JoshStrobl Actually I have disabled the tray icon and even allow multiple instances to make sure that "close means exit".
Anyway, I have now identified that it has to do with hardware acceleration. If you go to "Tools --> Preferences->Input/Codec->Hardware-accelerated decoding" in simple mode you have 5 options:
- Automatic
- VA-API
- VDPAU
- VA-API (with DRM)
- Disabled
Now, hether you enable the tray icon or not, closing the window also exits VLC altogether.
I also just tested VA-API (with or without DRM) and that also works fine for me.
So the problem is with VDPAU: that is what makes it fail to exit and I assume this is what "Automatic" picks.
I guess using VA-API is a workaround. That bug report doesn't contain very useful info, I will extend it.