WinUI Application Freezes with DirectX Software Rendering

[prathameshnarkhede]

Issue Description

When running a WinUI application with DirectX Software Rendering enabled, the application freezes on a blank black screen. This appears to be a regression in Windows App SDK, as the issue occurs after upgrading to 1.6.240829007.

Environment

• Windows App SDK version: 1.6.240829007
• OS: Windows 11
• Configuration: DirectX Software Rendering mode
• Application type: Standard WinUI 3 application (boilerplate)

Steps to reproduce the bug

1. Create a basic WinUI 3 application
2. Configure the environment for DirectX Software Rendering
3. Run the application
4. Observe that the application freezes on a blank black screen

Expected behavior

The application should render correctly in software rendering mode, albeit potentially with lower performance.

Actual Behavior

The application freezes on a blank black screen with no visible UI elements. No error messages are displayed in the console.

NuGet package version

Windows App SDK 1.6.0: 1.6.240829007

Packaging type

Packaged (MSIX)

Windows version

Windows 11 version 23H2 (22631, November 2023 Update)

IDE

Visual Studio 2022

Additional context

• This issue was not present in Windows App SDK 1.4.230822000
• The same application works correctly with hardware rendering
• This appears to be a WinUI-wide issue, as it's reproducible in a minimal boilerplate application without any additional SDKs or dependencies
• When a VSTest is added on top of the application, the error "0x8898008D - No HW rendering device is available for this operation" is observed, further confirming that some component is attempting to use hardware rendering despite software rendering being configured

[snigdha011997]

Hi @prathameshnarkhede can you please provide minimal repro project for further investigation?