Persistent Power BI Desktop UI rendering corruption after WebView2 startup errors (Store & MSI ver.)

Hello Power BI Community,

I am experiencing a persistent UI rendering issue in Power BI Desktop that started after a system freeze followed by WebView2-related startup errors. The problem persists even after reinstalling both the Microsoft Store and MSI (installer) versions of Power BI Desktop.

Below are the full details in case others have encountered a similar issue or can help identify the root cause.

Sequence of events

1. The system experienced a temporary OS-level freeze.

2. After rebooting, Power BI Desktop displayed two consecutive WebView2 errors during startup.

3. Once the application opened and a report was loaded, UI rendering issues appeared immediately and have persisted since.

Observed behavior

The issue affects the Power BI Desktop UI itself, not report data or visuals.

Navigation icons (left panel):

• Report view

• Data (Table) view

• Model view

These icons are incorrectly rendered (distorted or replaced by abnormal shapes), making it difficult to visually identify each view.

Ribbon and top UI elements:

• Fonts do not match the native Power BI UI font.

• Icons appear mis-scaled or blurry.

• Controls show layout overflow, extending beyond their expected boundaries.

• Overall visual alignment appears broken.

General characteristics:

• The issue is not report-specific.

• Happens immediately after opening Power BI Desktop.

• Core functionality still works, but UI consistency and usability are degraded.

(Screenshots attached showing the incorrect icon rendering and ribbon layout issues.)

Expected behavior

• Proper rendering of all UI icons and glyphs.

• Consistent native Power BI fonts.

• Correct layout boundaries with no overflow.

• Stable DPI and GPU-based rendering.

Troubleshooting already performed

The following actions did not resolve the issue:

• Restarting Power BI Desktop.

• Rebooting the system.

• Installing Power BI Desktop (Microsoft Store version).

• Installing Power BI Desktop (MSI/installer version).

• Switching between Store and MSI versions.

Because the issue persists across both installation types, it does not appear to be a simple installation corruption.

Possible contributing factors (hypothesis)

Based on the symptoms, this may be related to:

• Corrupted WebView2 runtime cache or user profile state.

• Partial WebView2 initialization failure after a crash.

• GPU, DirectX, or hardware acceleration state corruption.

• DPI scaling or font resource loading issues.

Workarounds tested or suggested (no resolution yet)

• Disabling hardware acceleration in Power BI Desktop.

• Clearing local Power BI Desktop cache:
  %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Power BI Desktop

• Removing WebView2-related folders:
  %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Power BI Desktop\WebView2
  %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\EdgeWebView

• Reinstalling Microsoft Edge WebView2 Evergreen Runtime.

• Testing DPI scaling overrides at the Windows application level.

The issue remains persistent after these steps.

Request to the community 👍

I would appreciate feedback from the community on:

• Whether this issue has been observed before.

• If there are known UI rendering problems related to WebView2 or GPU acceleration.

• Additional cleanup or reset steps beyond a standard reinstall.

• Any logs or diagnostics that could help isolate the problem.

Thank you in advance for any guidance or insights.

Best regards,
Johan Sebastián Camilo Rodríguez