DF Taskbar intermittently shows over fullscreen apps on secondary monitor

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dgw

9 discussion posts

I've noticed on multiple PCs (all Windows 7) that sometimes, the DisplayFusion taskbar will appear briefly on top of fullscreen applications even when they are focused, or when DF is set not to show its taskbar on top of fullscreen apps that lose focus.

I don't know if Windows 7 is still officially supported, and searching the discussions didn't lead me to anything relevant (but there were an overwhelming number of results for various combinations of "taskbar", "fullscreen", "full screen", "intermittent", etc.). But if there's something I can do to stop this it'd greatly reduce annoyances while e.g. watching Plex on a projector or external display connected to a laptop.

Also, on one PC that exhibits this, sometimes only the Start button from the DF taskbar appears, instead of the whole taskbar. It's all very odd.

Feb 6, 2018 • #1

That's very strange indeed! Could you send over a debug log? Here are the steps:

On the DisplayFusion Settings > Troubleshooting tab, change the Logging drop-down to "L1: Log Minimal" and click Apply
Reproduce the issue and note the time so we'll know where to check in the log file
Click the "Export Info to File" button on the Settings > Troubleshooting tab
Reply with the file attached
Disable debug logging after sending the log

Feb 7, 2018 • #2

dgw

9 discussion posts

The attached log should exhibit the issue near the end, within the last minute or two.

When the taskbar showed on top of my fullscreen Plex Media Player window, the system tray clock on the primary monitor showed 17:13, and I turned off DisplayFusion's logging shortly thereafter to post the log.

Skimming the log myself, I suspect that this is the relevant extract because it suddenly switches from

Set BEHIND

Set TOP

for no apparent reason. It is the only occurrence of

Set TOP

I could find in the whole log:

