
So, I did get Chrome working again and then OpenOffice Write no longer displayed any windows just like Chrome. From my last experience I will most likely continue to lose access to applications, It appears to be a persistent problem. I will have to kill and recreate that user (again)

DO NOT USE Properties->Compatibility without creating a System Restore Point

DO NOT USE Properties->Compatibility unless you do so in a dedicated testing account or you will probably have to kill that user and recreate it, which is a pain in the butt.