Tracking Issue: Invisible Window on Linux

[notpeter]

No Zed Window on Launch (Linux)

This is a tracking issue to help consolidate the many distinct issues where this has been reported in an attempt to identify the configurations and determine whether there are one or more common issues behind this.

Apologies for spam on mentioned issues and users @ mentions. Just hoping to raise visibility of potential workarounds for users still impacted by this issue.

Broken:

• Trixie (Ubuntu 24.04, Ubuntu 23.10 on WSL2)
• Bookworm (Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 22.04 on WSL2, Mint 20.3, Mint, Mint 21.2, Mint 21.3, Pop!_OS 22.04, Debian 12.5, LMDE6)
• RedHat (RHEL 9.4, RHEL 9.3, Rocky 9.3, Fedora 39)
• Arch (Arch 2024.07.01, Arch on WSL2, EndevourOS, Manjaro)
• NixOS

Fixed:

• "When I boot Ubuntu 24.04 on the same device, Zed works." (@eyelash comment on #14204)

• "for anyone wanna run zed on WSL Ubuntu 22.04:" (@0x5ea000000 comment on #14126).

  sudo apt-get install libvulkan-dev
  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kisak/kisak-mesa
  sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
  WAYLAND_DISPLAY='' zed --foreground

• "Ryzen APU with Linux Mint 20.3, it worked after installing mesa-vulkan-drivers from Kisak's PPA. (@definitelyuncertain comment on #14204

  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kisak/kisak-mesa
  sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

• "Works fine after force the app running with X11 env -u WAYLAND_DISPLAY zed (on Arch)" (@akbarhmu comment on #14204)

• "I managed to fixed it by updating mesa driver through kisak ppa and use liquorix kernel." (@kanowfy comment on #14173

  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:damentz/liquorix
  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kisak/kisak-mesa
  sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

• "Arch WSL2. rebuild mesa described like here Vulkan support in WSL2/WSLg microsoft/wslg#1254
  After that unset WAYLAND_DISPLAY; zed worked." (@jackysee comment on #14126) and detailed instructions in this comment

• "I think this is just a Wayland in WSLg thing. However, if I run weston -B x11 to start a new compositor and run WAYLAND_DISPLAY=wayland-1 zed, it actually works" (@noah-gil comment on #14126)

• Worked "on wsl2 upgraded to latest fedora remix version (Fedora Remix 31)" (@kelvinkwong comment on #14126)

• Arch: "Edit: fixed by installing vulkan-intel. 👍" (@rebootl comment on #14237) and (@rebootl comment on #14237

• "Switching my nvidia PRIME profile to "on-demand" (it was on performance mode) fixed the issue for me" (@vblanton comment on 14237)

Leads:

• "I just did a git bisect, and the x11 gui broke in commit 47aa761" (@ChrisJefferson comment on #14126

• "your driver doesn't support KHR_DYNAMIC_RENDERING which from Vulkan 1.3 and needed for Blade" (@stalkerg comment on 14237)

• "Okey, ANV Intel driver start support it in 2022 link it should be part of ANV (Skylake and upper) and hasvk (haswell, brodwell)" (@stalkerg comment on 14237)

• "20.04 will work only if you replace kernel and mesa drivers, which difficult." (@stalkerg comment on #14204)

• Change minimum version of xdg_wm_base wayland protocol to fix WSLg #14511

CPUs/GPUs

• Adapter "llvmpipe (LLVM 15.0.7, 256 bits)"
• Intel: HD Graphics (630), UHD Graphics (620, CML GT2)
• AMD Ryzen APU
• Nvidia:
  • GeForce 410m (@MEHREGANKBI in #14648)
  • GeForce GT 730 (@hzheboldov in issue #15608)
  • GeForce GTX 1660 (@IWhitebird comment on 14126)
  • GeForce GTX 1650 (@AshutoshSajan comment on #14237, @marcbrevoort-cyberhive issue 14956, @Nikita0x in issue #15631)
  • GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER (@ comment on #14237)
  • GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop (@vblanton comment on #14237)
  • GeForce RTX 4090 (@RickyWanga comment on 14805)

Potentially Related Issues:

• Crashed when launched after build success #11642
• Ubuntu 20.04 can't build Zed #12100
• zed hanging on startup because of 'unsupportedversion' #14126 (comment)
• Not ready for WSL-2 #14173 (comment)
• [Linux] Zed doesn't open Ubuntu 20.04 #14204
• Zed GUI doesn't start on Ubuntu 20.04 #14237
• Zed window does not render at all #14271
• [linux] no window #14314
• If closed while maximize will be not render on next launch #14430
• linux: window is transparent / invisible #14648
• ghost window #14805
• I'm seeing the editor's shadow only. #14956
• Nothing shown in WSL2. #15402
• Zed doesn't start properly under Linux Mint 21.3 #15608
• Zed opens an invisible window #15631
• Zed Editor Window Invisible #15673
• Zed not open with gui on ubuntu20.04 #15851
• Empty window shows up when running on llvmpipe #16414

[notpeter]

I've read every comment in each of these issue and here is my current takeaways.