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2018/02/07 17:13:18.4896##_##WARN:L1##_##displayfusion.exe:2224##_##TaskbarManager:TaskbarAddAll##_##-##_##Skip: Fullscreen Application Detected: [ProcessTaskbarsCallback] "C:\Program Files\Plex\Plex Media Player\PlexMediaPlayer.exe:FillsOneMonitorWindow"##_##-
2018/02/07 17:13:18.4896##_##INFO:L1##_##displayfusion.exe:2224##_##Taskbar2:SetOnTopWorker##_##-##_##Bottom [Mode: BottomForce ~ "ProcessButtons:FullScreenAny:"Qt5QWindowOwnDCIcon:FillsOneMonitorWindow":TaskbarManager:ProcessTaskbarsCallback"]##_##-
2018/02/07 17:13:18.5006##_##INFO:L1##_##displayfusion.exe:2224##_##ZOrderHelpers:PlaceAboveWindow##_##-##_##5.Reason: Taskbar2:SetOnTopWorkerSetStartButtonOnTop: Set BEHIND [314]: 0x002a0adc • Class: "CabinetWClass" • Rect: {X=142,Y=78,Width=800,Height=560} • Style: 0x14cf0000 • StyleEx: 0x00000100 • Min: False • Max: False • PID: 3276 • Path: "C:\Windows\explorer.exe" ~ Owner: 0x00020316 • Class: "DFTaskbar:fd91242c-cab2-4e53-bb99-4dad9ae1b14d" • Rect: {X=-1920,Y=760,Width=1920,Height=40} • Style: 0x96000000 • StyleEx: 0x00010080 • Min: False • Max: False • PID: 2224 • Path: "C:\Program Files (x86)\DisplayFusion\DisplayFusion.exe"##_##-
2018/02/07 17:13:19.9927##_##WARN:L1##_##displayfusion.exe:2224##_##TaskbarManager:TaskbarAddAll##_##-##_##Skip: Fullscreen Application Detected: [ProcessTaskbarsCallback] "C:\Program Files\Plex\Plex Media Player\PlexMediaPlayer.exe:FillsOneMonitorWindow"##_##-
2018/02/07 17:13:19.9937##_##INFO:L1##_##displayfusion.exe:2224##_##Taskbar2:SetOnTopWorker##_##-##_##Bottom [Mode: BottomForce ~ "ProcessButtons:FullScreenAny:"Qt5QWindowOwnDCIcon:FillsOneMonitorWindow":TaskbarManager:ProcessTaskbarsCallback"]##_##-
2018/02/07 17:13:20.0057##_##INFO:L1##_##displayfusion.exe:2224##_##ZOrderHelpers:PlaceAboveWindow##_##-##_##5.Reason: Taskbar2:SetOnTopWorkerSetStartButtonOnTop: Set BEHIND [313]: 0x002a0adc • Class: "CabinetWClass" • Rect: {X=142,Y=78,Width=800,Height=560} • Style: 0x14cf0000 • StyleEx: 0x00000100 • Min: False • Max: False • PID: 3276 • Path: "C:\Windows\explorer.exe" ~ Owner: 0x00020316 • Class: "DFTaskbar:fd91242c-cab2-4e53-bb99-4dad9ae1b14d" • Rect: {X=-1920,Y=760,Width=1920,Height=40} • Style: 0x96000000 • StyleEx: 0x00010080 • Min: False • Max: False • PID: 2224 • Path: "C:\Program Files (x86)\DisplayFusion\DisplayFusion.exe"##_##-
2018/02/07 17:13:21.5328##_##WARN:L1##_##displayfusion.exe:2224##_##TaskbarManager:TaskbarAddAll##_##-##_##Skip: Fullscreen Application Detected: [ProcessTaskbarsCallback] "C:\Program Files\Plex\Plex Media Player\PlexMediaPlayer.exe:FillsOneMonitorWindow"##_##-
2018/02/07 17:13:21.5328##_##INFO:L1##_##displayfusion.exe:2224##_##Taskbar2:SetOnTopWorker##_##-##_##Bottom [Mode: BottomForce ~ "ProcessButtons:FullScreenAny:"Qt5QWindowOwnDCIcon:FillsOneMonitorWindow":TaskbarManager:ProcessTaskbarsCallback"]##_##-
2018/02/07 17:13:21.5458##_##INFO:L1##_##displayfusion.exe:2224##_##ZOrderHelpers:PlaceAboveWindow##_##-##_##5.Reason: Taskbar2:SetOnTopWorkerSetStartButtonOnTop: Set BEHIND [313]: 0x002a0adc • Class: "CabinetWClass" • Rect: {X=142,Y=78,Width=800,Height=560} • Style: 0x14cf0000 • StyleEx: 0x00000100 • Min: False • Max: False • PID: 3276 • Path: "C:\Windows\explorer.exe" ~ Owner: 0x00020316 • Class: "DFTaskbar:fd91242c-cab2-4e53-bb99-4dad9ae1b14d" • Rect: {X=-1920,Y=760,Width=1920,Height=40} • Style: 0x96000000 • StyleEx: 0x00010080 • Min: False • Max: False • PID: 2224 • Path: "C:\Program Files (x86)\DisplayFusion\DisplayFusion.exe"##_##-
