Forum Discussion
Specifying wrong filename when using the Photos app URI scheme, causes Photos app to run without UI
Run:
ms-photos:viewer?fileName=c:\doesnotexist.txt
The Photos app process is running (is shown in task manager), but nothing is visible on screen.
Trying it again adds another process that will never close.
More about the Photos app URI scheme: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/develop/launch/launch-default-app#photos-app-uri-scheme.
In my opinion, if a file is not available for some reason it should not silently leave the process running.
4 Replies
The issue seems to be fixed. In version 2025.11100.9001.0, the Photos app now starts with the Gallery if the file does not exist.
Unchanged in Photos app, version 2025.11080.28001.0
Unchanged in Photos app version 2025.11060.26001.0.
Yeah, if you launch the Photos app with a non-existent file using the URI scheme, it just runs invisibly in the background and stacks up zombie processes—really annoying and definitely a bug they should fix.
