Windows 11 Alt+Tab stops displaying apps on the secondary display when using DisplayFusion

Jesus Pedrosa1

121 discussion posts

What the title says. I want to use the Windows 11 native Alt+Tab, but if DisplayFusion one is set to "Disabled", the Windows 11 native one doesn't show any apps from the secondary display...

Same for Win+Tab. If DisplayFusion is loaded, it only shows the windows of the Primary display.

May 19, 2022 (modified May 19, 2022) • #1

Jesus Pedrosa1

121 discussion posts

DisplayFusion Alt+Tab works like ass. I'm trying to Alt+Tab to Chrome, and instead of bringing the Chrome window to the front, it just keeps flashing on the taskbar... wtf is this behavior?

May 19, 2022 • #2

Hi Jesus,

When you have Alt+Tab disabled in DisplayFusion, do you also have the taskbar mode set to "Windows taskbar shows all windows, DisplayFusion shows relevant windows"?

What version of Windows 11 are you currently running as well?

Thanks!

May 19, 2022 • #3

Jesus Pedrosa1

121 discussion posts

Quote:

I have "All taskbars show relevant windows"

Windows 11 Insider Build 25115, but happens with any previous version I tried since maaaany months ago.

May 19, 2022 • #4

Jesus Pedrosa1

121 discussion posts

Even if I totally disable Multi-Monitor taskbar the DF Task Switcher keeps doing that stupid taskbar flashing thing instead of bringing the selected app to the forefront.

May 19, 2022 • #5

Hi Jesus,

For the Windows AltTab, it will only be pulling from the Windows taskbars, which means if you have your taskbars showing relevant windows, anything on the non-primary taskbars won't appear. Changing your taskbar mode to "Windows taskbar shows all windows, DisplayFusion shows relevant windows" should fix that up.

For the button flashing, do you have "SetWindowPos: Disallow TopMost Calls" enabled in the DisplayFusion Advanced Settings?

Thanks!

May 20, 2022 • #6

Jesus Pedrosa1

121 discussion posts

Quote:

For the button flashing, do you have "SetWindowPos: Disallow TopMost Calls" enabled in the DisplayFusion Advanced Settings?

I had it enabled, but disabled it 2 days ago and made no difference. Still the same behavior: apps like Chrome, Rambox or Total Commander keep flashing on the taskbar but they do not come up to the forefront.

May 20, 2022 (modified May 20, 2022) • #7

Could you send me 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

Thanks!

May 24, 2022 • #8

Jesus Pedrosa1

121 discussion posts

Quote:

Could you send me 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

Thanks!

Here is the file, and here is a recording of the behavior: https://youtu.be/Od62hQZlXn0

This happens ONLY with DisplayFusion's Alt+Tab replacement. Both Windows 11 Alt+Tab and Classic Alt+Tab (forced in WinaeroTweaker) work ok.

• Attachment: DisplayFusionDebugInfo.zip [118,137 bytes]

May 26, 2022 (modified May 26, 2022) • #9

Thanks for sending that over. Could you also send me a backup of your settings? You can grab them in the DisplayFusion Settings > Options tab, using the "Export Settings" button.

Thanks!

May 27, 2022 • #10

Jesus Pedrosa1

121 discussion posts

Quote:

Thanks for sending that over. Could you also send me a backup of your settings? You can grab them in the DisplayFusion Settings > Options tab, using the "Export Settings" button.

Thanks!

There it goes.

• Attachment [protected]: DisplayFusion Backup (2022-05-27 @ 18-38, 9.9.99.116, PC1, SettingsWindow).reg [830,534 bytes]

May 27, 2022 • #11

Thanks for sending that over. I tested this on my end with a normal Windows 11 build, and the Windows 11 insider build, but I can't seem to reproduce this on my end.

Do you have any other 3rd party applications that deal with window management that might be interfering here?

Thanks!

May 30, 2022 • #12

Jesus Pedrosa1

121 discussion posts

Quote:

Thanks for sending that over. I tested this on my end with a normal Windows 11 build, and the Windows 11 insider build, but I can't seem to reproduce this on my end.
Do you have any other 3rd party applications that deal with window management that might be interfering here?
Thanks!

Nope. I don't have any other 3rd party window management app. And if I Exit DisplayFusion both Win11 and classic Alt+Tab work ok, why would that be?

I tried shutting down every single program that was loaded in memory, even basic stuff like mouse drivers, and it didn't make any difference...

Restarting Explorer doesn't fix it either.

But signing out and signing in again does...

Jun 6, 2022 (modified Jun 6, 2022) • #13

I'm stumped on this one! How long does it take after signing back in before this issue happens?

Jun 7, 2022 • #14

Nekron

15 discussion posts

Having same issue, w11 shows all windows in alt tab screen when i unload DF as soon df is on it only shows main screen apps in alt tab

enabling "Windows taskbar shows all windows, DisplayFusion shows relevant windows" does "fix" issue but its not viable fix since then i have all taskbar icons for apps that are not open on main screen

Apr 18, 2023 (modified Apr 19, 2023) • #15

Jesus Pedrosa1

121 discussion posts

I ended up having to use VistaSwitcher ( https://www.ntwind.com/freeware/vistaswitcher.html ) which although it's not that pretty... at least *it works*.
It's amazing how a software from 2012, when Windows 10 didn't even existed still works perfectly in Windows 11, where modern solutions do not.
It even works better than their own proposed current alternative, Alt-Tab Terminator.

