Galaxy Tab S7 - Multi Control crashes and reboots device when connecting to Windows 11 (non-galaxy book)

max_cjx — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:49:54 GMT

Device: Samsung Galaxy Tab S7

Feature: Multi Control

Result: Device crashes and reboots every time Multi Control connects to a PC

---

Description

Every time I connect my Tab S7 to a PC via Multi Control (non-galaxy book) which was supported in the Feb 2026 Microsoft Store update, the tablet immediately crashes and reboots. After capturing ADB logs, I identified the root cause:

When Multi Control connects to a PC, it registers new input devices (keyboard and mouse). `InputManagerService` then calls `startGameToolsService()` to notify Game Tools about the new input hardware. However, this call fails with a `BackgroundServiceStartNotAllowedException` because Game Tools is in the background. Since this exception is unhandled and occurs on the **system process display thread**, it kills the entire system and causes a reboot.

This does not happen when connecting to a phone via Multi Control, because no new input devices are registered on the tablet side in that case.

Error from logcat:
```
FATAL EXCEPTION IN SYSTEM PROCESS: android.display
android.app.BackgroundServiceStartNotAllowedException: Not allowed to start service Intent { act=com.samsung.android.game.gametools.GAMEPAD_INTENTSERVICE pkg=com.samsung.android.game.gametools }: app is in background uid null
at com.android.server.input.InputManagerService.startGameToolsService(InputManagerService.java:1796)
at com.android.server.input.InputManagerService.deliverInputDevicesChanged(InputManagerService.java:1953)
```

Workaround

Disabling Game Tools via ADB stops the crash:
`adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.samsung.android.game.gametools`

This confirms the issue is in `InputManagerService` — the `startGameToolsService()` call at line 1796 has no exception handling.

**Steps to reproduce:**
1. Enable Multi Control on Tab S7
2. Connect to a Windows PC via Multi Control
3. Device crashes and reboots immediately

Expected: Multi Control connects successfully
Actual: Device reboots due to unhandled exception in system process

Please escalate this to the firmware team. Happy to provide full logcat logs if needed.

topic Galaxy Tab S7 - Multi Control crashes and reboots device when connecting to Windows 11 (non-galaxy book) in Tablets

Galaxy Tab S7 - Multi Control crashes and reboots device when connecting to Windows 11 (non-galaxy book)