Cool Tools, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

Windows 10 Keeps PowerToys ComPal Error

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On April 10, I blogged about how a new release of PowerToys (v0.90.1) apparently fixed a “Class not registered” error for the Command Palette from the previous version (v0.90.0). Alas, while ComPal (as I like to abbreviate this tool) is now rock-solid on my Windows 11 PCs, it’s still throwing errors after restart on my sole remaining Windows 10 desktop. That’s why my title here reads “Windows 10 Keeps PowerToys ComPal Error” — you can see the aftermath in Reiability Monitor as the lead-in screencap above.

Why Windows 10 Keeps PowerToys ComPal Error

Look at the screencap. Notice the Problem Event Name is “MoAppCrash.” This means a Modern App (aka UWP app, usually an MS Store App of some kind) has crashed. In this case it’s the PowerToys Command Palette user interface (MicrosoftCmdPal.UI.exe). Copilot says common causes include faulty, outdated app versions, corrupt system files or missing dependencies, conflicts with Windows updates, and issues with DLL files. My bets are on conflicts with Windows updates and/or issues with some DLL needed for ComPal to run.

I just tried to access ComPal on the affected Windows 10 machine. At first, it refused to respond to its shortcut (WinKey+Alt+Space) for related settings, But when I disabled, then re-enabled ComPal itself, that capability woke up and started working. So did the utility itself, without any easily discovered limitations.

What about Windows 11?

I have — and see — no such issues in Windows 11. So I’m forced to speculate that this is just a Windows 10 hiccup of some kind. Fortunately, once I disable, then re-enable ComPal, everything seems to work fine. There’s obviously some kind of minor gotcha at work, but it’s easy to get around.

Isn’t that just the way things work sometimes, here in Windows-World? Fortunately, even when the path to success isn’t automatic, or even a straight line, a small dogleg often does the trick. And so it was this morning…

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Chasing Intel esrv_svc.exe

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Looking over my various Windows PCs and Reliability Monitor reports after a week away, I stumbled across an interesting — but not unexpected — APPCRASH. It’s got me chasing Intel esrv_svc.exe, to learn what it does, and see whether or not it’s serious. TLDR version: runs various Intel update facilities; no, it’s not.

Where Chasing Intel esrv_svc.exe Takes Me

According to MS Answers,  esrv_svc.exe is related to a bunch of different Intel update checks, including:

  • Intel Driver Update Utility
  • Intel System Usage Report
  • Intel Energy Checker
  • Some of the Intel PROSet Wireless Software
  • Sony VaioCare

The error itself is tied to item number 2 (but that shows up only on the initial ReliMon report page as “Intel(R) System Usage Report”). That said, I also use the drive update utility (as part of Intel Driver and Support Assistant, aka Intel DSA) and the PROSet Wireless software (on most of my Lenovo laptops, in fact). I couldn’t have run  DSA on or around the error date of 5/2/2025, because we were out of town. So it was some kind of scheduled task, running on its own.

FWIW, Reddit also ties this kind of error to the Intel telemetry program (aka Intel Computing Improvement Program, which scrapes and sends Intel-related event info back to the company for capture and analysis).

Is There Cause for Concern?

AFAIK, despite this APPCRASH error, there’s no cause for concern around this executable. It’s involved in managing communications with Intel. Such to-and-fro appears to be either update- or event-related and not critical to proper PC operation. I’m going to follow Elsa’s lead from Frozen  and just “let it go” into the great bit bucket beyond the confines of the cozy little world here at Chez Tittel.

Here in Windows-World, it’s good to let go when you can. I’ll concentrate on stuff that poses real problems or indicates actual trouble of some kind. This one looks like just another hiccup to me. Plenty of those around here, for sure!

 

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OhMyPosh Upgrade Needs WinGet DB Reset

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Something interesting just popped up in Windows Terminal. Literally. Upon starting Windows Terminal, I got a notification from OhMyPosh that it was updating to the latest version: 25.21.0. So I closed WinTerm and re-opened it to run WinGet upgrade –all — include-unknown. As you can see in the intro screenshot, WinGet went ahead and updated OMP again anyway. When I asked Copilot why this happened, it explained that an OhMyPosh upgrade needs WinGet DB reset so it is forced to rescan all currently installed packages. A restart makes that happen automatically, BTW.