Apr 19, 2023 (modified Apr 19, 2023) • #16

Nekron

15 discussion posts

Workaround i found to be "working" is to go to registry to this location HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer and then add dword AltTabSettings with value 1 and reboot pc, it chances alt tab to old one without window previews but at least it shows apps on all screens not just ones from default one

Apr 20, 2023 • #17

Jesus Pedrosa1

121 discussion posts

Quote:

That solution doesn't work anymore in Insider builds, so it won't work in future Windows releases either. Microsoft totally removed the option to use the old task switcher.

Apr 20, 2023 • #18

Nekron

15 discussion posts

Lets hope they fix this issue in DF by time that build goes to live then

Apr 21, 2023 • #19

@Jesus: I noticed in the troubleshooting info that you have UAC disabled. I think this may be Windows causing issues due to uiAccess permissions. Would you be able to try enabling UAC on your system, then launching DF normally (not forcing as administrator) and send me a new copy of the troubleshooting info?

Apr 21, 2023 • #20

Jesus Pedrosa1

121 discussion posts

Quote:

Here you go. I always disable UAC because it is an unuseful pain in the ass.
My user is an Administrator, but I don launch DF in any special 'administrator' mode.

• Attachment [protected]: DisplayFusionDebugInfo.zip [54,064 bytes]

Apr 21, 2023 (modified Apr 21, 2023) • #21

Jesus Pedrosa1

121 discussion posts

[delete]

Apr 22, 2023 (modified Apr 22, 2023) • #22

Jesus Pedrosa1

121 discussion posts

It may be UAC. Haven't seen the effect since I enabled it, but haven't tested it for a long time. Had to disable UAC again because it's honestly a pile of M$ crap, always interrupting any user activity and asking for stupid confirmations for everything.
Can you make this work without UAC?

Apr 22, 2023 • #23

Thanks for confirming! We've added this to our list to look into further to see if there's anything we can do there.

Apr 24, 2023 • #24

Nekron

15 discussion posts

Quote:

Any solution for latest stable w11? enabling UAC does not resolve the issue on winver 22621.1555

Apr 24, 2023 • #25

Jesus Pedrosa1

121 discussion posts

Quote:

Any solution for latest stable w11? enabling UAC does not resolve the issue on winver 22621.1555

I don't think we have the same problem. Mine is that selected app when doing Alt+Tab does not come forward, its button flashes on the taskbar and that's it.

The best I can suggest is for you to try VistaSwitcher. It's very configurable, works great and it's faster than DF's Alt+Tab.

Apr 24, 2023 • #26

@Jesus: We have a fix for your issue coming in 10.1 Beta 3. It will work when switching from Win32 apps to any app, but we can't work around the issue for switching from UWP apps. Windows won't allow us to do the focus change if the currently focused app is a UWP app when it's not running elevated with UAC.

@Nekron: You've found the workaround for your issue. Windows de-registers app windows that don't have buttons on the Windows taskbar, so when DF is set to "All taskbars show relevant" and a window is on the second monitor, its button is removed from the primary and Windows will no longer show it in Alt+Tab.

Apr 25, 2023 • #27

Jesus Pedrosa1

121 discussion posts

Quote:

Amazing. I don't think I use any UWP apps, so it's all good. 👍

Apr 25, 2023 • #28

@JesusPedrosa1 We've released a new beta with some changes that might help here, can you try it out and let me know if the issue persists?

May 3, 2023 • #29

Jesus Pedrosa1

121 discussion posts

Quote:

@JesusPedrosa1 We've released a new beta with some changes that might help here, can you try it out and let me know if the issue persists?

Will test it and report back. So the problem is that DisplayFusion is not running elevated if UAC is disabled, even if my user is an Administratror. Is there any possible way to run DisplayFusion elevated with UAC disabled?

May 4, 2023 • #30

If you do "Run as administrator" then it's elevated, but there's a special permission called "uiAccess" that the process can only get if these three conditions are met:

UAC is enabled
DF is signed with a valid code-signing cert (it is)
DF is installed and running from either "Program Files" or "Program Files (x86)"

In your case, it's the first one that's preventing it from obtaining uiAccess and there's no way for us to work around that.

May 4, 2023 • #31

Jesus Pedrosa1

121 discussion posts

Quote:

If you do "Run as administrator" then it's elevated, but there's a special permission called "uiAccess" that the process can only get if these three conditions are met:

UAC is enabled
DF is signed with a valid code-signing cert (it is)
DF is installed and running from either "Program Files" or "Program Files (x86)"

In your case, it's the first one that's preventing it from obtaining uiAccess and there's no way for us to work around that.

Well, it seems to be working now. Good job, guys! 👍

May 9, 2023 • #32

Glad to hear it!

May 9, 2023 • #33

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Windows 11 Alt+Tab stops displaying apps on the secondary display when using DisplayFusion