[Openvpn-users] OpenVPN GUI - Disappearing System Tray Icon.

[Colin Ryan]

I know I've posted this before, but never really got any feedback last
time. The only reference I can find on this
is reference to some debug version of the client from quite a while back.

Currently running GUI 1.0.3. Occasionally without any real determinable
association with any particular application, the Open-VPN GUI system
tray icon is pushed off the system tray. The problem is then that the
ovpn.exe process behind the scenes is left running, causing an error if
the user tries to start GUI complains that process is already running,
or that Tap32 adapters are all in use. A reboot or task manager kill of
the underlying process is required ( a bit of a pain for an end user).

My question again is does anyone else see this issue and is there a know
resolution.

Thanks

Colin

[Rob MacGregor]

Post by Colin Ryan
My question again is does anyone else see this issue and is there a know
resolution.

I haven't seen that under XP Pro SP3 (32 bit) or Vista Ultimate SP1
(64 bit or 32 bit). Unfortunately you forgot to say which version and
patch level of Windows you're running ;)

[Colin Ryan]

Wide deployments, I'd think I'd be accurate in saying I've seen this on
XP Pro, Sp2, 3 and Vista SP1, but I'd admit it's a "by memory statement"

...I'll try to pay a closer attention ;-)

Post by Rob MacGregor

Post by Colin Ryan
My question again is does anyone else see this issue and is there a know
resolution.

I haven't seen that under XP Pro SP3 (32 bit) or Vista Ultimate SP1
(64 bit or 32 bit). Unfortunately you forgot to say which version and
patch level of Windows you're running ;)

[Colin Ryan]

Post by Colin Ryan
Wide deployments, I'd think I'd be accurate in saying I've seen this on
XP Pro, Sp2, 3 and Vista SP1, but I'd admit it's a "by memory statement"
...I'll try to pay a closer attention ;-)

Post by Rob MacGregor

Post by Colin Ryan
My question again is does anyone else see this issue and is there a know
resolution.

I haven't seen that under XP Pro SP3 (32 bit) or Vista Ultimate SP1
(64 bit or 32 bit). Unfortunately you forgot to say which version and
patch level of Windows you're running ;)

I can confirm that I have seen this on win xp - sp2 and 3, as well as
vista (business) a with and without sp1.

Whew...glad to know it's not something I'm smoking. So to the point,
does anyone at least understand why this occurs. I was not aware of any
WinAPI regarding prioritization of sys-tray icons, and have no knowledge
of a limit, and it's not like the gui.exe is actually dead, if it was
then the problem would be more livable by not requiring a process kill.

Colin

[Rob MacGregor]

Post by Colin Ryan
Whew...glad to know it's not something I'm smoking. So to the point,
does anyone at least understand why this occurs. I was not aware of any
WinAPI regarding prioritization of sys-tray icons, and have no knowledge
of a limit, and it's not like the gui.exe is actually dead, if it was
then the problem would be more livable by not requiring a process kill.

I take it you're not talking about Windows hiding icons that haven't
been used regularly, but that the icon is completely gone? Do any
other icons also vanish - ie, has explorer crashed and been restarted,
requiring apps to re-register to appear in the tray.

[Mathias Sundman]

Post by Colin Ryan
Whew...glad to know it's not something I'm smoking. So to the point,
does anyone at least understand why this occurs. I was not aware of any
WinAPI regarding prioritization of sys-tray icons, and have no knowledge
of a limit, and it's not like the gui.exe is actually dead, if it was
then the problem would be more livable by not requiring a process kill.

This is a known but rare problem with OpenVPN GUI. In some cases it seems
like explorer (which owns the tray icons) is restarted or for some other
reason tray icon registration is droped.

This is something the application (OpenVPN GUI) should be notified by the
OS about so it can re-register the icon. OpenVPN GUI DO catch the normal
case when explorer is killed or restarted and successfully re-registers
the icon, however there seems to be some other unhandled cases where the
icon is droped which OpenVPN GUI does not currently catch.

I've not been able to reproduce the problem my self, so I havn't been able
to solve it, though I've seen it happend occationally for a few of my
customers.

I even think someone sent a patch for this problem long time ago, so if
you who did that are still reading this list, could you please re-post the
patch?