While working with RDM another window comes to foreground

Hello,

You seem to experiment some inconsistent focus issue. I would like to inform you that we cannot reproduce this issue on the great majority of computers, but have nonetheless decided to refactor that technology. We were still using a MDI interface and have started removing it to resolve the focus issues that we may have in RDM. This will be available in RDM 13.

We have a beta version of RDM 13 if you would like to test it. You can download the zip file and deploy it in a folder like C:\RDM. You can download this beta release here https://remotedesktopmanager.com/Home/Download#Beta

Please note that a database upgrade is required if you want to use this version. You may want to consult this article prior to the upgrade
https://help.remotedesktopmanager.com/database_upgrade.htm

Best regards,

Hi Jeff

Thanks for the fast reply. Will locally test the beta, but not for our production environment.

When will v13 be released?

Best
Udo

Hello,

RDM 13 should be release very soon, but I cannot provide you an exact date since our engineering department is working hard to release it.

Best regards,

Hello Udo,

Have you already upgraded to the 13-version, and is this issue gone or does it still happen ?
I have just upgraded our environment, and tested today, and apparently we still encounter the same issue, it's hard to say, but maybe less than before.

Greetings,
Chris

Hi Chris

Not yet - I'm not updating to a x.0 version too early :-) But as 13.0.5.0 is out a few days we'll update the next days. I'll give some feedback after.

Best
Udo

Hello Udo,

to make it more visible, I have even made a screencapture Video and I even documented with some extra text-balloons what is happening on the screen.

P.S. This video was created with the older version 12.5.10 software, but after the upgrade I have the same issue with the 13 version.

Greetings,
Chris

Hello All,

I have searched a bit further, and I noticed we were still using the "Legacy" Theme as User Interface. This is probably because we are using RDM already a long time (from the version 10), and each time we did an in-place upgrade.

I have now switched from "Legacy" to "Office 2016" Theme for the User Interface, an apparently this solves the issue where the RDM-application 'flashes' away and you have the possibility to activate another application that was running 'behind' the RDM-application.

I will evaluate this in the comming days, let's hope this solves this issue.

Greetings,
Chris

Hi Chris

Thanks for the input. I checked that setting and we're using the Default. I switched to Office 2016 to see if it helps.

Cheers
Udo

I did some potential fixes with Legacy theme. This will be in the next minor update.

Regards

Hello David,
I noticed you mentioned "next minor update". Is this the version 13.0.6 ?
Last weekend we updated our production-DB from version 12.x to 13.x, and I updated our master-image of our Citrix-farm to this version 13.0.6.
So yesterday (Monday) I worked a whole day with this 13.0.6 version and I used the "Office 2016" Theme, and I noticed a few times the "flashing"-issue. I must say i think it's less than in the version 12.x, but I hoped it would been solved...

Greetings,
chris

Hi,
Indeed it was supposed to be fixed. It could be helpful if you could find some patterns to reproduce it. I will continue on my side to verify few things in the meantime.

Regards

Hello David, and others

I have even switched back to the 13.0.5 version, but both versions (13.0.5 and the 13.0.6) still have this same issue, from time to time the RDM-application jumps somewhere to the background, making it possible to activate another application and bring that application to the foreground if you click at that split second.
I cannot find the exact trigger, so I cannot reproduce it.

This is an annoying issue, and I'm desperately seeking to find what triggers this behavior.

Keep us updated if there are things we can test.

Greetings,
Chris

Could it be when a session disconnect or close in background?

Regards

Hello,

Is there any news on this ?
As I mentioned in my last posting here, the issue is still there.
And I can't figure out what exactly is triggering this. So David, I'm not sure, and I don't know how I could test this, but I don't think that a diconnect or re-connect of another session is causing this...

What could we do to gain progress in this matter ?

Thanks and greetings,
Chris

@Chris Marreel,

What version of RDM are you using?

