Windows terminal unresponsive with Windows fallback graphics driver #23438

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opened 2026-01-31 08:42:11 +00:00 by claunia · 2 comments
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Originally created by @riedel on GitHub (Jul 14, 2025).

Windows Terminal version

1.23.11752.0

Windows build number

10.0.26100.0

Other Software

No response

Steps to reproduce

Disable graphics driver

Expected Behavior

Slow but usable

Actual Behavior

When disabling the graphics driver the terminal get slow to the point of being unusable. In situations of a malfunctioning of the graphics driver I would expect it to be still somewhat usable as the terminal is an important administration tool, that should help in such situation. I instead had to use the old console and mintty which had no performance degradation at all. The rendering setting was set to automatic btw. Forcing software rendering also had no immediate effect.

Originally created by @riedel on GitHub (Jul 14, 2025). ### Windows Terminal version 1.23.11752.0 ### Windows build number 10.0.26100.0 ### Other Software _No response_ ### Steps to reproduce Disable graphics driver ### Expected Behavior Slow but usable ### Actual Behavior When disabling the graphics driver the terminal get slow to the point of being unusable. In situations of a malfunctioning of the graphics driver I would expect it to be still somewhat usable as the terminal is an important administration tool, that should help in such situation. I instead had to use the old console and mintty which had no performance degradation at all. The rendering setting was set to automatic btw. Forcing software rendering also had no immediate effect.
claunia added the Needs-TriageIssue-BugNeeds-Attention labels 2026-01-31 08:42:12 +00:00
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Owner

@DHowett commented on GitHub (Jul 16, 2025):

Forcing software rendering also had no immediate effect.

If you also force the "Graphics API" to "Direct2D", does anything change/?

@DHowett commented on GitHub (Jul 16, 2025): > Forcing software rendering also had no immediate effect. If you also force the "Graphics API" to "Direct2D", does anything change/?
Author
Owner

@riedel commented on GitHub (Jul 29, 2025):

If you also force the "Graphics API" to "Direct2D", does anything change/?
Sorry for the late reply. I tested it now. Both Direct2D as well as software rendering fix the problem.
I thought I had tried it before, but must have missed to press "Save"

@riedel commented on GitHub (Jul 29, 2025): > If you also force the "Graphics API" to "Direct2D", does anything change/? Sorry for the late reply. I tested it now. Both Direct2D as well as software rendering fix the problem. I thought I had tried it before, but must have missed to press "Save"
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Reference: starred/terminal#23438