Running WT portable as a different user on W11 24H2 completely freezes initiating users logon session

[PGomersall]

Windows Terminal version

1.21.2911.0
Happens also with previous versions both stable and preview but all portable.

Windows build number

10.0.26100.2033

Other Software

Default profile can be either Windows PowerShell or PowerShell

Steps to reproduce

Windows 11 24H2 fully patched and domain joined.
WT portable is in stalled to root of local drive e.g. C:\WT or D:\WT
Logon as a domain user
Start windowsterminal.exe > right-click > Run as a different user - account is in initiated with YubiKey smartcard logon.
Type a command e.g. get-adcomputer xxx123
Whole logon session for initiating users freezes and becomes unusable.
Sometime a remote logoff of frozen logon can be forced, and the computer returns to normal operation. User can log back on and work normally. Sometimes a hard reboot is needed.
We have verified this happens on several different computers and users.
This can happen after in place upgrade from 23H2 to 24H2 via Windows Update or with completely clean 24H2 install.
It does not happen on prior versions of the OS 23H2.
Running other applications as a different user does not provoke this behavior.
Next troubleshooting step will be to determine if it is related to just running as a different user or specifically to a different user using a smartcard.

Expected Behavior

WT works normally when run as another user and does not freeze the initiating account logon.

Actual Behavior

Whole logon session for initiating users freezes and becomes unusable.
Sometime a remote logoff of frozen logon can be forced, and the computer returns to normal operation. User can log back on and work normally. Sometimes a hard reboot is needed.

[PGomersall]

other notes.
The logon session is not completely dead. Mouse moves albeit slowly. Seems everything is delayed hugely. Sometimes Explorer crashes and does not restart.
This can happen with both a user sat at local desktop console or via a rdp session.

[PGomersall]

I can confirm that this seems to explicitly be related to run as a different user when smartcard is required for logon to the different user account.
Starting WT with run as a different user where account is normal logon (not smartcard) works.

[PGomersall]

Also I can replicate the exact issue on Windows Server 2025 26100 with last stable cumulative patch.

[carlos-zamora]

Thanks for filing. There's a possibility this is some weird XAML deadlock. We'll look into it further.

[PGomersall]

Carlos, Thanks for the update. Not really sure how to troubleshoot further as the whole initiating session just freezes. It is consistent on multiple different computers (all physical that we saw issues on) and different users, but all running W11 24H2 or WS 2025. Let me know if I can provide anything else to help. Pete Pete Gomersall

[aermak]

I get it when running the local installed version after elevating it as admin after a while. Mouse moves slowly, can't click on anything, CTRL+Shift+Esc doesn't bring up task manager so i have to hard reboot every time to get it going again.

[Flapu7]

It happens on every domain joined computer using 24H2 in my organisation.

If you run Terminal as an admin or other user, any next prompt for elevating privalages will not show resulting in frozen screen and moving cursor. You can't click anything, no keypress works.

Only hard reboot.

[navanshu]

Facing the same issue here, I run elevated terminal app from a standard user account, after a minute only the mouse moves and nothing responds,

[carlos-zamora]

Does enabling this setting fix this? You can find it in the settings UI under the Rendering page.

[PGomersall]

Does enabling this setting fix this? You can find it in the settings UI under the Rendering page.

@carlos-zamora I will test on affected systems when I am physically present, not over RDP and get back to this thread.

[Flapu7]

@carlos-zamora Nope. The setting didn't help

[PGomersall]

Does enabling this setting fix this? You can find it in the settings UI under the Rendering page.

@carlos-zamora Carlos, I can also confirm that this setting DOES NOT fix the issue.

[Flapu7]

I think the problem with "invisible prompt" happens with "User Account Control: Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation setting" GPO setting enabled.

[syst3m4]

I think the problem with "invisible prompt" happens with "User Account Control: Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation setting" GPO setting enabled.

This setting is enabled by default. Does setting it to Disabled stop the issue occurring?

[PGomersall]

This setting is enabled by default. Does setting it to Disabled stop the issue occurring?

So, I do not think this is an acceptable approach even if it worked; we should not be disabling security to fix an issue with Terminal. In my testing doing this (disabling secure desktop) did not fix the issue. Terminal works fine in 23H2, just not in 24H2. The problem needs to be investigated by those working on the project; it then needs fixing.
Given that Terminal is a key tool of most system administrators that regularly need to elevate or run as a different user this is a major issue that needs to be resolved.

[zadjii-msft]

fwiw I think everyone agrees that disabling UAC is a terrible solution to a problem

(it's also the holidays and most all the team is out for the year)

[fsaccomandi-anza]

I am experiencing this issue as well. If I have a windows terminal running as an admin (elevated session) and then I try to lock my screen, the screens will turn black and I will only see a mouse cursor. Control-alt-delete, etc fail to respond. The behavior is exactly identical to that described in #18224 however it looks like that issue was marked as a duplicate of this issue. I am running windows 11 24H2 and I did not observe this behavior on 23H2.