[Solved] AOO quite unstable under Windows 11 Home

[didier.besset]

Hello,
For years, I have been a VERY happy user of OO for a long time. However, since January this year, , time when I installed the latest release of Windows 11 Home (64-bit, version 24H4, build 26100.3476), my version of OO (which is 4.1.15, seemingly the most recent) is highly unstable. On of the most severe problem, is that I am unable to work with the Macro editor under Calc. Any attempt to do an edit makes all windows of OO to shutdown brutally. My Laptop is an HP 17.3 inch Laptop PC 17-c0000 (2W0J6AV).
Has anyone experienced such behavior? Any solution?
Cheers,
Didier

[Hagar Delest]

You may try LibreOffice or at least a portable version to see if it behaves better.
See also: [Tutorial] Considering a Switch from OpenOffice to LibreOffice? Some Useful Information.
However there has been some changes with macro between AOO and LO. You may have to adjust your macro depending on their complexity. But at least you will see if the issue is with AOO or not.

[didier.besset]

I did and the problem did not occur with LO. So, is it the end of OO?
How would you estimate the effort of converting all macros? I have done a lot (300 lines or more)

[RoryOF]

I don't use Windows and am not au fait with current Windows 10/11, but the old method of analysing for instability was to start Windows in Safe Mode and see if OpenOffice ran stable in that mode.

If it did run stable in Windows Safe Mode, the problem was usually caused by some application that was not started in Windows Safe Mode, and the problem could be solved by finding that application (painstaking detective work - start with graphics drivers - often an updated driver from graphics card manufacturer's site cured problem) and disabling or updating it.

[Hagar Delest]

I did and the problem did not occur with LO. So, is it the end of OO?

Well, there are many topics in the forum about that. We are many to think that AOO is walking dead. Very few dev manpower.
The 4.1 branch has been released 12 years ago! There are only minor upgrades now.
LO has taken the momentum and has evolved with its environment (Windows upgrades).

How would you estimate the effort of converting all macros? I have done a lot (300 lines or more)

It depends on their complexity. I have almost 2,000 lines of code in my macros (most of the lines are not from me). It took me at worst 2 hours to adjust them (that was some time ago, don't remember exactly). The changes were not huge and it was by running the macros and facing the error messages that I could make the changes. No big deal in the end.

If it did run stable in Windows Safe Mode, the problem was usually caused by some application that was not started in Windows Safe Mode, and the problem could be solved by finding that application (painstaking detective work - start with graphics drivers - often an updated driver from graphics card manufacturer's site cured problem) and disabling or updating it.

Another way to see it is that it demonstrates that AOO becomes more and more sensitive to its environment and for me it's a problem. Lack of adaptation. Darwin wrote some lines about that...

[RoryOF]

There are many other users of OpenOffice on Windows 11 that have no fault to find with it. The problem may be specific to the OP's installation, and only investigation of that case will find the problem.

[didier.besset]

So, this is it. I switched to LO with no real difficulties. For those interested, I had to change only 2 macro calls:
CDateToIso => CdateToUnoDate
CDateFromIso => CDateFromUnoDate

Otherwise, the icons of my custom toolbars were lost and I had to find new ones.

Cheers,
Didier

[Bidouille]

I use OpenOffice 4.1.15 and macro under Win11 Pro and Home edition and I don't have any instability issue.
As always, you need to know whether the software has been installed with sufficient rights.

[didier.besset]

I have been using OO for more than 10 years, so I am aware of protections and the like. I had resisted the switch for a couple of years but it is just that OO went unstable since last January. This is not limited to macros, BTW. I have books with maths formulas and embedded drawings that also crash after a few edits. All disappeared now...
Cheers,
Didier

[Bidouille]

OO went unstable since last January.

As said above, I don't reproduce...

whether the software has been installed with sufficient rights

Check it out like this other thread: viewtopic.php?t=112681