Why OhMyPosh Upgrade Needs WinGet DB Reset

When Windows Terminal has been up and running already, WinGet doesn’t refresh its current package data through a simple open/close operation. Instead, users must run the following WinGet command to force that to occur (again, a restart has the same effect):

winget source reset --name winget --force

This tells WinGet to rebuild its list of local (that is, currently installed) packages. After that running an update check won’t show OhMyPosh in need of updating anymore. I checked this out on another test PC and indeed this approach works. Good to know!

ICMYI: A Quick Intro to OhMyPosh

Many readers will recognize OhMyPosh (OMP) as “the way” to snazz up the command line in Windows Terminal/PowerShell. For an inkling of what this looks like using developer Jan De Dobbeleer’s own unique theme, look at the top and bottom of the intro graphic. It shows glyphs for (from left to right):

  • the current login account (ed) and folder icon
  • execution time for most recent command (0 ms)
  • battery status (power connector against green means “good”)
  • current environment = PowerShell (pwsh)
  • current time = 10:33:08 (time of screen capture)

The last two items in the preceding list show up at right, the first three at left, on the command line. For all items shown, and a whole bunch more OMP offers users a plethora of themes. It also provides good documentation and “source code” (JSON markup, actually) for all of them. Users can even create their own custom themes. I’ve written an intro and how-to story about OMP for TekkiGurus, but that site is now defunct. Find it via this WayBack Machine link. Enjoy!

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Dev Home Leaving Soon

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I’ve been away on a family trip to Boston. Upon returning to my desk this morning, WinGet brought a Dev Home update to the Lenovo P16 Mobile Workstation (see lead-in graphic). “Hmmmm,” I thought, “Isn’t Dev Home leaving soon?” Indeed it is, as per MS Learn as you can see in the next screencap.

With Dev Home Leaving Soon, What’s Next?

Good question! In the afore-linked MS Learn item, MS announced last January that Dev Home would be discontinued in May, 2025. I’ve been “staying tuned” for more info since then, but so far such info has not been forthcoming.

Well: May is here and I still can’t find anything new about Dev Home’s impending retirement. Ditto for which features will be preserved and where within Windows they’ll show up. Of the tools that Dev Home brings to the Windows party, these are the ones about which I’m most curious:

1. Support for ReFS volume creation in Windows 10 and 11.
2. GitHub connection with repos for access to tools and packages.
3. The Hosts File Editor and Registry File Editor utilities.
4. Consolidated view of development projects via its dashboard.

In January, MS dropped the first shoe to warn developers (and other interested parties) that Dev Home would be yanked in May 2025. Now that it’s May, the silence while waiting for that next shoe is nearly deafening. All I can say is: “Please give us a clue or two, Microsoft: where are the best bits of Dev Home going to wind up?”

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RDP Strangeness Requires Dogged Pursuit

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There have been plenty of reports about weird Remote Desktop access issues and Windows 11 of late. Search Google for “RDP issues with Windows 11 updates” to see what I mean. Until this morning, I remained blissfully beyond that fracas. Then I had to jump through a bunch of hoops to RDP into my Lenovo ThinkStation P3 Ultra. Indeed, overcoming this RDP strangeness requires dogged pursuit, as I will now explain. By which I mean: I’m again able to use the Remote Desktop Connection (RDC, aka mstsc.exe) to get into that machine.

Overcoming RDP Strangeness Requires Dogged Pursuit

I considered this as a kind of real-time troubleshooting exercise. Here’s that I did to get my connection working:

1. Opened RDC using the plain vanilla machine name: TSP3Ultra. RDC couldn’t find it.
2. Used Advanced IP Scanner (AIS) to scan my LAN and show me the currently active machine names in use. Tried TSP3Ultra.lan instead, then also tried TSP3Ultra-4314.lan. RDC couldn’t find either one.
3. Used AIS with a right-click to run RDC directly against its IPv4 address (192.168.1.249). RDC still couldn’t find it — this almost always works, so I knew I had a real problem, not just a naming issue.
4. Rebooted the TSP3Ultra, and tried again. It came up with a different IPv4 address this time (192.168.1.99) and RDC worked via a new machine name AIS showed: TSP3Ultra-5815.lan.

