Windows 7 SP1 required?

Audio Plugins
1

Is there a known problem with JUCE-based (VST) plugins in pre-SP1 versions of Windows 7 x64?

I have noticed that all JUCE plugins (also the JuceDemoPlugin) produce nothing but a blank UI on certain computers (for example Lenovo ThinkPad T450s) with a freshly installed Windows 7 Ultimate x64, when no windows updates have been applied.

Regardless of optimization level there is no way of getting the UIs to work. It seem like the window is simply not being painted at all. OpenGL is not used. In fact, when trying to use OpenGL, the plugin crashes every time, could perhaps be a different problem because of bad drivers.

Only after running windows update so the system reaches Service Pack 1 level do the plugins start to work again, and now without any problems at all. And OpenGL also stops crashes and actually works.

Worth noticing is that this only affects plugins. JUCE Applications work well even in pre-SP1 Windows 7, but never plugins. I have tested in several different hosts, same observations.

Had anyone made similar observations with JUCE plugins?

 

2

If you're using Visual Studio, have you tried using different platform toolsets (e.g. v110_xp)?

3

We're also getting reports from users with Windows 7, no service packs. Since we don't have any computer running this setup it would be great if someone confirms this is an issue so we just can update the min. requirements.

4

Are the reports similar, i.e. blank UIs?

I did not yet have time to verify the platform toolset, as suggested by Andrew, but this should indeed be checked.

 

 

5

Yes, same kind of report, blank UI (Fruity Loops and Ableton Live), both 32bit and 64bit. On Windows 7 64bit.

6

Did you guys ever find the cause of this?

7

Not really, but I guess very few users are still on pre-SP1 Windows 7 installations.