Have you tried RDM 13.0.8.0?
https://remotedesktopmanager.com/home/download#Beta

Best regards,

Hello Jeff,

After you requested the RDM-version, I have upgraded from the version 13.0.6 to the version 13.0.8 as you suggested, but still the same issue. From time to time when you are working in a remote desktop session the RDM-application switches to the background, leaving another application in the foreground, and from time to time you click such an application and then this application stays in the foreground. This is annoying !

What are the next steps we can take ?
Have you seen the MP4-video I have uploaded to this forum-message a few months agoo ? You can still see it, I think it is the 7e reply to the original message of Udo.

Thanks,
Chris Marreel

We're still on 13.0.3.0, but still with the same effects.

Hi,
We will continue to investigate. Let us know if you have more clues. Just a quick question. Which application stay in the foreground?

Regards

I would say the last active one. Because when the last one comes to foreground and I minimize it, the next time RDM changes another app comes to foreground.

Udo

Hello David,

I have just tested this. And it's the application that is 'just behind' the RDM-window. In other words in the very short term the RDM-flashes away, I see the exact same applications as I see when I minimize the RDM-application.

As my day-to-day work as a system-admin consists of 90% working in RDM manipulating remote (Windows) servers I work almost continuously with RDM as a maximized published application on our Citrix XenApp-infrastructure. This way I can sit wherever I like, as long as I have internet-connectivity I can access my RDM-application in the datacenter of our company. And from there I have remote VPN-connectivity (limited to ports 80, 443 and 3389) to all our major customers.

so from time to time the RDM-application "flashes away" and from time-to-time I have activated another outlook or firefox window that stays in the foreground, and then I need to click in the RDM-application again to bring that window back to the front.
So it's not life-taking, but it's annoying.

Greetings,
Chris

Hello Devolutions-team,

Any news on this issue ?

I must say I have seen the exact same issue with RDM running as a local application on my laptop, all of a sudden I had another application that was activated on the foreground because I clicked in this application just at the moment the RDM flashed away.
But running on citrix the issue is of course a lot worse probably because it takes a bit more time during the sort time the RDM-application flashes away, so there is more time to click and activate another application.

What are the next steps we can take to make progression in this issue ?

Udo, do you have extra input ?

Greetings,
Chris Marreel

Chris

No new input - for me it seems a little bit better. But some days I'm working a lot with RDM, others less.

We're on 13.0.6.0

Best
Udo

Hello,

We found a pattern to reproduce the issue, we are now investigating the issue.

Regards,

Hello Alexandre,

This sounds good news !
Feel free to post here an update or send me an e-mail if you have a new version we should test. At the moment we are still using the version 13.0.14.0, but we are planning to upgrade in the next weeks to a newer version (with a database upgrade).

Keep us posted.
Greetings,
Chris

Hi again,

What I found is most likely to be a symptom of the issue, seems to happen when RDM does not have the focus and closing a modal window after tabbing from another app. I just have a couple of questions for some of you.

Any of you use the legacy / classic UI ?

Do you remember just closing a window when the issue apeared?

If so which window?

Best regards,

Hi,

We found multiple window that can result in external app taking the focus.

It most likely happen when RDM is out of focus when a Modal window is opened, then switching between app and closing that modal window.

A good example is using the *test connection* feature while editing a datasource, then switching between RDM and outlook and closing that prompt.

Unfortunately we think the issue sit with the operating system itself since we're not recieving any call when troubleshooting.

We're only guessing what could cause the issue at this point so were going to need some time.

The informations of this post should give you enough knowledge to help you avoid this annoying issue for the time being.

Best regards,

Hello Alexandre,

So a quick answer to your question "use the legacy / classic UI ?" :
We use the "Default (menu)" as User Interface and selected the "Office 2016"-Theme.

But the situation we encounter is realy during the working in a remote desktop session then, from time to time another application is popping in front of the RDM application for a very short time, but if you were clicking just at the moment the other appliation comes to the foreground, or the RDM-application is switching to the background, then that application gets the focus and stays on top, so you first need to click back in the RDM-session to continue with your work.

