Sourcetree opens with completely empty window on startup (but doesn't crash).

Question

I have a very unpleasant phenomenon with Sourcetree: first only occasionally but now permanently it opens as a completely empty window, i.e. the application starts (it does not crash) but there are only two hair-fine lines visible at the top and the bottom where the window should open but the content of the window is completely empty (=transparent).

The window, however, reacts - I can move it around by grabbing the non-visible top-bar and I can press the (also non-visible) close button in the window's upper right corner and then the application closes again.

What could cause this and how do I get Sourcetree operational again? Right now it's not usable and I am blocked.

This refers to SourceTree.exe / v3.3.6 on Windows 10

Michael Moser_5r8x6x · Answer

Turned out that the issue seems to be caused by Windows and/or the display driver. I had an external screen attached to my Laptop and had closed its lid. Apparently this causes some applications (meanwhile I also had another case) to not render their window's content.

When by sheer accident I had opened the laptop's lid while experimenting with SourceTree the window content suddenly appeared. When closing the lid the content vanished again shortly after. So I now always keep the lid halfway opened and that made this effect/bug disappear.

Really odd and unexpected behavior!

Daniel Ebers · Answer

Hi Michael,

although you say, it is basically "up and loaded" but shows nothing useful - have you had the chance to look into logs.
Although not so likely - probably an error is logged there pointing to a possible cause?

https://confluence.atlassian.com/sourcetreekb/sourcetree-logfile-location-675384748.html

Let us know if you found something out!

Regards,
Daniel