Sonos Desktop app keeps popping up on my screen with each new song played


Sonos desktop app keeps popping up on my screen with each new song played. This is quite annoying when you have other windows open, doing work and it pops up forcing you to close it.



Is there a setting I'm not seeing?

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47 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +26

That’s an odd one. The app shouldn’t come up like that when a song changes. There is of course the option to have music playing notifications, which you could check under Notifications and actions on the Windows settings. Those are usually the popups at the side of the screen and wouldn’t have the app take focus.

Perhaps it’s happening because the desktop controller needs an update, I see you’ve got a notification for that on the controller. That shouldn't cause this, but it’s worth trying out if you’ve already done the basics. 

Doesn’t matter if you close the app on Windows 10, it still pops up. Bad stuff Sonos guys.

I’m having the same problem with YT Music with a multiple monitor setup.

 

In addition to the player appearing, a flashing orange Sonos icon on the Win10 task bar pops-up when songs change; seems to happen every 4th or 5th song - when the new song starts playing.

It causes the task bar to cover part of my screen interrupting my work. It won’t disappear until clicked on.

 

Since I’m listening to a radio station I don’t care if a song is skipped, I don’t want to know about it - I just want to keep working… this is infuriating. Please fix!

Now Sonos suddenly stops for no reason in addition to popping up on Windows 10 on my HP PC every time a new song starts.  Too bad Sonos didn’t test updates. What was once a solid product is now approaching garbage from a user interface perspective. Back to iTunes?

Same Issue. It opens up every song change. This is a bad feature especially considering you can’t turn it off. The app is on our front desk computer for reception and an app opening every 3 minutes is extremely frustrating. There are many error messages but no way to clear them. I’ve sent away for diagnostics. Hopefully this can be fixed promptly. 

Userlevel 7
Badge +23

Never seen this myself, but if it bugs you, I can of course suggest you go to the Windows Store and try my Sonos app instead. Which I assure you does not do this.

Same issue here, song change, application pops up, notification briefly displayed to indicate a lost connection to Spotify (verified in Error Log), notification goes away, next song plays successfully.

Other users may not be noticing the popup about the lost connection since it is briefly displayed, and the same color as the background which doesn’t contrast well.

Would appreciate an update, this is really annoying working from home now.  Interrupts with each song change. 

Would someone at Sonos please address the question that others are asking. It is clearly apparent that there is a problem with the Sonos programming of this app.

Here is a summary of the problem, which I believe is the same one that is happening to all:

  1. The app comes up front and center after every song.
  2. After every song, the app tries to find a song, cannot do so, reports an error message (causing the app to come to the front, even when it had been minimized), and then moves on to the next song. I am playing songs from my music library, but it happens with Pandora and other apps as well.
  3. I am using Windows 10. The computer is new and everything has just been installed and updated.

Below, I have cut and pasted a sample of three recent error messages. They go back forever and I cannot remove them (that would be nice to do as well). 

Closing the app and reopening it has been tried. So has rebooting the computer. There definitely is a glitch with the app!

Please try to diagnose and fix this, for all of our sakes. It truly is very annoying to have the app come up every few minutes in front of all the windows we are working on, blocking their view.

Thank you!

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hello @mikecampagna and @rabbit519,

Thank you for reaching out to the Sonos Community regarding this app behavior. 

If you are still consistently experiencing this issue while using the Sonos program on a Windows PC, can you submit a diagnostic report from the “help”  tab of the Sonos application and then include the confirmation number in your replies. 

If possible, please include a screen short of this issue.  

Confirmation Number: 2040600749

I just sent the diagnostic report. Here is a screen shot of the error message, which always triggers the Sonos screen to popup into the foreground. As an FYI, the song that Sonos claims it is unable to play is indeed in the location cited, and I’ve never had problems with this until a month or so ago. Here is a screen shot:

 

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hello @rabbit519,

It looks like this error message is popping up because your Sonos system is not able to access this share for some reason. I have no doubt that it actually exists but Sonos is having trouble with the directions then the connection is timing out before it can gain access. Where is your Western Digital drive located in your network? Is it wired to your computer, is is wired to a network switch or is it wired directly to your router? For that matter, since all of this relies on the communication between your Sonos players, your network and the music source location, how is your Sonos wired into your network. Do you have any Sonos player wired directly to your router or do you have a switch or an access point that they are wired directly to?

Anything that you can do to streamline the connections between your Sonos players and your router and your router on to your NAS drive should help eliminate communication lag as a factor in this issue. 

