I decided to write this post because I had a hard time solving this. Perhaps it will be of use for some.
Environment:
● Windows 10/11 X86_64
LibreOffice Versions:
● 7.6 through 26.2.0.3
Issue and further details:
● Starting LibreOffice froze Windows.
● Starting LibreOffice in Safe Mode (soffice.exe --safe-mode) also froze Windows.
Solution:
● Edit “%APPDATA%\LibreOffice\4\user\registrymodifications.xcu”
● Make sure the following lines are present or add them before the last line.
○ With the last line containing “</oor:items>”
<item oor:path="/org.openoffice.Office.Common/VCL"><prop oor:name="ForceSkia" oor:op="fuse"><value>false</value></prop></item>
<item oor:path="/org.openoffice.Office.Common/VCL"><prop oor:name="ForceSkiaRaster" oor:op="fuse"><value>true</value></prop></item>
<item oor:path="/org.openoffice.Office.Common/VCL"><prop oor:name="UseSkia" oor:op="fuse"><value>false</value></prop></item>
I could stop here.
The issue for me was that I only knew the following entry:
<item oor:path="/org.openoffice.Office.Common/VCL"><prop oor:name="UseSkia" oor:op="fuse"><value>false</value></prop></item>
Which is from
[1] First steps to take before submitting a bug - The Document Foundation Wiki
Setting this entry would still result in Windows freezing.
[1] also mentions
● On Windows, turn “Force Skia software rendering” on
↳ in Tools ▸ Options ▸ LibreOffice ▸ View
● in Tools ▸ Options ▸ LibreOffice ▸ Advanced ▸ Open Expert Configuration
↳ set ForceSkiaRaster to true
But I didn’t know how to set these settings in “registrymodifications.xcu”.
Nor did I know whether it really was a graphics issue.
To ascertain that it was a graphics issue, I used System Internals Sysmon tool to monitor processes related to LibreOffice.
The following two entries where loaded shortly before Windows froze.
● DirectX Graphics Infrastructure
● Vulkan Loader
Which made a graphics issue likely.
So the question is how to enable “Force Skia software rendering” and “ForceSkiaRaster” when starting LibreOffice would freeze Windows (safe mode or not).
Solution (in my case):
● Start Window’s Device Manager (devmgmt.msc)
● Under “Display Adapters”:
○ Right click the graphics card and select “Disable device”.
○ Windows then fell back to some kind of “basic graphics”.
LibreOffice would now run without crashing Windows.
● Set “Force Skia software rendering” and “ForceSkiaRaster” ([1]).
● Enable the display adapter again.
Additional info / footnotes
When disabling the graphics card:
● Close all running applications and save your data!
● Though unlikely, Windows might get wrecked for good.
● Reverting to your CPU’s integrated graphics might also allow starting LibreOffice.
Sysmon config files for monitoring LibreOffice
sysmon_monitor_soffice_xml_config_files.zip (2.7 KB)
Details on the DirectX and Vulcan dll interactions
Image: C:\Program Files\LibreOffice\program\soffice.bin
ImageLoaded: C:\Windows\System32\dxgi.dll
FileVersion: 10.0.19041.5794 (WinBuild.160101.0800)
Description: DirectX Graphics Infrastructure
Product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Company: Microsoft Corporation
OriginalFileName: dxgi.dll
Hashes: SHA256=D33765793E32EFF65F9103EFE2419184AB0B6289E69E69CE85AA7568F678C3B5
Signed: true
Signature: Microsoft Windows
SignatureStatus: Valid
Image: C:\Program Files\LibreOffice\program\soffice.bin
ImageLoaded: C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispig.inf_amd64_0afec3f2050014a0\vulkan-1-x64.dll
FileVersion: 1.3.280.0
Description: Vulkan Loader
Product: Vulkan Runtime
Company: -
OriginalFileName: -
Hashes: SHA256=51186D1392A44A96932EFBDB30238D8FE305C4027A9B7FE6D1FC318966562D58
Signed: true
Signature: LunarG, Inc.
SignatureStatus: Valid