I’m now successfully remoted into the previously inaccessible PC, and glad of it. My next move would have been to start uninstalling recent WU updates, one at a time, until things started working again. I’m glad I didn’t have to take things that far.

What’s Causing Remote Desktop Strangenesses?

I wish I could say definitively. All I can do is to point at the changing names for the target device that AIS shows me over time. That makes me thing something interesting is up with machine name resolution on my LAN. Copilot says machine names of the form <name>-nnnn.lan occur when NetBIOS name resolution seeks to resolve conflicts arising from duplicate names.

We can see the IP address changed upon reboot, so I’m thinking it relates to IP address leases that change over time. The machine name, of course, stays the same, but when the IP address changes the DHCP server has to give the same device a new auto-generated name to avoid conflicts from the still-present (but expired) address in the name table.

I’ve witnessed that such things age out after 24 hours or so. Then the plain machine name will work with the new IP address unadorned. It’s just another thing to love about Windows networking, and the occasionally strange behavior of network names and addresses. Thus, it’s wise to prepare for your own dogged pursuits when that happens!

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Why Restart Guarantees WinGet Upgrade

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OK, then. Yesterday I blogged about seeing no upgrade to WinGet until after a PC restart. It turns out that is indeed one way — but not the only way — to ensure that WinGet will upgrade itself from one version to the next. In this case it was moving from Version 1.25.340.0 to 1.25.390.0.  Why did I restart? Because I closed, then re-opened Windows Terminal several (3) times with no intervening change in WinGet versions. Thanks to feedback from WinGet team lead Demitrius Nelon and Senior Software Engineer John McPherson, I now know why restart guarantees WinGet upgrade. I also know why a restart may not be needed, and about possibilities for upgrade hangups. Let me explain…

Here’s Why Restart Guarantees WinGet Upgrade

Thanks to an invitation from the development team, I’m a member of an MS Teams chat called “WinGet Community.” I posted info about my observations and a link to yesterday’s blog there, and got some useful and interesting information from the aforementioned folks that provide a pretty detailed explanation of what I experienced, and why it happened.

First, here’s how Demitrius responded to my report and inquiry:

Hey Ed (Guest), when WinGet is updating “packaged” applications (MSIX Installer), it’s using deferred registration. It may take a few moments for the registration to complete before WinGet is updated (App Installer package) when WinGet is the thing currently running updates . That means WinGet essentially needs to completely finish what it’s doing before the delayed registration happens. A reboot which requires a user to log in (and that triggers the “registration” part of the MSIX lifecycle) will ensure all MSIX packages are up to date. In some cases there may be a few second delay when winget upgrade –all was used to update WinGet itself.

I’ll talk with the team to see if there is a reasonable way to diagnose this a bit better, and if the performance is suffering, we might need to look into some other “special” handling for this specific scenario.

We were hoping to avoid any logic in WinGet like “if package == foo” then do something special.

In some cases, a user may be actively running an MSIX package GUI based application. WinGet could upgrade the package to a newer version, but it wouldn’t be applied until the currently running instance was restarted.

That’s why the message is “Restart the application to complete the upgrade.”. We just don’t know if the application is running or not. In the case of App Installer / WinGet, a user could be in the middle of installing a sideloaded application which also could have it “tied up” from having the latest version registered for the user.

Restart application should not mean “reboot”. Some applications specify a reboot is required, and that’s when WinGet would display “reboot required”.

So essentially, what Demitrius is saying is that WinGet waits until all other pending package updates finish before allowing its own registration to change and its own update to complete. I was probably not waiting long enough for all the pending items to complete. That said, he also explains cases where such completions might not happen until (or rather, after) a restart occurred.

And Then, There’s a COMplication possible…

John McPherson observes further that:

Note that all packaged processes must terminate for the next process launch to then register the new version.  So any outstanding COM objects keeping the server alive will block that.  This could be due to PowerShell cmdlets and the GC not running due to no memory pressure.  Or it could be other services on the machine using COM.

