Drivers & Software

[codexllll]

Ok I searched these forums and the web I was surprised that I can't find any other reports of this issue.

When I open "AMD Radeon Settings" through right-clicking on the desktop and selecting it there, the AMD Radeon Settings window opens under other active windows. For example, if I have Firefox open, AMD Radeon Settings will open as I see it popping up on the task bar, but Firefox is still the topmost window, so in order to see Radeon Settings I need to additionally select the window from the taskbar to make it active too.

This isn't a Firefox issue, it happens with anything e.g. Word, Notepad, Windows Explorer, etc...

Surely I can't be the only one who has seen this? I know the Radeon Settings offers a setting in its preferences to enable "Always on top" but that's not what I want as this would forcefully mask other windows all the time. I only want it to open on top the first time when I launch the app.

Even more strange, if I close AMD Radeon Settings and re-launch it soon after, then it will launch and be on top of other windows, like I want it to be. But if I re-launch it after some time passed, then it appears under other windows again. I haven't precisely measured the time limit at which it launches under or over other windows, but I guesstimate this to be around 10 minutes:

- Launch AMD Radeon settings when you have other windows open --> It opens under existing windows, need to select it from taskbar to make it appear on top of existing windows.

- Close it and re-launch within maybe 10 minutes --> It opens on top of existing windows, as it should.

- Close it and re-launch after maybe 10-15 minutes have passed --> It opens under other windows again.

My specs:

AMD Adrenalin 2019 driver. 18.12.2

AMD RX Vega liquid

AMD CPU, Threadripper 1950X

Motherboard ASUS Zenith Extreme X399

32GB RAM

Windows 10 1809 x64

I can't remember exactly in which version of the driver this started, but this has been happening for at least a year. Reported it to AMD support around 2 months ago but haven't heard anything and several driver releases went by without fixing.

I highly doubt this is an issue specific to my system or configuration because:

• It happens on a fresh reformat and re-install Windows (which I do roughly on a monthly basis) and install nothing else than the AMD driver.
• I had the exact same issue before I upgraded my system 6 months ago (I had an AMD 8350X CPU, AMD Radeon RX480 GPU, different motherboard, etc...) and obviously it was a different driver version back then too.

[codexllll]

First, yes I know I'm replying to an old thread. But I'm the OP and this exact same problem still exists for me today (in my OP I was on Windows 10 1809, I'm on 1903 now and using the latest version of the AMD graphics driver, 19.6.2).

Plus, I have new information about it now:

1. 1. I took a video of the problem, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5goax2W2TlQ
2. Oddly enough, another clue that I noticed: If I have several windows open, and minimize them all using Win+D hotkey in Windows (which minimizes all windows at once), then open Radeon Settings by right-clicking the desktop and selecting "Radeon Settings", then Radeon Settings actually starts minimized too and I need to click it on the taskbar to restore it. It seems like Radeon Settings it wants to be under other windows so much that it even opens minimized if all other windows are also minimized.
3. This happens with a fresh Windows install without anything else installed except the AMD graphics Driver. You can actually see in the Device Manager from my video linked in #1 above that this is a fresh Windows install and even my chipset drivers haven't been installed yet. I use Windows 10 Professional, and have fully disabled auto updates including driver updates so that's not a potentially interfering factor either. (If not disabled, one could argue that maybe Windows auto-installed a driver which is responsible for the problem, but it's not the case for me.). 
4. I contacted AMD support about this, and while they haven't answered my question as to whether they are seeing the problem themselves when reproducing my steps, they did confirm that no other user reported that issue. This is really puzzling to me given that it happens on a fresh, unmodified Windows install with nothing else installed but the AMD graphics driver.

[codexllll]

This also happens when Radeon Settings is launched using the Start Menu's .lnk shortcut, but interestingly, not when launched via the Tray Icon (in this later case, Radeon Settings appears on top as expected).