Windows Emby App Startup Problem

[davidb7170 23]

I am on Windows 11 23H2, using the Windows App, current version 2.211.2.0.  I've had a sporadic failure on start where instead of initializing to the home  page, it opens up to the Emby Logo, an "emby" on an otherwise black page (see attached Emby Startup Fail.jpg). The opening animated sequence happens, then, the static window is displayed and no way to move on. If i close the window, it plays the closing animation and exits. Once it does this, it will open that same way. A system reboot does not clear the behavior. The only thing that will restore it to normal operation is to uninstall the app, re-download from the Microsoft Store and re-install. Then it works until it doesn't - sometimes weeks or days. Tonight I uninstalled, re-installed and it worked. I then reopened a few minutes later it and it again failed as described. I see from the change log, there have been multiple revisions since the first 2.xxx.x.x was released, so do I don't specifically know how many revisions I've been through since this has become an issue. I don't recall the prior version having any issues with failing to open properly or crashing. I have on seen this behavior since the new 2.xxx.x.x version. 

I thought it might need to be run as administrator, but that didn't work (see attached Emby Admin Fail.jpg), so don't have a good path forward at this point.

I have not seen this issue in the forum here, unless my search terms were incorrect... 

Please advise. Thanks,

Dave

[pwhodges 2012]

This is essentially the same as my report yesterday ("Old and new Windows client problems"), though in my case it has only ever run correctly one single time after each reinstall on my desktop.  On my laptop it has so far only once failed and required reinstallation.

I have cleaned out the registry with no effect, and tried uninstalling the old client - which I can no longer reinstall because the download has gone, so now I can only use the browser client on my main machine until the reason for this is found.

Paul

[Mahinepua 81]

If you install Emby for windows on your server PC does it load OK?

Your not using a beta server version?

It sounds like a network permissions issue.

Your on a domain? Try changing to a workgroup then back to the domain.

 

[davidb7170 23]

In my case, the pc with my Emby server is a unit I've had the issue. My other pc (without the Emby server) also has the issue. I did the uninstall re-install on my main pc last night, opened up properly. Just now, after one use last night, back to non-responsive behavior, second pc, as well. Just checked my NUC pc in another room remotely, and its Emby Theatre App took a while, but the app finally opened properly after displaying the black Emby screen for several seconds... the app on the NUC is also version 2.211.2.0. Normally in my recollection, I didn't think I ever saw that black screen prior to the opening of the home screen... All machines are on the same domain - home 1 gigabit ethernet network...

My PC's are:

the main one with the Emby server is an AMD 5700X with Intel A770 16GB GPU, 64 GB Ram, Win 11 Pro 64bit 23H2

my secondary PC - AMD 5600X with Intel A380 6GB, 32 GB Ram, Win 11 Pro 64bit 24H2

Intel NUC is an i3 with integral Intel graphic, 32 GB Ram, Win 11 Pro N 64bit, 24H2

I've just left my main PC Emby Theatre app open for about 5 or 10 minutes so far, still have the black window as I pictured above... I'll leave it "open" for a while see if it ever opens to the home screen, but kind of doubt it will....

Edited February 1, 2025 by davidb7170
misquoted version numbers

[pwhodges 2012]

2 hours ago, Mahinepua said:

If you install Emby for windows on your server PC does it load OK?
You're not using a beta server version?
It sounds like a network permissions issue.
You're on a domain? Try changing to a workgroup then back to the domain.

Yes, it works fine on the server machine; but that's a very different environment from my desktop, which is extremely heavily loaded (in terms of amount and variety of software). And yes, I'm running the beta server, as have been for years now.

Try suggesting to me a network issue that doesn't affect the browser client, the Desktop client, and the old store client, but affects the new client on the basis of how many times it has been run since installation...

Leaving the domain would render my systems unusable; I've been managing domains for nearly 30 years now, and would rather not try playing that game.

12 minutes ago, davidb7170 said:

I've just left my main PC Emby Theatre app open for about 5 or 10 minutes so far, still have the black window as I pictured above... I'll leave it "open" for a while see if it ever opens to the home screen, but kind of doubt it will....

Tried that too - didn't work.

But it is possibly interesting that we both have a domain.  I've been wondering if the client is doing some registry stuff which is not fully compatible with the domain environment in some circumstances.

Paul

[davidb7170 23]

I may have mis-spoken, I don't have a specific "domain" on my home network, basically I have a workgroup based private network gigabit Ethernet LAN and the group of pc's I have have all been sharing well between machines for many years. If something has changed my permissions between pc's, it hasn't affected file sharing or pathways between machines, so... 