See my forum-post of 7 months agoo in this thread. There is an MP4-attachment, there you have a nice short video showing the exact problem we and Udo are encountering. I have put some extra comments in the video what is going on, so this show exactly the issue.


As I mentioned in the beginning of this formum-thread, we are using the RDM-application via a Citrix-platform as a 'published application' (aka 'remote app').

Thanks for keeping us updated.
Greetings,
Chris MARREEL

Hello Chris,

I see what you're talking about now. Looks like citrix reciever takes the focus off of RDM. I don't think RDM is the issue in that specific case though. I've found an issue about citrix published desktop randomly loosing focus on this thread here and one of the customer seems to have fixed his issue.

I also found other post where people seems to be annoyed by citrix reciever randomly minimizing full screen app but no solutions came out of it.

Maybe the first post can help you out fixing your issue?

Best regards,

I have been seeing the same issue for 6 months now through various upgrades. It is only RDM that behaves this way and not all Citrix app I have launched. Currently on 13.6.7 and I know I'm just going to be told to upgrade like I was 6 months ago with no results. Unless someone has a known problem/solution no need to reply to my comment. #dealingwithit

Hi Richard and others,

I think I can give some interesting feedback.
A few weeks agoo we did an update from the 13.6.7 to the version 14.1.1. And with this update we started using the the 64-bit version and no longer the 32-bit version. And we allso switched from the Classic UI to the "Ribbon" User Interface, and we started using the "Office 316" Theme, and we switched from offline-caching-methode.
So a lot of changes, and allmost all at the same time.


And we notice that this strange issue is disapeard. So I don't know exactly which change solved our issue with the RDM-application that is jumping behind another application. The most important is, that is behavior has disapeard...


I hope you can give some feedback once you have upgraded your version.

Greetings,
Chris.

Hi Chris,

Thank you for your feedback and the steps you did to "solve" the issue.

Furthermore we had customers who use RDM as Remote App (Windows publish app similar to Citrix App) and one of these steps solve this issue.

I hope theses information could help you.

Best regards,

Thanks guys for the feedback. Apologies for the delay in my testing as I have been on leave for a few weeks. I have tried all that you suggested except the offline-caching setting as I can't seem to find it or perhaps it's just worded differently. Unfortunately I still experience the issue.

-14.1.3 (Have always been using the 64bit)
-Ribbon UI (which seems to be the default as I didn't have to change it)
-Office 365 (which seems to be the default as I didn't have to change it)
-I did set the Disable tree list DirectX optimization
-Auto Refresh was already set to 0
-RDM is installed for all users

Chris, are things still working for you?

Since switching to the 64 bit version I have published in Citrix, things do appear much better although I have only tested for 1 day. The only time I get this issue now is when I reconnect to a RDP session which is very tolerable. As long as I am not navigating and clicking when it happens, I am happy. Thanks for all the suggestions and I will update this thread if anything changes.

Hello,

Thank you for your feedback!

If there is anything else we can help you with, please let us know.

Best regards,

I am still seeing it but not as much after switching to the 64-bit version of the .exe. One thing a colleague and I have noticed as it seems to only happen when I am RDP'ed into a 2016 server. Can anyone else confirm that this is the only time they see this?

Could you record the issue and send us this recording at ticket@devolutions.net

With the video it will be easier for QA department to reproduce it.

Regards,

We are currently having the same issue even after following the steps above.

Running version 14.1.3.0.

Any updates?

Hello,

Many windows issues have been fixed in RDM 2019.x, could you please test our latest version?

Be careful if you are using a team data source, updating to RDM 2019.x requires a database update which could cause issues if the old version of RDM is used.

Best regards,

Thank you, i'll give it a shot. Hope it fixes it!

No joy - still the same issue. Upgraded to the latest version yesterday.

Hello Support,

Could you please send us an email at ticket@devolutions.net and we will look to perform a remote session to see the issue.

Best regards,