• Ubuntu:
  • Ideally upgrade to Ubuntu 24
  • Ubuntu 20, Ubuntu 22, MintOS 20/21/22: Consider

    sudo apt-get install libvulkan-dev
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kisak/kisak-mesa
    sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

  • Ubuntu on WSL2: Consider above + forcing running under X11 instead of wayland:

    WAYLAND_DISPLAY='' zed --foreground

• Pop!_OS 22.04: Please try Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS alpha and report back.
• Arch:
  • Arch with Intel Graphics: pacman -S vulkan-intel
  • Arch on WSL2: Consider trying detailed instructions from @da-moon based on these instructions by @jackysee.
• Redhat: TBD
• NixOS: TBD

Still working on identifying solutions for users without a Vulkan-supported GPU (e.g. no modern Intel Graphics, AMD GPU, AMD APU or Nvidia GPU, etc) who are trying to use the llvmpipe software emulation and encounter this issue.

[eyelash]

If Zed could detect the situation where the Vulkan drivers don't support Vulkan 1.3 and print a message along the lines of "please update your drivers/OS" instead of silently not opening a window, that would probably go a long way in terms of user experience.

[Coaxus-ux]

Using fedora with wyland it didn't open, so change to ea X11 and it opened normally, I guess it's incompatibility with wyland, just change and that's it.

A very simple solution, be careful not to depend on some wayland feature.

[clseibold]

So, I have an AMD Radeon integrated graphics as well as NVIDIA RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, and under WSL-2 (Ubuntu 24) I was able to get vkcube to recognize my nvidia gpu by installing kisak-mesa and liquorix kernel.

However, Zed does not pick the correct GPU - it picks llvmpipe when there are two other GPUs that are available. My guess is because the api versions for the two are 1.2, rather than 1.3. I'm not sure why 1.2 is only supported for my GPUs only under WSL-2.

Vulkaninfo gives me these 3 GPUs:

GPU0:
        apiVersion         = 1.2.289
        driverVersion      = 24.2.3
        vendorID           = 0x10de
        deviceID           = 0x2520
        deviceType         = PHYSICAL_DEVICE_TYPE_DISCRETE_GPU
        deviceName         = Microsoft Direct3D12 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU)
        driverID           = DRIVER_ID_MESA_DOZEN
        driverName         = Dozen
        driverInfo         = Mesa 24.2.3 - kisak-mesa PPA
        conformanceVersion = 0.0.0.0
        deviceUUID         = abd52523-22df-9a9a-4448-6dd05cfebe81
        driverUUID         = 6ee2028a-2063-39d1-a78b-ff50217faeb8
GPU1:
        apiVersion         = 1.2.289
        driverVersion      = 24.2.3
        vendorID           = 0x1002
        deviceID           = 0x1636
        deviceType         = PHYSICAL_DEVICE_TYPE_INTEGRATED_GPU
        deviceName         = Microsoft Direct3D12 (AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics)
        driverID           = DRIVER_ID_MESA_DOZEN
        driverName         = Dozen
        driverInfo         = Mesa 24.2.3 - kisak-mesa PPA
        conformanceVersion = 0.0.0.0
        deviceUUID         = 7e26c875-6315-f8d1-9939-81a6392cab84
        driverUUID         = 6ee2028a-2063-39d1-a78b-ff50217faeb8
GPU2:
        apiVersion         = 1.3.289
        driverVersion      = 0.0.1
        vendorID           = 0x10005
        deviceID           = 0x0000
        deviceType         = PHYSICAL_DEVICE_TYPE_CPU
        deviceName         = llvmpipe (LLVM 17.0.6, 256 bits)
        driverID           = DRIVER_ID_MESA_LLVMPIPE
        driverName         = llvmpipe
        driverInfo         = Mesa 24.2.3 - kisak-mesa PPA (LLVM 17.0.6)
        conformanceVersion = 1.3.1.1
        deviceUUID         = 6d657361-3234-2e32-2e33-202d206b6900
        driverUUID         = 6c6c766d-7069-7065-5555-494400000000

glxinfo -B seems to show that the AMD integrated GPU is the default selected:

