detect Dell Display Manager

[aerogems]

Crutkas: bug was reported due to Dell Display Manager running. We should notify user when thus scenario happens and suggest only one runs.

I bet there maybe more so might want to have a dictionary of process and app name

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Environment

Windows build number: 10.0.18363.693
PowerToys version: 0.15.1
PowerToy module for which you are reporting the bug (if applicable): FancyZones

Steps to reproduce

Create zone setup like in screenshot 1, then try to move windows into a new zone.

Expected behavior

That the created zones actually work as depicted in screenshot 1.

Actual behavior

The zone to the left is created correctly, but on the right there are three equally sized zones created, like screenshot 2.

Screenshots

Screenshot 1

Screenshot 2

[crutkas]

@aerogems can you share the layout?

@enricogior we should really have a link to "export layout" docs or something so we can debug issues like this

[enricogior]

@crutkas
I guess the simplest thing is to copy the zones-settings.json from the user AppData\Local\Microsoft\PowerToys\FancyZones\ folder to the desktop.

For this particular bug, @aerogems, what application are you trying to snap to the small zones?
They look tiny, and if the app has a minimum size, it will not fit. Try snapping Notepad that has a very small minimum size, to verify if it's an app limit or a FZ bug.

Also, how did you create the layout, did you start from a two columns template and used the splitter?
Thanks.

[aerogems]

@enricogior The app I'm trying to pin at the lower right is an IM program. Specifically Trillian. The smallest one is for the contacts window and then the one to the immediate right is the chat window. Regardless of the app, what I see when I try to snap a window into a specific zone is that I don't get the zone layout I created. It wasn't easy, but I managed to get a screenshot of what I see when I hold down the Shift button and go to move a window into a zone. I blanked things out for privacy and to keep the file size down (the bottom most area is the taskbar in case it wasn't obvious) but made sure to leave the zone delimiters. It is different from the layout I created.

I also created the layout by going straight to the custom layout editor and creating the template. I never applied any of the supplied templates.

I have tried rebooting my computer, restarting PowerToys, as well as selecting the custom layout and applying it again. None have had any effect.

An "Export Zones" option for a future release would be great too.

zones-settings.zip

[aerogems]

I figured out the issue, and it wasn't PT/FZ's fault. Turns out there was some Dell software running (Dell Display Manager) that had it's own version of FancyZones and was overriding PowerToys.

Maybe in an upcoming release you could either include a check for, or at least a warning, about any other layout manager software and maybe name a couple examples. I had forgotten completely that Dell Display Manager could do that or I wouldn't have wasted your time with this bug report.

[crutkas]

Not a waste, good catch.

[enricogior]

Sure, we can try to detect it and alert the user.

[crutkas]

being tracked in #1958