2018/02/07 17:13:23.0319##_##WARN:L1##_##displayfusion.exe:2224##_##TaskbarManager:TaskbarAddAll##_##-##_##Skip: Fullscreen Application Detected: [ProcessTaskbarsCallback] "C:\Program Files\Plex\Plex Media Player\PlexMediaPlayer.exe:FillsOneMonitorWindow"##_##-
2018/02/07 17:13:23.0319##_##INFO:L1##_##displayfusion.exe:2224##_##Taskbar2:SetOnTopWorker##_##-##_##Bottom [Mode: BottomForce ~ "ProcessButtons:FullScreenAny:"Qt5QWindowOwnDCIcon:FillsOneMonitorWindow":TaskbarManager:ProcessTaskbarsCallback"]##_##-
2018/02/07 17:13:23.0409##_##INFO:L1##_##displayfusion.exe:2224##_##ZOrderHelpers:PlaceAboveWindow##_##-##_##2.Reason: Taskbar2:SetOnTopWorkerSetStartButtonOnTop: Set TOP: No TopMost [1]: Owner: 0x00020316 • Class: "DFTaskbar:fd91242c-cab2-4e53-bb99-4dad9ae1b14d" • Rect: {X=-1920,Y=760,Width=1920,Height=40} • Style: 0x96000000 • StyleEx: 0x00010080 • Min: False • Max: False • PID: 2224 • Path: "C:\Program Files (x86)\DisplayFusion\DisplayFusion.exe"##_##-
2018/02/07 17:13:24.5330##_##WARN:L1##_##displayfusion.exe:2224##_##TaskbarManager:TaskbarAddAll##_##-##_##Skip: Fullscreen Application Detected: [ProcessTaskbarsCallback] "C:\Program Files\Plex\Plex Media Player\PlexMediaPlayer.exe:FillsOneMonitorWindow"##_##-
2018/02/07 17:13:24.5340##_##INFO:L1##_##displayfusion.exe:2224##_##Taskbar2:SetOnTopWorker##_##-##_##Bottom [Mode: BottomForce ~ "ProcessButtons:FullScreenAny:"Qt5QWindowOwnDCIcon:FillsOneMonitorWindow":TaskbarManager:ProcessTaskbarsCallback"]##_##-
2018/02/07 17:13:24.5460##_##INFO:L1##_##displayfusion.exe:2224##_##ZOrderHelpers:PlaceAboveWindow##_##-##_##5.Reason: Taskbar2:SetOnTopWorkerSetStartButtonOnTop: Set BEHIND [314]: 0x002a0adc • Class: "CabinetWClass" • Rect: {X=142,Y=78,Width=800,Height=560} • Style: 0x14cf0000 • StyleEx: 0x00000100 • Min: False • Max: False • PID: 3276 • Path: "C:\Windows\explorer.exe" ~ Owner: 0x00020316 • Class: "DFTaskbar:fd91242c-cab2-4e53-bb99-4dad9ae1b14d" • Rect: {X=-1920,Y=760,Width=1920,Height=40} • Style: 0x96000000 • StyleEx: 0x00010080 • Min: False • Max: False • PID: 2224 • Path: "C:\Program Files (x86)\DisplayFusion\DisplayFusion.exe"##_##-
2018/02/07 17:13:26.0750##_##WARN:L1##_##displayfusion.exe:2224##_##TaskbarManager:TaskbarAddAll##_##-##_##Skip: Fullscreen Application Detected: [ProcessTaskbarsCallback] "C:\Program Files\Plex\Plex Media Player\PlexMediaPlayer.exe:FillsOneMonitorWindow"##_##-
2018/02/07 17:13:26.0760##_##INFO:L1##_##displayfusion.exe:2224##_##Taskbar2:SetOnTopWorker##_##-##_##Bottom [Mode: BottomForce ~ "ProcessButtons:FullScreenAny:"Qt5QWindowOwnDCIcon:FillsOneMonitorWindow":TaskbarManager:ProcessTaskbarsCallback"]##_##-
2018/02/07 17:13:26.0870##_##INFO:L1##_##displayfusion.exe:2224##_##ZOrderHelpers:PlaceAboveWindow##_##-##_##5.Reason: Taskbar2:SetOnTopWorkerSetStartButtonOnTop: Set BEHIND [313]: 0x002a0adc • Class: "CabinetWClass" • Rect: {X=142,Y=78,Width=800,Height=560} • Style: 0x14cf0000 • StyleEx: 0x00000100 • Min: False • Max: False • PID: 3276 • Path: "C:\Windows\explorer.exe" ~ Owner: 0x00020316 • Class: "DFTaskbar:fd91242c-cab2-4e53-bb99-4dad9ae1b14d" • Rect: {X=-1920,Y=760,Width=1920,Height=40} • Style: 0x96000000 • StyleEx: 0x00010080 • Min: False • Max: False • PID: 2224 • Path: "C:\Program Files (x86)\DisplayFusion\DisplayFusion.exe"##_##-

