Plex player Windows: no visible window

Plex Players Desktop Players
1

Server Version#: 1.24.3.5033
Player Version#: Plex-1.35.1.2632-c6783c78-x86_64

Some weeks ago, I noticed that, when I try to start the Windows Plex Media Player app, even though a window showed up in the Task Bar, no window was visible on the desktop. In other words, even though the process seemed to be running, there was no visible window that I could find.

It used to work just fine.

I do usually run two additional monitors from the laptop via a Thunderbolt dock, but the window isn’t on any of them. I most likely had situated the window on one of the external monitors the most recent time in which the app worked.

This problem is there now whether I have the laptop on its own or connected to the Thunderbolt dock.

I’ve now tried it both with this current plex player version and the previous one.

When I open the Windows Task Manager, the Plex process shows two C++ Application Development processes and the PLex one.

This is on a Dell XPS 15 (2020) laptop, where the server is running on a Dell desktop machine where the media is stored on a network attached Drobo.

I can connect to the server via Plex.tv (though it says that it’s only connected indirectly–that might be a matter of Xfinity’s current gig+ router and their Xfinity security, and a separate issue), and I can play videos via Plex.tv’s Launched player on that same desktop.

I do often run the windows and dell update checkers and do the updates as they come up, so this issue could have come up after one of those updates…or it might have been a Plex player update.

I’ve installed, uninstalled, and re-installed the player app, rebooting in between. So far, no changes in getting a visible window anywhere.

What else might I try in order to get this working?

Thanks!

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Mine does this too, and I usually get it back by following the steps from the link here:

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The Windows-key + arrow key idea was promising, but it turned out not to work for my laptop.

A separate idea that that inspired, however, did work, to wit–with the laptop currently connected to a different, single external monitor (and it would probably work with the laptop as the only monitor):

  1. With the Plex app started and in the task bar (but with no visible window), hover my mouse cursor over the Plex taskbar button/icon. This calls up a thumbnail of the currently-not-visible window.

  2. Right click on the thumbnail to get a context menu

  3. From the context menu, choose Move. This lets the arrow keys move the window. (Notably, the windows key + arrow key combos do not seem to work in this mode.)

  4. Gambling on the fact that, in my normal multi-monitor setup, the laptop is the left-most monitor in the monitor configuration, I used the left arrow key, pressing it over and over. Eventually, the Plex window did shift into view, apparently from beyond the right edge of the screen.

So, there it is! While the windows-key + arrow key combo didn’t work for, me, the underlying problem does seem to have been the same–that the window was just somewhere off-screen–even off-screen relative to the multiple monitors when they were all connected. I’m not sure where that off-screen location would be in that normal monitor setup (left-to-right: laptop screen - external monitor - external monitor).

Cheers to @WilhelmStroker for his response that led to finding this solution!

1 Like
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Maybe because it actually is
Windows + Shift + arrow

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