WARNING: dzn is not a conformant Vulkan implementation, testing use only.
WARNING: Some incorrect rendering might occur because the selected Vulkan device (Microsoft Direct3D12 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU)) doesn't support base Zink requirements: feats.features.logicOp have_EXT_custom_border_color have_EXT_line_rasterization
display: :0  screen: 0
direct rendering: Yes
Extended renderer info (GLX_MESA_query_renderer):
    Vendor: Microsoft Corporation (0xffffffff)
    Device: D3D12 (AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics) (0xffffffff)
    Version: 24.2.3
    Accelerated: yes
    Video memory: 8390MB
    Unified memory: yes
    Preferred profile: core (0x1)
    Max core profile version: 4.2
    Max compat profile version: 4.2
    Max GLES1 profile version: 1.1
    Max GLES[23] profile version: 3.1
OpenGL vendor string: Microsoft Corporation
OpenGL renderer string: D3D12 (AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics)
OpenGL core profile version string: 4.2 (Core Profile) Mesa 24.2.3 - kisak-mesa PPA
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 4.20
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile

OpenGL version string: 4.2 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 24.2.3 - kisak-mesa PPA
OpenGL shading language version string: 4.20
OpenGL context flags: (none)
OpenGL profile mask: compatibility profile

OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.1 Mesa 24.2.3 - kisak-mesa PPA
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.10

And vkcube seems to use the nvidia GPU:

WARNING: dzn is not a conformant Vulkan implementation, testing use only.
Selected GPU 0: Microsoft Direct3D12 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU), type: DiscreteGpu

And here's Zed giving me an unsupported GPU dialog:

[KristoferHansson]

Having basically the exact same issue as clseibold, same resulting error popup.
Thou running WSL2 22.04.3 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish) on WSL2:

wsl --version
WSL version: 2.3.26.0
Kernel version: 5.15.167.4-1
WSLg version: 1.0.65
MSRDC version: 1.2.5620
Direct3D version: 1.611.1-81528511
DXCore version: 10.0.26100.1-240331-1435.ge-release
Windows version: 10.0.22631.4460

>vulkaninfo --summary
....
Devices:
========
GPU0:
        apiVersion         = 4202785 (1.2.289)
        driverVersion      = 100671495 (0x6002007)
        vendorID           = 0x8086
        deviceID           = 0xa7a1
        deviceType         = PHYSICAL_DEVICE_TYPE_INTEGRATED_GPU
        deviceName         = Microsoft Direct3D12 (Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics)
        driverID           = UNKNOWN_VkDriverId_value23
        driverName         = Dozen
        driverInfo         = Mesa 24.2.7 - kisak-mesa PPA
        conformanceVersion = 0.0.0.0
        deviceUUID         = 8f0baa7a-2dea-957d-d331-6bdc89d841fa
        driverUUID         = a89763fc-a21b-5517-2a44-091e0c0011ae
GPU1:
        apiVersion         = 4206881 (1.3.289)
        driverVersion      = 1 (0x0001)
        vendorID           = 0x10005
        deviceID           = 0x0000
        deviceType         = PHYSICAL_DEVICE_TYPE_CPU
        deviceName         = llvmpipe (LLVM 15.0.7, 256 bits)
        driverID           = DRIVER_ID_MESA_LLVMPIPE
        driverName         = llvmpipe
        driverInfo         = Mesa 24.2.7 - kisak-mesa PPA (LLVM 15.0.7)
        conformanceVersion = 1.3.1.1
        deviceUUID         = 6d657361-3234-2e32-2e37-202d206b6900
        driverUUID         = 6c6c766d-7069-7065-5555-494400000000

❯ vkcube
WARNING: dzn is not a conformant Vulkan implementation, testing use only.
Selected GPU 0: Microsoft Direct3D12 (Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics), type: 1

[JosephTLyons]

@notpeter, here's another potential one:

• Zed appears as a frozen window without contents on Ubuntu 24.04 X11 #21001

[jolexxa]

I just ran into this on a 2024 Asus G14 (AMD Integrated, NVIDIA Discrete) running Nobara (basically Fedora) when doing either DRI_PRIME=1 zed or DRI_PRIME=1 WAYLAND_DISPLAY='' zed. Just running Zed works, but it is super slow and laggy. VKCube and all that are working fine.

[ryukinix]

I can still reproduce this problem using Artix Linux with Nvidia GTX 760 and official 470xx drivers. vkcube is working fine. Zed doesn't crash neither, the profess continue fine, but window doesn't appears. Using Xorg as well.

[ali-ghamdan]

I was using zed 100%, until i open NVIDIA Server X Settings (Ubuntu 24.04 LTS) and i changed the prime profile from "NVIDIA On-Demand" to "NVIDIA (PERFORMANCE MODE)", this issue appeared until i restore it to "NVIDIA On-Demand", and now it back and works great.

[andreymal]

official 470xx drivers

@ryukinix too old for Zed, see #14314 (comment)

[ryukinix]

official 470xx drivers

@ryukinix too old for Zed, see #14314 (comment)

Thank you for pointing out the real issue around this problem in my case!