Background
HydroComp applications are Windows desktop applications that rely on standard Windows runtime components and hardware-level graphics rendering for the user interface. Virtual machine environments – including VMware, Hyper-V, Parallels, and similar platforms – virtualize hardware in ways that can affect these dependencies.
Known Issues
- Random crashes or freezes during UI interaction (scrolling, button clicks, resizing windows): These have been traced in some cases to interactions between and virtualized or outdated graphics drivers. This behavior has been observed on physical computers as well but is more frequent in VM environments.
- Failure to launch: Some VM configurations do not provide the OpenGL or DirectX hardware acceleration required by the application's rendering layer.
- License activation issues: CopyMinder software-based licensing may not activate correctly in some VM environments where the hardware fingerprint used for node-locked activation is unstable or changes between sessions.
Mitigation – Physical Computers
If crashes or instability are experienced on a physical (non-virtual) computer, the following have been shown to resolve the issue in some cases:
- Update graphics card drivers to the latest available version. Outdated GPU drivers interacting with Windows 10/11 have been associated with crashes.
- Ensure Windows is current – some behaviors have been affected by Windows updates.
Recommendation
HydroComp software is recommended on physical Windows computers meeting the published system requirements. Virtual machines are not explicitly supported and may exhibit behavior that cannot be reproduced or corrected in the HydroComp codebase.
For environments that require virtual deployment (thin clients, cloud desktops), contact HydroComp support to discuss whether the specific configuration is likely to be workable.
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