So it appears there could be stuff running in the background that might stymie WinGet’s own auto-upgrade. Thus, it sounds like a restart is a reasonable workaround if and when WinGet attempts to upgrade itself, reports success, but the version number doesn’t increase. Waiting isn’t an unreasonable thing to do, but if the wait gets too long, a restart will force the WinGet upgrade to go through.

Thanks, guys, for the great information and explanations. It’s good to know what’s going on behind the scenes when WinGet handles multiple updates in a single go. In yesterday’s case, 5 items were upgraded, including WinGet itself, but also OhMyPosh, Teams, WinScript, and more. Of that batch, I’m pretty sure WinScript has interesting COM connections. Thus, I can speculate that the old three-fingered-salute (a restart, in this usage) resolved a stuck situation. As the old saw goes: “There’s no school like the old school.”

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Can Restart Application Mean Reboot?

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I found myself asking the query posed in this blog post title after updating WinGet (aka Microsoft.AppInstaller) inside Windows Terminal this morning. Why? Because a routine WinGet Upgrade fielded an update to its own self (see lead-in graphic). Then it advised in yellow to “Restart the application to complete the upgrade” as shown. I did so, but it didn’t help. Indeed the upgraded version (see next screencap) didn’t appear in Windows Terminal until I rebooted the test PC. That’s why I pose the query: “Can restart application mean reboot the PC?” Mebbe so…

Can Restart Application Mean Reboot?
Can Restart Application Mean Reboot?

Why Say: Can Restart Application Mean Reboot?

I raise the question because restarting Windows Terminal did not advance the version for Microsoft.AppInstaller from 1.25.340.0 to 1.25.390.0. But a reboot of the test PC, and a subsequent check of that app’s version number did produce the desired result (see above). What else should I wonder after such a turn of events?

Just to make sure I checked the App info for Windows Terminal after running WinGet to see if it somehow stays active after it’s been run. Nope: here’s what I see:

No evidence of lingering WinGet/MSAppInstaller here.

For the moment it looks like the WinGet team has fixed the issue with strange self-update behavior. It now sends a message to restart the application instead as shown at the head of this blog post. The only way I could switch from the old to the new version was through a reboot, though. I’ll have to ask Demitrius Nelon if that’s the way it’s really supposed to work. Stay tuned!

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Explorer AppHangB1 AppHang81 Gotcha

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Whoa! Things are getting pretty esoteric. Via Reliability Monitor, I just got caught in a File Explorer AppHangB1 AppHang81 gotcha. But first, let me explain that following last Fall’s cataract surgery, I can’t see the fine print without my reading glasses anymore. I cheerfully confess I can’t see the difference between the “B1” and the “81” parts of those Problem Event Names in ReliMon unless I put my glasses on. So I have to laugh.

Overcoming Explorer AppHangB1 AppHang81 Gotcha

I looked up the error code — which I initially read with the “81” suffix — using Copilot. I immediately wondered why it had two paragraphs about the same topic (see below). Then it hit me: I needed better visual acuity to see and understand what Relimon and Copilot were trying to tell me.

Upon closer examination “8” and “B” are close, but NOT the same!

Once IDed, It’s Neither Scary nor Well-Lit

Further research into these AppHangB1 and AppHang81 errors isn’t terribly helpful. From what I can tell, this happens sometimes and may or may not be fixable using standard troubleshooting techniques:

  • Apply pending updates
  • Run System File Checker (sfc/scannow)
  • Disable Third-Party extensions (NirSoft ShellExView is a common culprit)
  • Try a clean boot
  • Check Event Viewer for more details

If the error kept recurring, I might be inclined to go to such lengths. But over the entire ReliMon window (30 days) it’s happened exactly once, 10 days ago. I’ll keep an eye out. If it happens again, or starts to repeat, I work my way through that standard sequence. Right now, I’ll treat it as a one-off and scratch my head.

