[vlc-devel] VLC startup delay caused by vlc-qt-interface.ini on Windows possible fix?

[Steve Lhomme]

Hi,

I could not reproduce the issue on Windows 10 by making 
vlc-qt-interface.ini read-only. Maybe it's a Windows 11 thing.

Could you create an issue in 
https://code.videolan.org/videolan/vlc/-/work_items ? This will be 
easier to track the issue.

And yes if you can provide an "affected" file that would greatly help as 
well.

Thanks

On 20/09/2026 16:21, Really? wrote:
> Hi VideoLAN team,
> 
> I’ve been troubleshooting a recurring VLC startup delay on Windows for 
> several users including myself and seem to have isolated it specifically 
> to VLC’s Qt interface configuration file.
> 
> On my system, VLC will sometimes take approximately *7 seconds to open*. 
> Resetting the entire VLC profile makes VLC launch essentially instantly, 
> so I narrowed the issue down further.
> 
> The file responsible appears to be:
> 
> |%APPDATA%\vlc\vlc-qt-interface.ini|
> 
> I can reproduce the following behavior:
> 
>  1. Close VLC completely.
>  2. Delete or rename |vlc-qt-interface.ini|.
>  3. Launch VLC.
>  4. VLC opens essentially instantly.
>  5. Allow VLC to regenerate/use its Qt interface configuration normally.
>  6. At some point, subsequent launches return to taking approximately 7
>     seconds.
>  7. Removing/resetting |vlc-qt-interface.ini| again immediately restores
>     fast startup.
> 
> I also tested marking a freshly generated |vlc-qt-interface.ini| as 
> *read-only*. Interestingly, doing so caused the ~7-second startup delay 
> immediately. Removing the read-only attribute restores normal behavior.
> 
> This makes it appear that VLC is either:
> 
>   * waiting on or retrying a write to the Qt interface configuration
>     during startup, or
>   * loading some particular state written into |vlc-qt-interface.ini|
>     that causes a substantial delay.
> 
> The main |vlcrc| configuration does not appear to be involved. In my 
> testing, |vlcrc| remained unchanged while |vlc-qt-interface.ini| was 
> being rewritten, and resetting only the Qt interface file was sufficient 
> to resolve the startup delay.
> 
> System information:
> 
>   * Windows 11 64-bit
>   * VLC version: [insert version]
>   * Issue occurs on repeated normal launches
>   * Startup when unaffected: nearly instantaneous
>   * Startup when affected: approximately 7 seconds
> 
> I can provide both a known-good |vlc-qt-interface.ini| and an affected/ 
> slower version, or a diff between them, if that would help identify 
> which setting/state is responsible.
> 
> Thanks for looking into it.
> 
> Best,
> Michael
> 
> 
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