• Attachment [protected]: DisplayFusionDebugInfo.zip [63,481 bytes]

Feb 7, 2018 (modified Feb 7, 2018) • #3

On the Settings > Taskbar tab, if you enable the "Allow taskbar reloading while full screen" option, does that help?

Feb 8, 2018 • #4

dgw

9 discussion posts

Hmm, seems to still happen with that option enabled. Should I have restarted DisplayFusion after changing it?

Feb 8, 2018 • #5

It shouldn't require a restart as far as I know. Could you try disabling the Start button on that taskbar? (right-click the taskbar, choose "Multi-Monitor Taskbar > Start Button > Disabled")

Feb 13, 2018 • #6

dgw

9 discussion posts

I'm cautiously optimistic that turning off the Start button on the secondary monitor has proven to be a usable workaround. Haven't noticed the taskbar appearing in front of Plex Media Player for a few hours now.

Assuming that it proves to work long-term, is there likely to be some fix implementable in a future DisplayFusion update that will let me put the Start button back at some point?

Feb 14, 2018 • #7

Ok, thanks for confirming! I'm not sure why DF is trying to move the Start button to the top, but I will put this on our list to investigate further. Is it the official Plex Media Player app that you're running into this with?

Feb 14, 2018 • #8

dgw

9 discussion posts

The official Plex Media Player app, yes. As well as various other programs that run in full screen, such as Steam games (e.g. Factorio) and Google Chrome (e.g. fullscreen YouTube/Vimeo/whatever video).

I'll keep the Start button turned off for now and await further news. And of course, if it turns out I didn't test long enough before confirming and I observe the issue again, I'll try to break the news gently.

Feb 14, 2018 • #9

I haven't been able to reproduce this here yet. When it happens, how long does the taskbar stay in front of the full screen window for?

Feb 15, 2018 • #10

dgw

9 discussion posts

Maybe a second, two at the most. Oftentimes it's even less, like instances in which only the Start button appears might last for half a second.

Sometimes it's 10, 20, 30 minutes between occurrences; sometimes, only a minute or two.

Would more detailed debug logs possibly help? It seemed like L1 didn't show that much.

Feb 16, 2018 • #11

An L2 log might help, yeah. If you could attach the full file as well, that would be great

Thanks!

Feb 23, 2018 • #12

dgw

9 discussion posts

Took a while to get it triggered again, but this should help.

Look around the line

2018/02/24 21:20:53.6263##_##INFO:L1##_##displayfusion.exe:308##_##ZOrderHelpers:PlaceAboveWindow##_##-##_##2.Reason: Taskbar2:SetOnTopWorkerSetStartButtonOnTop: Set TOP: No TopMost [1]: Owner: 0x002400da • Class: "DFTaskbar:285552ac-2747-4094-a5d3-355f2f74b975" • Rect: {X=-1920,Y=760,Width=1920,Height=40} • Style: 0x96000000 • StyleEx: 0x00010080 • Min: False • Max: False • PID: 308 • Path: "C:\Program Files (x86)\DisplayFusion\DisplayFusion.exe"##_##-

That's roughly the right time when I saw the taskbar flash on top of my fullscreen Plex window, and it follows the earlier pattern of going from

Set BEHIND

Set TOP

observed in the previous log.

• Attachment [protected]: DisplayFusionDebugInfo.zip [163,170 bytes]

Feb 25, 2018 (modified Feb 25, 2018) • #13

Thanks! That's definitely where it's happening, but there's still nothing in the log that points to why it needed to set it on top

If you disable all other programs from startup, reboot, then launch only DisplayFusion and Plex, can you still get this to happen?

Feb 28, 2018 • #14

dgw

9 discussion posts

The only non-standard background apps are Razer Synapse, Steam, Dropbox, and WhatPulse. Foreground apps usually include only Google Chrome, Sublime Text 3, and a MSYS2 (or MinGW64) terminal.

It could be a while before I'm at a point in my workflow where doing a completely clean boot is feasible, especially considering how long I had to wait to reproduce the last time I turned the Start button back on in DF's taskbar, but I'll see what I can do if nothing in that list of programs rings any bells from previous issues other users have had.

Mar 1, 2018 • #15

Ok, no worries. We're going to check into a couple of things for the next version of DF and if we need you to do that testing, we'll let you know.

Mar 5, 2018 • #16

Hello,

This issue should be fixed up in the latest beta, available here: https://www.displayfusion.com/Download/Beta. Please let me know if you still run into any trouble after updating.

Thanks!

Oct 22, 2021 • #17