XYPlorer Beta 28.30.0.100 (64 bit) Will Only Launch With Elevated Privileges

[robertoleonardo]

Hi - When I updated from 28.20.0604 to 28.30.0.100 (64 bit), xyplorer would no longer launch without elevated privileges. And now, even after downgrading, it remains unable to launch except with admin privileges. Have tried on two machines -- both worked fine immediately before upgrading and stopped working immediately after. Both machines are on windows insider 26220.8138. Scaling is 150% (5120x2160 resolution monitor).

Neither shortcuts (whether saved on desktop, start menu, or taskbar) nor clicking the exe directly works without admin privileges. once i select run as admin on the shortcut or set the exe to always run as admin, both start working fine.

For now, no big deal to just have it set to always run as admin, but just wanted to flag the issue.

Thanks!

Scaling: 150% (5120x2160 resolution monitor)
Windows version as of 4/3/26: 26220.8138

[highend]

Installed or portable versions, XYplorer data path is?

[robertoleonardo]

oh, right, sorry i should've included that. installer version. data path is the standard 64 bit path -- %appdata%\xyplorer64.

i should also mention:
(1) i tried to no avail a full uninstall and reinstall, including removing the data folder, the program files folder, and any registry trace i could find
(2) when i first noticed the issue, i ran a search of the registry for the old 32 bit paths (as i only upgraded to the 64 bit version in the last couple of months) and i did find some errant references to the old data/program files paths in the registry. i was hopeful that was going to be the issue, but those old references were cleared out when i did the reinstall and, even with them goneand xyplorer reinstalled from scratch, the issue persists.
(3) both my own user account and the administrators accounts have full permissions on the program files and appdata folders and all files / subfolders within.

[jupe]

What do you mean it won't launch, like if you check taskmanager is there a Xyplorer task in there, or you double click the exe and absolutely nothing happens?

[robertoleonardo]

when i click the taskbar shortcut, i get the little underline glow like it's loading, but after a second or two it just disappears -- no hung process left behind. when i click the exe directly from file explorer (or the start menu shortcut, or any other non-taskbar shortcut), i don't get the glow at all. But however i try to launch without elevated permissions, the process does show up in task manager for a few seconds and then just dies and goes away.

and by the way - i edited my prior comment (before i saw you'd already responded to my last one) to remove the comment about it now working on my second machine. i just checked again and it's still not working there, either. when i briefly had it working last night, i didn't realize but i was clicking a shortcut that was set to always run as administrator. but now that i've unchecked that again -- same issue on that machine as well.

[robertoleonardo]

interesting datapoint -- i just downgraded again to 28.20.0603. when i ran the lnk from my taskbar after downgrading, still didn't work. but when i clicked the exe directly that first time after downgrading - it gave me the 'you are downgrading..' notice ... when i clicked past that, it did load successfully. and i checked in task manager -- it was running unelevated. however, after i closed that instance and tried again, it was back to it not loading. so something about how it launches when the downgrade message is involved made it work, but the normal startup process is crashing it.

i've tried all this with totally clean settings and am hitting the same issue, so i don't think it's a configuration issue, per se.

[jupe]

If you need to save settings first do so, then try running this script in admin XY,

exit 'nru';

it'll trigger a restart, interested to see if it succeeds.

[robertoleonardo]

yep - that does successfully restart and the restart unelevated. it doesn't help with subsequent attempts to run it unelevated directly, but at least now i have a workaround to get an unelevated instance if i really need it -- thank you for that.

[robertoleonardo]

i just did a deep dive..this is from claude so take it with a grain of salt, but sounds plausible to me:


- Windows Insider build 26220.8138+ breaks unelevated launch
- Crash in ntdll with c0000374 (heap corruption)
- Works elevated, crashes unelevated
- Started with the March 31 Insider update
- Both 28.20.0604 and 28.30.0100 affected

so it sounds like it's mostly an issue with insider build which, of course, is a risk i take on the insider builds. i'll just wait and try again in a few weeks with another few xyplorer updates and a new insider build.

[jupe]

In the Windows Insider build you are running they have been messing around with Admin stuff, not sure if that could be related.

https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insid ... a-channel/

edit: Oops you and Claude beat me to it.

[robertoleonardo]

must be that -- and yep, that's just the cost of doing business with betas.

for now, i'll just save that exit nru; script you gave me. can just use that if i really need an unelevated instance (which is rare). otherwise, i'll just launch it with an admin shortcut for the next few weeks and will try again without elevation once i see a few new xyplorer builds and a new insider build.

so i'm good for the time being -- really appreciate you taking the time to help me troubleshoot!

[robertoleonardo]

FYI - the newest insider build seems to have fixed this issue. i'm back to normal again. appreciate the assist