Qt Creator 9.0.1 via Remote Desktop (RDP)

LorenDB · 1 Jun 2023, 00:27

I just attempted to start Qt Creator over an RDP connection and was met with this:

At first I thought that I might have a corrupted installation or maybe Qt Creator wasn't running properly since it wasn't installed to the C:\ drive, but https://forum.qt.io/topic/112691 talks about this issue as well, so I am starting to wonder if it is a problem with Qt not playing well with the Windows remote desktop display driver. Has anybody else met with this problem? If so, did you find a fix?

I am using Windows 11 and the latest Qt Creator (9.0.1; it was installed within the past 48 hours).

Edited to add:

I tried running several other Qt-based applications; I can confirm that this is a problem with all QML apps, but not Qt Widgets-based apps (while Qt Creator and several other QML-based apps had the "error 87" problem, Qt Assistant and the Kate text editor both launched fine.

Kent-Dorfman · wrote on 6 Jan 2023, 01:13

@LorenDB said in Qt Creator 9.0.1 via Remote Desktop (RDP):

so I am starting to wonder if it is a problem with Qt not playing well with the Windows remote desktop display driver

I would agree with this assessment. btw: cool avatar.

Chris Kawa · 1 Jun 2023, 02:16

Qt uses a RHI abstraction to render Qt Quick. Widgets are rendered in software. If I remember correctly Qt Creator uses QML for the welcome screen plugin. Qt Assistant is widgets app.

Since RHI is by default backed up by hardware accelerated API, either OpenGL, Vulkan or Direct3D it might be a problem with your graphics drivers not playing nice with RDP, so make sure they're up to date on both ends of the connection. OpenGL drivers in particular are known to cause all sorts of problems with RDP.

Try running Qt Creator without the various QML related plugins to see if that works:

qtcreator -noload Welcome -noload QmlDesigner -noload QmlProfiler -noload QmlPreview

If you need QML you can also try running in software mode. See Scene Graph Adaptations for details.

LorenDB · wrote on 6 Jan 2023, 13:29

I tried qtcreator -noload Welcome -noload QmlDesigner -noload QmlProfiler -noload QmlPreview from a terminal and got the same error. So I set QT_QUICK_BACKEND to software and ran qtcreator again, both with and without the no-QML string. In none of those cases did Qt Creator successfully launch.

cristian-adam · wrote on 6 Jan 2023, 14:05

What happens if you install the OpenCL™ and OpenGL® Compatibility Pack package?

This compatibility pack allows more of your favorite OpenCL™ and OpenGL® apps to run on a Windows 10 PC that doesn't have OpenCL and OpenGL hardware drivers installed by default. If a DirectX 12 driver is installed, supported apps will run with hardware acceleration for better performance. This package supports apps that use OpenCL version 1.2 and earlier and OpenGL version 3.3 and earlier.

I think this would work better than setting QT_QUICK_BACKEND to software.

LorenDB · wrote on 6 Jan 2023, 14:15

That unfortunately didn't help.

hskoglund · wrote on 6 Jan 2023, 22:42

Hi, other apps besides Qt Creator exhibit the same problem when running over RDP for example AutoCAD
If you google, many hits seem to suggest that if you have an Intel graphics adapter on either end of the RDP connection, you can fix that error 87 by disabling the graphics driver.

LorenDB · wrote on 10 Jan 2023, 17:06

Strange becomes stranger... after disabling the Intel graphics driver, Qt Creator worked, but then I reenabled the Intel graphics driver and Qt Creator continued to start properly over RDP. I'm not sure if this should be considered a final fix, however, as it very well may not survive Windows updates; futhermore, it seems a little hacky to push onto end users as a solution to RDP problems. I will keep an eye on this situation.