Obsidian and its vault manager flash white when launched

Bug reports
1

Once you’ve done the above, delete everything above this line.

Steps to reproduce

  1. Download and install the latest version of Obsidian.
  2. Launch Obsidian.

Did you follow the troubleshooting guide? [Y/N]

Yes.

Expected result

Obsidian and its vault manager launch without flashing white.

Actual result

Obsidian's main GUI and vault manager flash white when launched.

Note: The main GUI flashes white every launch. The vault manager flashes white sometimes.

Environment

SYSTEM INFO:
Obsidian version: v1.8.4
Installer version: v1.8.4
Operating system: Windows 10 Pro 10.0.19045
Login status: not logged in
Language: en
Insider build toggle: off
Live preview: on
Base theme: adapt to system
Community theme: none
Snippets enabled: 0
Restricted mode: on

RECOMMENDATIONS:
none

Additional information

Note: The flash is worse than the video depicts. It encompasses a larger area in my main vault with more notes.

Additional information: The problem first appeared in version 1.5.8. It is not present in versions 1.5.3 and earlier, at least the one’s that I tested.

2

I haven’t been able to reproduce this.

3

@WhiteNoise I think it’s the same issue here White flash when app opens on Windows - #2 by WhiteNoise.

To replicate, on Windows 10/11, just open Obsidian (dark mode), then repeatedly click the Obsidian icon in the taskbar to minimize/open the Obsidian window and you’ll see the window area is white briefly before it changes to the Obsidian window.

I don’t know if it’s the same issue with as with the chromium browsers, but Edge and Chrome used to have this issue too (google chrome/edge white flash).

4

I experience this, too. I have most visual settings disabled in Windows, and use a black background and dark mode in Obsidian. So getting 1 bright white frame flashed in my face almost every time I return to some software is pretty jarring.

The effect does not show up on a software screen recording, either, but it does show up when recording at 120fps with my phone–a single white frame is drawn. I assume this is also more noticeable because I have the minimize/maximize animation disabled in Windows via the “Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows” menu, so unminimizing and alt+tab is instantaneous.

I just discovered that disabling hardware acceleration for Obsidian does resolve the problem. Of course, I prefer using hardware acceleration for most software that offers it.. so that’s disappointing, but I believe this points toward either the GPU drivers or Windows itself as the culprit.