This is a weird one - I don't know if it has happened on previous versions or not. My setup is: PC Win10 Home x64 1607 > JRiver 22.0.21 > Kernel Streaming > Gustard U12 XMOS USB to SPDIF converter > DAC/amp/etc.
My playback device is an external USB device. When the playback device disappears during playback, meaning the device is turned off or unplugged, Media Center hangs. I go into task manager and try to end task manually but receive "access is denied" message. Logging out of Windows and back in still leaves the .exe running. I need to reboot the entire machine to get things back to normal.
I have no idea if this behavior is new or old. It's certainly not a scenario that happens a lot, but it has actually happened to me twice this past week (LOL!) I attached log files produced when I duplicated the behavior, in case they help. The "previous log" file probably contains what is needed... the "log.txt" was probably written when I tried restarting MC and it ran in read-only mode.
Let me know if I can be of any more help!
My system info from MC 22.0.21 is also attached.