Looks like I need to remember to don the old reading glasses when trying to decode fine-print info like ReliMon’s error details. I’ve got the screen jacked up to 125% magnification but sometimes, that’s not enough. Is this the OS’s way of telling me that Windows 10/11 is “no country for old men?” I hope not…

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Correlating KB Items and DISM Package IDs

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Here’s an interesting situation. I was reading on Neowin this morning that MS has fixed a Windows 10 issue that caused BSODs on some systems (not mine, thankfully). To find or uninstall such an item, one must use DISM. But DISM deals in “Package Identity” strings, not in KB article numbers (e.g. KB5057589, as in this case). Surprisingly, correlating KB items and DISM package IDs turns out to be vexing and tricky. Indeed, this SuperUser thread more or less confirms what I quickly figured out. That is: the only datum both items have in common (using Update History for KB items and DISM Get-Packages for PkgIDs) is their install date/time.

Fortunately, what I was seeking showed up dead last in the Get-Packages output in PowerShell/Windows Terminal. As you can see in the lead-in graphic, it’s the only item whose install date matches that for KB5057589. But there’s no inherent correspondence with its PkgID: Package_for_WinREServicing~31bf3856ad364e35
~amd64~~19041.5728.1.1. What to do?

More On Correlating KB Items and DISM Package IDs

I figured there might be a PowerShell script (or something similar) already available to establish this correlation. AFAIK, nope! I thought that Copilot might be able to write me such a script. Nope again: it wants to look for the KB item ID inside the PkgID. You can see from the foregoing item (or by looking at installed updates using DISM Get-Packages) that this just ain’t so.

It looks like the only way to put all this together is to install the PSWindowsUpdate module, then use its built-in Get-WuHistory cmdlet. By writing that to a file, and then doing likewise with output for DISM Get-Packages, it should be possible to use matching date strings for KBs from the former with the “Install Time” attribute value from the latter to find and document matches.

Another Project for My List

Now that I know what I must do, I need to figure out how to do it. That will make excellent fodder for another blog post. As soon as I find the proverbial “round tuit” I’ll put that together and post it here. In the meantime, it’s nice to see that the obvious path to success (looking for the KB item ID inside the DISM PkgID) isn’t the actual path to success. Here in Windows-World, that’s all too often the case. I’m glad it keeps me entertained. I hope you feel likewise.

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E-mail Link Cynicism Is Well-Considered

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I’ll admit it: I’m a cynic when it comes to emails that ask me to follow a link to verify something. If somebody asks for verification unsolicited, I believe by default that request is malign. So when an email showed up asking me to verify my account to keep my email server going, my first instinct was “Heck NO!” And, as the NordVPN link-checker immediately confirmed , my instincts are good. It pops up instantly as a phishing site. Skepticism is spot on, and e-mail link cynicism is well-considered — at least IMO.

Check to See if E-mail Link Cynicism Is Well-Considered

If in doubt, check the link at a third-party site. NEVER click a link from an unknown sender. If you’re incurably curious, do it from a sandbox or VM you can blow away if something bad happens. The important thing is to think about what’s in your inbox, how it got there, and how it might bite you.

Here’s what the NordVPN site says. It’s great advice so I’ll repeat it verbatim:

Got a suspicious email or text? Check the link before clicking — it will significantly reduce the chances of you falling for a phishing attack.

When in doubt, check. If you can’t check, don’t click: wait until you can (or delete the email). If it’s really important and legit, the sender will resend and you’ll get another opportunity to recheck what’s going on.

Reverse Lookup Mojo

Indeed, if you are concerned about a reported issue or account problem, it’s much safer for YOU to visit a known, good, working vendor site to check on status. Amazon is a good example: I can’t tell you how many bogus SMS text messages I’ve gotten on my cell that ask for Amazon account details to confirm things, because I delete them as soon as they appear. As a matter of policy Amazon does not request sensitive info (passwords, credit card data, etc.) via SMS, though they do report  order and delivery status that way.

Be smart when you respond to emails. If there’s any doubt, open your own link to a trusted vendor and check things from your end. If you don’t recognize a sender asking for sensitive info, don’t respond. This is a case where doing nothing is exactly what’s right — and safest.

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