Oddly, the NUC is still able to access the home screen on the app. It just went through a 24H2 preview update with no issues. Startup is slower on the NUC, goes into the black Emby screen after the initial animation for several seconds, then into the home screen. 

The App on my main PC with the Emby Server just opens with the animation, then just stops on the black Emby window with no attempt to connect to the server data. The first opening after re-install is the only one that connects up and goes to the home screen. Same with my second PC without the Emby Server. I'm getting tired of of the "microsoft shuffle" of uninstall/re-install for one use of this software. I am able to use the web browser interface, but cannot see the logs or the path to the App logs to see what they say.... 

When I close the app that is not connected to the home screen, it displays the exiting animation, as if the that part of the app is working properly...

My difference with pwhodges is I do have the issue on my Emby Server PC. As he has noted, I did not have the issue with the version prior to 2.XX

[pwhodges 2012]

I suspect the relevant common thing is actually that you also have Intel GPUs - and on your server too (my desktop has an A380, but my server has an NVidia).  Have you also just updated the drivers?

Paul

[pwhodges 2012]

I removed the A380 from my desktop and reverted to the onboard (Intel) video.  The new Emby client now works perfectly.

Later I'll try reverting to an older driver, but I have things to do before that.

Paul

[Chillout 110]

I get the black screen randomly too after the animation sequence ends but it eventually loads for me after waiting another 30 sec. I just assumed it was doing some update or something in the background.   Otherwise it works fine and havent had to reinstall or do anything.  (Win 11/23H2/Nvidia GPU)

 

Edited February 2, 2025 by Chillout

[pwhodges 2012]

Yeah, when I tried it on my laptop (an ancient Dell, no fancy video at all), it failed once, on the second try (I didn't wait for the timeout period though), but then it worked on several subsequent tries.  So I guess there's something a bit borderline in the program.

Paul

[davidb7170 23]

10 hours ago, pwhodges said:

I removed the A380 from my desktop and reverted to the onboard (Intel) video.  The new Emby client now works perfectly.

Later I'll try reverting to an older driver, but I have things to do before that.

Paul

Paul - your comments struck a note with me. You also noted Hand Brake acting oddly. I had the same issue after the most recent Intel GPU update. HB failed to render, and I had to deal with that, I was able to fix that by running HB as an Admin. 

As I mentioned, I have an Intel A770 16GB GPU in my Emby server PC, and an A380 6GB GPU in my secondary PC, and an integrated graphics with the NUC. The NUC hasn't had a graphics update for a long while, and the Emby App is working fine on that unit.

The update ran on my Intel A series GPU's was: 

Intel® Graphics Driver 32.0.101.6557/32.0.101.6262 for Intel® Arc™ B-Series Graphics, Intel® Arc™ A-Series Graphics, Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics, and Intel® Core™ Ultra Processors with Intel® Arc™ Graphics.
Version: 32.0.101.6557, Release date: January 29, 2025, Size: 1443.86 MB

Prior to the last 2 updates, the were always WHQL Certified, the last 2 were not. So as an experiment, I grabbed the most recent WHQL update: 

Intel® Graphics Driver 32.0.101.6458/32.0.101.6257 (WHQL Certified) for Intel® Arc™ B-Series Graphics, Intel® Arc™ A-Series Graphics, Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics, and Intel® Core™ Ultra Processors with Intel® Arc™ Graphics.
Version: 32.0.101.6458, Release date: January 16, 2025, Size: 1455.15 MB

After the install of the WHQL version, the Emby App operates properly, I've checked multiple openings of the app. Also, I no longer need to run Hand Brake as Admin. 

Going forward, I'm going to look closer at the update notifications, and only update when they are WHQL Certified...

Dave

[davidb7170 23]

Just closing the loop on this for the problem I had with my system:

I had reported issues with the new Windows Emby Theatre App not starting up properly, and also Handbrake having to be operated as Admin for it to work - was a result of Intel Arc GPU driver updates interacting with the Window Emby App and Handbrake. I had found the WHQL driver worked properly when later non-WHQL drivers did not.  Thought it was a WHQL versus non-WHQL driver issue. It was not. A later WHQL rated driver also had the same issues, so I rolled back to the one that worked for me. I just tried the latest version 32.0.101.6647 (WHQL Certified) Release date: March 7, 2025 and both issues were cleared properly for my system. Now, I know there's a lot of moving parts in these kind of issues on the App side versus driver sides and such, but at least for now, things are operating as they should.  I'm hoping pwhodges found a solution for his issue...

