Roon keeps freezing and crashing on Windows (mostly when resuming from minimized) [Solved After Roon Build 1302]

just thinking, it started with ARC, can you make a version without ARC??

It started way before Roon ARC.

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The lack of support really worries me.

maybe i’ll go with the server. it installed quickly, but now it needs to restore the roonbackup. when the roon app crashes, then the server will go on i presume.

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ok. now i have 2 roons, the app and the server. i restored the app-backup in the server, restarted the server, disconnected the core in the app, now i can choose the server and the pc, choose server and the core is the server, not the app. it should give more stability, i presume.

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Just installed a new computer with new everything with Windows 11 and Roon is still freezing. This has been going on since JUNE 2021! See my original thread below.

And still no satisfying support. Not even a recent response to this thread.

It was a big hassle to split in remote and server. I think it was the communication with the roon headquarters that had big problems to adjust to the new situation of my roon setup. At the moment that functions well. When the music plays, it keeps on playing, the freeze is not in the server, as I did expect.

The freeze is the Windows screen.

I’ve had an issue several times after a backup at the first initialize/connecting part.

The hassle usually comes just after the restore from backup completes and RoonServer restarts… the Roon.app stays running and (i don’t remember exactly what it says but…) it just waits…, and so do you. Well… DON’T WAIT! I found that if you quit Roon and leave the server running, then relaunch Roon the process of setting up and connecting to the newly imported backup continues smoothing.

On Windows 11, also dealing with Roon freezing whenever I minimize the window. Been dealing with this issue for months. None of the fixes work. I try to always alt-tab away, but sometimes I accidentally minimize and of course the interface freezes until I close/reopen the app.
I actually bought a used iPad just so I can control Roon without frustration… Hopefully a fix for Windows is forthcoming.

Roon freezes here on win 11 as well.

I just can’t understand there is no response from Roon, at all.

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Hey fellow Roonies,

Are you tired of constant freezing, stalling, and even crashing? What if I told you that, for the low low price of $99.99.99, I’ve developed a patented formula to rid your problems for GOOD!?.. (I’ll see myself out).

Ok, but for real, I was annoyed enough by this same issue that I found the thread, tried a few solutions, and likewise none of them worked. In an exercise of lateral thinking, I’ve found an easy-peasy work around that has been functioning perfectly for a few days here. I emphasize that this isn’t a solution to the core problem, but a functional side-step.

Here we go: Try opening a second desktop, which is a function built into Windows 11. There should be an icon built right in to the taskbar that looks like a square overlapping another square. Dedicate this second desktop exclusively to Roon; you can even enter full screen mode. Now you can switch between your ‘main’ desktop and your ‘Roon’ desktop by pressing win+ctrl+left or win+ctrl+right. You can also hover over or click the ‘square over square’ icon again in the taskbar to switch.

You can further on this if you want, like I did because I’m a nerd, and bind those shortcut keys to something else to make it even more convenient. For example, I bound the ‘forward’ and ‘backward’ buttons on my mouse (usually located where your thumb rests) to be the win+ctrl+left and win+crtl+right command… So now I only have to tap those two buttons with my thumb to instantly switch between Roon and the rest of the universe.

I tested this for a few days before posting here to make sure it works. I’m happy to report that there are absolutely no freezes or crashes, nor are there even any minor stalls when focusing back to Roon… even if I switch over after an hour or two of having not focused on it. This is, of course, true for my particular hardware, and may not work equally as well for others – not sure, but worth a try!

Why I think this works, and what gave me the idea in the first place, is that the core problem appears to be a resource management conflict between Windows and Roon. Windows must allocate it’s resources differently between multiple desktops than it does for minimized apps within the same desktop. I’m imagining that Windows is trying to shave off allocated memory and processing power while Roon is minimized, sort of putting it into a light sleep mode… or at least trying to. This may work with most apps, where Windows will fully re-allocate necessary resources immediately when they are re-focused… but Roon must function in a way where it doesn’t like to be ‘put on ice’ so to speak, and rather relies on a stable amount resources. Interestingly, the playback always worked fine while Roon was minimized, and it wasn’t until we tried to maximize and re-focus that the freezing occurred… this suggests the issue is tied to the GUI and graphics rendering, perhaps. I don’t know really – just spitballin’ here based on what I’ve observed.

Anywho, I hope this helps a few people here. I have a Paypal account where I will gladly accept contributions for all my hard work… whew! (kidding again, and now I’ll see myself out for real).

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O.M.G.

Will give this a try!

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Or, run Roon in a Window. That works too.

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You mean like I suggested last Sept.

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So you’re saying you want royalty fees, or a cut of my $99.99.99 profits? I don’t know, did you officially file a copyright? I’ll have my lawyer call your lawyer. :laughing:

In seriousness, credit to you for finding the workaround before me… I didn’t mean to steal your thunder! I just hadn’t read through the 500+ posts, and figured I’d share what I found this week since people are still actively posting about it. It might be good to repeat it anyways, because I would imagine most newcomers wouldn’t read the full thread either.

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I think this thread should at least pin to the top.
Though, I have already saved it to bookmark on my browser :slight_smile:

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Roon Core Machine

Windows 10, Latest Updates

Networking Gear & Setup Details

Motherboard MSI internal

Connected Audio Devices

DAC via USB

Number of Tracks in Library

about 50.0000

Description of Issue

Playing titles/album with Roon and then minimizing the window to be able to engage with other programs. In maximizing the Roon window again - Roon is crashing. The alternative behaviour of maximizing the window again is that Roon first freezes and after a (sometime quite long) while continues being receptive. The ratio between crashing and freezing is roughly 1:4. Browing through previous reported challenges in this forum the same behaviour seems to be experienced with similar/other settings since quite a while. I would really appreciate if the Roon support team can find ultimatively a permanent positive solution.