Bitwarden running in background "an instance of bitwarden is already running" Error on relaunching

[AMDphreak]

Steps To Reproduce

1. Run Bitwarden.
2. Set settings so that it runs in tray in the background (not terminating process)
3. X the window to hide it
4. click Bitwarden icon again to relaunch it, summoning it to the foreground.
5. Watch it complain that Bitwarden is already running, as if I was trying to run 2 instances of Bitwarden.

Expected Result

It brings Bitwarden to the foreground and reregisters its icon to the start bar

Actual Result

It shows error message, as if user is trying to launch duplicate Bitwarden process.

Screenshots or Videos

No response

Additional Context

No response

Operating System

Windows

Operating System Version

No response

Installation method

Direct Download (from bitwarden.com)

Build Version

2026.1.1

Issue Tracking Info

• I understand that work is tracked outside of GitHub. A PR will be linked to this issue should one be opened to address it, but Bitwarden doesn't use fields like "assigned", "milestone", or "project" to track progress.

[bitwarden-bot]

Thank you for reporting this issue! We've added this to our internal tracking system.
ID: PM-33284
Link (for internal use): https://bitwarden.atlassian.net/browse/PM-33284

[pamperer562580892423]

Duplicate of #18839

[SergeantConfused]

Hello @AMDphreak,

Thank you. This seems to be a duplicate of this GitHub report; if there's anything you'd like to add, such as screenshots or video recordings of the screen, please feel free to add them to that existing report so that they'd be reviewed by the Bitwarden Engineering department.

By the way, please try updating to desktop version 2026.2.1 as that may assist with this behavior.

This thread will now be closed as a duplicate.

Thank you again,