Solved [Crash] [v7] [Windows 11] Browser instantly closes since update

mangelucci

Hello!

I have raised VB-110785 and attached the crash logs - multiple ones.

I updated the browser earlier in the morning yesterday and it worked...then suddenly, at around 7pm, it started crashing.

It is currently unusable.

Things I've tried:

Restarted the browser >>> no joy
Restarted the computer >>> no joy
Opened Incognito window >>> IT OPENS
Tried to open settings >>> a blank window opens and I have to close it via Windows preview tile.
Tried to open extensions page >>> opens in non-incognito, so it closes the incognito window, opens a normal one and it crashes
Tried all of the above again, after downloading the installer and re-installing the browser.

OS details:

Edition Windows 11 Pro
Version 23H2
OS build 22631.4317
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22700.1041.0

Browser details:

Found a way to confirm, which I didn't think of during Bug Report creation: 7.0.3495.6 (Stable channel) (64-bit).

Is there a way for me to disable the extensions via a browser flag, or start the browser into a 'safe mode' to gradually reactivate each extension until I find the culprit?

mangelucci

@Pathduck I might have been struck by luck/good intuition.

I was about to proceed as you suggested, but then I noticed a folder called 'Cache'.

I renamed that to old_Cache and...voila, the browser opened!

I'll mark this as the solution as all in all, it looks like I only lost the tabs that were previously open () and all my other items are still there.

I have bookmarked your response above as those flags are really useful!

Pathduck

@mangelucci Hi - try deleting the Sessions dir from your browser profile.

mangelucci

@Pathduck Thank you for the pointer!

Before I proceed: I see this folder in each version's Snapshot, plus the Default folder.

Like this:

\Vivaldi\User Data\Default\Sessions
\Vivaldi\User Data\Snapshots\7.0.3495.6\Default\Sessions
\Vivaldi\User Data\Snapshots\6.9.3447.54\Default\Sessions
\Vivaldi\User Data\Snapshots\6.9.3447.51\Default\Sessions

Should I delete only only the first one, the first two or all of them?

Apologies if this sounds like a silly question, I just wanna ensure I get it right and learn for the future (plus this might come in handy to other users )

EDIT: I tried to rename the first one to old_Sessions and the issue persists. I'll wait to understand if I should delete the other ones too, or if I need to delete other items such as 'Session storage' too.

Pathduck

@mangelucci The Snapshot folders are just backups from updates. I don't really know much about these as I don't use those at all. I think they can just be deleted (the full snapshots folder).

I guess you could try replacing the current Sessions folder with the Sessions from one of the snapshots. Just replace, don't copy.

It might work, might not. Otherwise just delete Default\Sessions.

mangelucci

@Pathduck said in [Crash] [v7] [Windows 11] Browser instantly closes since update:

It might work, might not. Otherwise just delete Default\Sessions.

I renamed it and it created a new one. No joy.

Any other suggestion?

Pathduck

@mangelucci said in [Crash] [v7] [Windows 11] Browser instantly closes since update:

I renamed it and it created a new one. No joy.

Ok try renaming the whole Default folder to a backup then. It will launch a clean profile.

mangelucci

@Pathduck It worked. It opened with a clean profile.

Now, is there a way for me to not lose all the stuff and disable just the extensions/go in steps so I don't lose everything I had in there?

Some stuff just doesn't come back even with backups on.

Pathduck

@mangelucci said in [Crash] [v7] [Windows 11] Browser instantly closes since update:

It worked. It opened with a clean profile.

Good. Now you know the problem lies in your profile somewhere, it's not a general "Vivaldi won't launch" issue.

So restore the Default again. Then try the following cmd line arguments - one at a time:
--disable-extensions
This will disable all extensions.

--disable-vivaldi
This will test if the problem lies in Vivaldi or Chromium. It will launch a plain Chromium process without the Vivaldi UI.

Now, is there a way for me to not lose all the stuff and disable just the extensions/go in steps so I don't lose everything I had in there?

Yes, you could use Sync.
Or copy over the important files from the backup.

disable just the extensions/go in steps so

The argument above will disable ALL extensions.
If you suspect the problem lies in one of your extensions, but you don't know which one, and it causes the browser to crash then it's a difficult problem. You could have a look at the argument:
--disable-extensions-except
This is supposed to take a comma-separated list of extensions to enable.
https://peter.sh/experiments/chromium-command-line-switches/#disable-extensions-except

mangelucci

@Pathduck I might have been struck by luck/good intuition.

I was about to proceed as you suggested, but then I noticed a folder called 'Cache'.

I renamed that to old_Cache and...voila, the browser opened!

I'll mark this as the solution as all in all, it looks like I only lost the tabs that were previously open () and all my other items are still there.

I have bookmarked your response above as those flags are really useful!

Pathduck

@mangelucci That's weird, not heard of a browser crash from cache entries before. Usually deleting the Sessions folder fixes a lot of crashing stuff from having an open tab crashing.

Deleting only Cache should not affect your open tabs though.
Deleting the Sessions folder is what deletes your open tabs.
But it's a small price to pay IMO - I don't use Sessions so I never get session-related crashes
(use bookmarks for important stuff).

mangelucci

@Pathduck Yeah no, you're right: I lost the tabs due to the attempts with the Session folder.

The Cache folder simply allowed it to stay open - go figure what it was loading

Thank you again for your help, much appreciated