[Urgent] Unable to run 2 EXEs at once

Hello,

Just upgraded to ExeOutput 2024.2.0, compiled 2 different projects. Now I cannot run both those EXEs at the same time - only one of them can run at a time.

Notes:
  1. They are completely different projects with different application GUIDs.
  2. None of them use DevTools.
  3. Either of these apps can run just fine when the other app is not running - just can’t run them both at once.
  4. When one exe is running and I try to open the other exe, the latter just gets stuck at “Just a moment, please…”. See the image below:

This is probably some kind of chromium issue - I have noticed that even when running a single app, sometimes there is a popup window with href “about:blank” like this image:

image

This blank popup happens when I launch the exe, but does not happen every time.

I have also tried disabling “Only one instance of application can be run at a time” - the issue still remains.

Until now, I had been using ExeOutput 2021.0 and it was working well so far. I could run many exes at once without any issue.

Now one of my clients recently updated Windows on their PCs so EXEs compiled with v2021.0 do not work anymore. I just renewed my ExeOutput Licence to use v2024.2.0, and was instantly disappointed.

@gdgsupport Please look into this and provide a fix ASAP. My client is stuck with an updated windows version and 2 updated apps that can’t be run together.

Thanks!
 

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Thank you for this report!
Indeed, there was a change in CEF that is responsible for this problem.
We made a temporary fix until the next official release.
If you are OK, you can download it here:
https://download.exeoutput.com/tmp/EXORun20243a.7z
and unpack it to a local folder.
Then, go to the “CEFRuntime” subfolder of your ExeOutput installation folder. Overwrite the EXORun.dat file with the provided file from the 7z archive.
Restart ExeOutput and build your project again.
This is only for ExeOutput 2024.2.0, latest CEF.
Please keep us informed. Thanks again.
 
Overwrote EXORun.dat file with the one you provided here, compiled both appas again but the issue persists.

After opening either one app first, the second app gets stuck at “Just a moment, please…” screen.

Although the “about:blank” popup does not appear anymore.
 
Update:

Also tried with CEF v109 (support for Win7) in both apps, with and without the patched EXORun.dat file - the issue persists.

It seems that the “Just a moment, please…” issue might be related to ExeOutput v2024.2.0 itself and not CEF.

Please guide further - I just want to be able to run 2 apps at the same time on latest windows - it doesn’t matter which CEF or PHP version I have to use.
 
But do they share the same Application GUID? Because we cannot reproduce the issue with the fix provided. Different EXE files can start together fine.
 
Good morning.
I have the same problem launching the same exe twice. The error ‘unexpected launch error 9’ comes out and after giving ok ‘exception EInOutErrorin module intranet.exe at 000398EE. Unable to create directory [.]’. After that it opens chromium and if I write heserver in the command bar it opens the web application.
This does it with the latest version of chromium. If I use the one compatible with win 7 it does not do it.
 
Try the solution here:
1_2.png
[Urgent] Unable to run 2 EXEs at once ExeOutput for PHP
Thank you for this report! Indeed, there was a change in CEF that is responsible for this problem. We made a temporary fix until the next official release. If you are OK, you can download it here: https://download.exeoutput.com/tmp/EXORun20243a.7z and unpack it to a local folder. Then, go to the “CEFRuntime” subfolder of your ExeOutput installation folder. Overwrite the EXORun.dat file with the provided file from the 7z archive. Restart ExeOutput and build your project again. This is onl…
 
But do they share the same Application GUID? Because we cannot reproduce the issue with the fix provided. Different EXE files can start together fine.
I think I found the problem. I was using the old .exop file (i.e. already existing exop project file with the latest ExeOutput). I created a new project from scratch with the exact same settings from existing project, and then this issue was resolved. I guess at least some part of the old .exop files is not compatible with the latest ExeOutput version? Or else, it could be a conflict with the existing CEF data (cache or whatever) and the latest CEF we are using with ExeOutput - because creating a new project from scratch also created a new App GUID so the new CEF data/cache is now stored to a different location.

However, I still sometimes find a popup appear at EXE app startup (as shown in the main post of this thread) - but instead of it being "about:blank", it now displays the EXE homepage (i.e. https://heserver).

Also sometimes the app homepage fails to load and just shows "Unknown PHP Error: a call to an OS function failed". This happens completely randomly and is usually resolved after I fully build the app again.

Note that I am already using the EXORun.dat patch when these issues happen (popup / PHP error thing).

Anyway, the issue of not being able to run 2 different EXEs at once is now resolved.
 
Or else, it could be a conflict with the existing CEF data (cache or whatever) and the latest CEF we are using with ExeOutput
It's more a conflict between the old and new CEF data. Because ExeOutput project format itself hasn't evolved for a very long time now.
"Unknown PHP Error: a call to an OS function failed"
Does it occur with a specific PHP version? Which one are you using?
 
Also the random popup issue still remains - you can see the main app window (maximized) in the background, and the same index page in an unwanted popup on application startup. (Using latest CEF 131.3.5 with EXORun.dat patch and PHP 8.4)

1743470085653.webp
 
Also the random popup issue still remains
I found how to reproduce this issue - and why it happens:

When the app unexpectedly crashes, the next time we open it the "Continue where you left off" setting kicks in and shows the previously open tab(s) which is the app homepage.

Upon visiting chrome://settings/onStartup we can see that "Continue where you left off" is checked by default.

1743471613463.webp

Steps to reproduce the issue:
1. Open an exe app created with ExeOutput
2. Kill it from task manager (thus simulating a crash, preventing graceful shutdown)
3. Open the app again. You will see the main app window as expected, plus another popup showing the same page which is "where we left off" before app crash.

Possible solution is to manually change this setting, but there is another issue here -
1. If we set it to "Open the New Tab Page" then close the app normally, this setting works well (i.e. no popup anymore).
2. But once we crash kill the app from task manager, this setting somehow reverts back to "Continue where you left off" and the popup issue gets back.

Is there a commandline argument switch that we can use to permenantly disable this "Continue where you left off" setting?
 
Thanks for the follow-up and this discovery!
Maybe you can try to add this command line switch:
Code:
--disable-restore-session-state
 
There is another switch to try: --disable-session-restore
If it still does not work, we'll have to debug this ourselves.
 
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