PowerToys: [Run] PowerLauncher.exe is NOT running when PowerToys starts

As first thing, please verify that PowerToys.exe is running but PowerLauncher.exe is not:

• open the Task Manager
• go to the Details tab
• scroll the list until you find PowerToys.exe, if PowerLauncher.exe is running, it will appear above PowerToys.exe.

If PowerLauncher.exe is present, please go to https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/9018 that is the issue tracking the problem when PowerLauncher.exe is running but not responding to the shortcut key.

To help investigating why PowerLauncher.exe doesn’t start, we have a test build (see the zip file attached below). Note: this test build contains improved logging, and one fix that may help for this specific problem.

IMPORTANT: it’s an unsigned private build, you may not be able to install it if your computer is managed by your company.

To run the test, follow these steps:

• uninstall the current installed version of PowerToys (your settings will not be deleted)
• unzip the attach zip file and run the PowerToysSetup-0.0.1-x64.exe installer, you will be presented with a security dialog, click on More info and then on Run anyway

• after the installation has completed, make sure PowerToys.exe is running and PowerLauncher.exe is not running (using the Task Manager)
• open the PowerToys Settings and verify that PowerToys Run is On

• if it is Off turn it On, if it was already On, turn it Off and back On again.
• close the PowerToys Settings
• open the Task Manager and verify again if PowerLauncher.exe is running or not.
• if PowerLauncher.exe is running but still not opening when the shortcut key is pressed, you are now in the case tracked by https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/9018 and you don’t have to do the following step
• if PowerLauncher.exe is not running, open a command prompt and run “%PROGRAMFILES%\PowerToys\Tools\BugReportTool.exe” (the double quotes are important) That will create a zip file, on your desktop, named like this PowerToysReport_2021-01-04-12-02-08.zip that contains settings, log files and other system configurations to help debugging the problem. You can drag and drop the zip file in a GitHub comment.

IMPORTANT: after you’ve posted the zip file, please reinstall 0.29.3 https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/releases/download/v0.29.3/PowerToysSetup-0.29.3-x64.exe Even if the test build worked for you and PowertToys Run was opening, make sure to reinstall 0.29.3 because the test build is not a stable release and it will not notify you when the next stable build is released.

EDIT: I’ve updated the test build with more logging.

PowerToysSetup-0.0.1-x64-unsigned.zip