ShowBalloonTip Issue With Vista

[BadgerBadger]

I have tried to get a balloon tip working with the ShowBalloonTip method of the NotifyIcon.

My OS is Vista Ultimate 64 bit and after some research I found out that my OS may be the issue.
I was just wondering if anyone could shed some light on this or if they have the same OS, try it for themselves.

Here is the code I have tried working with:

Public Class Form1
    Dim sp As New Stopwatch()
    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        NotifyIcon1.Icon = Me.Icon
        NotifyIcon1.Visible = True
        NotifyIcon1.ShowBalloonTip(5000, "Test Title", "I'm not appearing", ToolTipIcon.Info)
    End Sub
 
    Private Sub NotifyIcon1_BalloonTipClosed(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles NotifyIcon1.BalloonTipClosed
        sp.Stop()
        MessageBox.Show(sp.Elapsed.ToString())
    End Sub
 
    Private Sub NotifyIcon1_BalloonTipShown(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles NotifyIcon1.BalloonTipShown
        MessageBox.Show("shown")
        sp.Start()
    End Sub
End Class

It seems the shown and closed events do no even get called.
After some Googling I found out that some other Vista users (not necessarily Ultimate) are having the same issue.

Is there any workaround at all to this?

P.S- This is just general curiosity so I don't have any need to make my own version or use a 3rd party class/control.

[BadgerBadger]

Sorry for the bump, but does anyone on Vista (preferable Ultimate) have the same issue?

I have made sure balloontips are enabled on my PC, but still no luck.

[erik]

I tried to copy and paste your code, and it works for me. I'm using Vista 64bit (Home premium).

[BadgerBadger]

That's very odd indeed. This has got me stumped!

Thanks for the feedback!

[chris128]

It all works perfectly for me on Vista Ultimate x64. Literally copied and pasted your code into a fresh project, added a button and a notifyicon and thats it.

Are you sure the code is actually being executed? Have you put a break point on the ShowBalloonTip line and checked to see if this ever actually gets hit when you run the program?

[BadgerBadger]

I just placed a breakpoint on it and it does seem to be hit. I'm baffled!

[chris128]

Have you tried to just create a completely new project from scratch and copy and paste the code in (after adding the button and notifyicon obviously) ?

[BadgerBadger]

Yeah and just to make sure I tried again but still to no avail. I'm starting to think it must be something to do with my system in particular.

[chris128]

It must be... but its a bit of an odd one. Are other programs able to make balloon tips appear?

[BadgerBadger]

To be honest I'm not really sure. I think I can recall some balloontips a while ago, but I can't say I have seen any recently.
Is there any app in particular that I can use to test this?

[erik]

Hm, I think Windows Update has a ballontip. It appers when you start a download/installation with Windows Update, and it says something like "Click here to watch the progress..." or something.

Not 100% sure about it though

[BadgerBadger]

Ah, OK. I'll make sure I keep a look out for it next time there are updates available.

Thanks!