Dave

[pwhodges 2012]

I had been running with the mobo video disabled, and my monitor connected to the Arc 380.  In this configuration the new Emby client gave this problem.  What I have done now is re-enable the mobo video (Intel UHD 770) and connect the monitor to that.  The Emby client works with this just fine.  I tried first with the Arc 380 removed, but when I put it back in, with no monitor attached, Emby still worked with the UHD 770, and Handbrake was able to use the Arc 380 to encode AV1.

For some reason this combination caused some programs (Handbrake and MPC) to open very slowly - 60 seconds wait for Handbrake - but this was much improved with the latest driver from the end of Feb; I worked around that by getting into the habit of leaving Handbrake minimised instead of shutting it down.  I see there is another driver from 2 days ago, so I'll give that a whirl shortly.

Paul

[Guest]

Disabling the GPU in the BIOS will cause Windows to fail loading drivers. Do not do this. 

If you're using Windows 11, just choose which GPU the software will use and don't let Windows decide. 

[SLMK 19]

I regularly get this failure to start on my system, although I generally find closing and reopening the app works.

In my case the app is on the same PC as the server: W11, ryzen 2700x, GTX1050ti.

[Luke 42077]

Hi, we're looking into this. Thanks for reporting.

[frankmb 41]

I am also seeing this failure to start the new Windows app. It has been happening regularly since the first release of the new Windows app. I just kill the process in Task Manager and start the app again to get it going.

[Greg1977 0]

 

 

Im having the same problem with the new windows Emby theater app. Every 3rd or 4th time the computer comes out of sleep and I try to start Emby I get the black screen with the Emby logo. I have to go to task manager and end process to get it to open, sometimes I have to do it twice. I do notice task managers show Emby running 8 processes before I end them. I never had an issue with the old non windows app. Please fix this its sounding like a known issue.

Edited April 17, 2025 by Greg1977

[Luke 42077]

3 hours ago, Greg1977 said:

 

 

Im having the same problem with the new windows Emby theater app. Every 3rd or 4th time the computer comes out of sleep and I try to start Emby I get the black screen with the Emby logo. I have to go to task manager and end process to get it to open, sometimes I have to do it twice. I do notice task managers show Emby running 8 processes before I end them. I never had an issue with the old non windows app. Please fix this its sounding like a known issue.

Hi, we are looking into this. Thanks.

[nicko84 71]

On 4/17/2025 at 2:55 AM, Greg1977 said:

 

 

Im having the same problem with the new windows Emby theater app. Every 3rd or 4th time the computer comes out of sleep and I try to start Emby I get the black screen with the Emby logo. I have to go to task manager and end process to get it to open, sometimes I have to do it twice. I do notice task managers show Emby running 8 processes before I end them. I never had an issue with the old non windows app. Please fix this its sounding like a known issue.

+1

It's random and only one solution : kill Emby task...

[kjsanders86 1]

+2 Having the same issue.  Happening on the Play Store Android Emby version but same results.  Screen times out, and after a few minutes, try to come out of sleep and (if Emby was the main app) get a black screen.  Only solution is to go to Home, Settings, Apps, Emby, Force Stop, then re-launch.  Other apps (say Victron connect) operates correctly.

Happy to check settings or other wise support getting this fixed.

thanks,

 

 

[softworkz 5066]

Let's try to get this sorted a bit.

First of all: @kjsanders86you do not have the same issue! This is about the Windows app and even when you see the same symptoms with the Android app, it's still not the "same issue". Please post in the Android forum

 

@nicko84 - @frankmb - you are saying it happens randomly?

When it happens, does a running process (Emby.Client.xxxx.exe) already exist? (even when invisible)

Are you using the Download/Sync feature?

 

@Greg1977You say it happens when resuming from sleep and you see existing Emby.Client processes. 

Were those processes already running when entering sleep mode? And was the Emby app visibly running when entering sleep?

Are you using the Download/Sync feature?

 

Thanks

[pwhodges 2012]

I still occasionally see the black screen with Emby logo, usually just after a reboot (today it didn't happen to the stable version, but then did to the first run of the beta).  I wouldn't say that it happens after every reboot, even.  But I can always still close the app normally, unlike the reports above - I don't use sleep, so that may be the point.

Paul

Edited April 26, 2025 by pwhodges

[frankmb 41]

As far as I can tell it happens randomly. Not very frequent lately.

I don't use Download/Sync

What to do you mean by does a running process (Emby.Client.xxxx.exe) already exist?  

[frankmb 41]

Emby Windows app is stuck during loading just now:

Alt-tab then right-click the Emby icon on the task bar -> Close window shuts down Emby. I saw the shut down animation with horizontal lines meeting in the center