  • Have you made any adjustments or updates to security or firewall programs in your computer or network? 
  • Are you able to access this exact file location by navigating to it through your windows computer?
  • Are you able to update your library index or do you get a similar error? To update index, open the Sonos app and select Manage > Update Music Library Now. 

Ideally, I would like you to reboot your router, your NAS, any switches or access points and then all of your Sonos products before attempting to update the Music Library Index. Refreshing all of these connections by un-powering them all for 30 seconds -1 minute will allow us to work with a blank slate as far as error codes go. If you could submit a follow up diagnostic after rebooting and updating your library index we should be able to figure our next steps from there.

You may find these pages useful in working with your music library share:     

Music Library Troubleshooting

Using a NAS with Sonos

Hello Jean C.,

I’m not sure you understood my situation. Perhaps a phone call may be best. If you cannot do that, please read on….

Sonos has no trouble accessing the Western Digital Drive -- as a matter of fact, it plays most of the songs in my queue; it also identifies the next songs that are lined up. All are on the drive where the designated music source is supposed to be. The problem is that when it gets to the next song in the drive, it sometimes says it cannot find it, giving me the error message I pasted above (even though it had been identified in the queue). I had recently (a month or two ago) rebooted everything in my network, including the router and the Western Digital Drive. I also have updated the Music Library. But the problem still persists. 

In the past, to help troubleshoot, Sonos has logged onto my system to troubleshoot -- are you not able to do that anymore? It is getting very frustrating!

Thanks,

Peter

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hello @rabbit519,

Thank you for reaching back out. Based on what I was seeing in the diagnostic data the connection between Sonos and your drive was timing out before it could take the next track resulting in the error message in your app. More often than not its due to a security or firewall setting. Music Library shares are sometimes best handled live as you have done in the past. I would be unable to reach out to you personally but we can be reached by phone here

 

I clicked on the link and it leads me to a Chat. Is there a case number for this? If you really need to speak with me to work this through, why make me go through a long queue; isn’t there a way someone can call?

If not, please advise what settings you think I should change on my system. My only security/firewall is through a product called Bitdefender. If you can let me know whatever you can about what needs to be changed, I can work with them and change them.

Thanks.

I clicked on the link to call you (the one you provided), and it led me to a Chat, where no one was there. The phone icon had no one there. So I am at a loss as to what to do. You are making this needlessly difficult, especially as I need to wait two days to get a response from anyone there.

Jean,

The link you provided this morning did not work. Your case number assigned in your email is 01881188. I also had spoken with David M on the phone two days ago, and we did some troubleshooting, but we got disconnected, and he did not call me back. The case number with him is 01881448.

You had suggested an online session, which would be great, but since the link did not work, and since your email is from a NOREPLY address, I cannot respond, and I am getting increasingly frustrated. 

Also, I have found that unless you can call me at the same time as the online screenshare, the session will be unproductive. I really would like to hear back from David or you with a solution and a way of talking. 

Thanks,

Peter

 

I am also facing this problem on Windows 10.

My diag info number is: 565580765

Sometimes it pops up due to connection to Spotify is lost, which is strange as I never seen that before on my phone.

Sometimes it just seemed to pop up when starting a new song.

 

 

this is infuriating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  why isnt this fixed?????????????????????  

im tyring to WORK HERE and this rubbish app keeps popping up, distracting me and m aking me MAD!!!!  That seems to be the skill of sonos!  waste my time and make me mad!  WHY didnt you fix your rubbish app and tell it not to take focus if there is an error message?????  Fire your software developers!

 

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We’re having the same problem in both of my offices.  This could be a Spotify problem -- but it’s maddening.  Each time a song ends the SONOS controller app moves to the front of the monitor.  It’s a huge distraction to my staff when they’re working on the computer which was used to start the music.

 

Heh heh -- it just did it again as I was typing this note.


Please, SONOS, fix this issue.


Fitz

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +23

Why not either:

  1. Exit the app. You realize that it is not needed to actually play stuff, just to start playback. Its a remote control, not a player.
  2. Use a third party app?

I have the problem too: the app keeps popping into the foreground and interrupting my work.

When the best way for your users to use your app is to close it down, then you know you are doing something wrong.

Please fix it.

I have the problem too: the app keeps popping into the foreground and interrupting my work.

When the best way for your users to use your app is to close it down, then you know you are doing something wrong.

Please fix it.

It’s stealing focus because it’s throwing errors. Help>Error Log should tell you why.