This is crazy. So many good quality modern laptops use snapdragon processors (microsoft surface, Dell xps, Acer aspire etc) . I have been unable to search since I bought the laptop last year and still it isn’t fixed.
It may be appropriate to indicate that this hardware is actually not supported - in contrast to what your formal hardware spec says https://help.roonlabs.com/portal/en/kb/articles/faq-what-are-the-minimum-requirements#Recommended_Hardware
Hi everyone,
Thanks for your patience on this one. We’ve been digging into the invisible search text issue, and we have a working theory specific to ARM-based Windows machines (Snapdragon Surface devices and similar laptops).
The short version: on these machines, Windows renders part of Roon’s interface through a translation layer that these machines need since they don’t support OpenGL natively. That layer appears to be painting over the small text box you type into, so the text, cursor, and highlight all end up hidden underneath the rest of the interface, even though typing and pressing Enter still work normally.
We’ve put together a test build that changes how that text is drawn on affected machines, so it should no longer get hidden:
https://storage.roonlabs.net/f/f3c5927e298a49d9b77fe1232c380609/RoonInstaller64_2026197011.exe
One thing to expect on this build if you’re on an ARM machine: you may not see a blinking cursor or a blue selection highlight while typing, that’s expected, not a new bug. The text itself should still appear as you type, and everything else works as normal.
Please install the test build, click into the search bar, and type a few words (even if you can’t see them), then press Enter. Please do this two or three times, then let us know here as soon as possible, along with roughly what time you did this.
If you can now see what you type, please let us know, that confirms the fix. If text is still invisible, please still send the logs as described above, they contain detailed diagnostic information that will help us pin down the actual cause even if this particular fix doesn’t resolve it for you.
Thanks again for bearing with us on this.
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Thanks, @vadim. That works as you describe (no cursor, but text is displayed). Tested at 11:12 CET
Thanks @vadim-- I installed the test build and it works as described! Very nice to see search text again. Is it okay to keep the test build installed?
You did it. Thank you - working as expected. What a difference - and I very much appreciate the opportunity to test.
Working both on search text box and in the audio device set up display name edit.
(And search remains fast for me)
Hi @Ross_Rabin,
The test build won’t update automatically, so you’ll eventually need to reinstall the main version of Roon. Since this fix appears effective, it will likely be merged into an upcoming public update anyway; no reason not to keep the test build installed until that time.
Thank you again for taking the time to test this and for your diligent reporting.
Hi everyone,
This fix is proceeding through the pipeline. Keep an eye on the Early Access software release notes category, where we’ll provide details once it’s included in a public-facing update (rather than the APK we provided for those who reported problems in this thread).
From there, the fix should be included in a future Roon production update.
We’re happy to answer any questions. Thank you!
UPDATE: 2026-08-04 Roon 2.71 and ARC 1.81 are Live!
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Will I need to switch to early access or can I continue with this APK until it works through that evaluation process.?
Hello @peter_richardson ,
If the APK is working for you, yes, you can continue to use it until we release our next Roon version.
Hello @connor – will you post on this thread when the invisible text fix is available in a public update?
Note in the 2.71 release this is listed as a “potential” fix. It’s working for me on my surface pro.
The new 2.71 release fixed the invisible text issue on my Lenovo Snapdragon X Plus PC. Thanks to all!