EP/Windows unstable after windows update: KB5029263 -- Fix available!

Question

EP/Windows unstable after windows update: KB5029263 -- Fix available!

Closed this issue 10 months ago · 129 comments

gaiking-uk commented a year ago

Summary

EP (more accurately, Windows) becomes unstable and basically unusable after windows update installs KB5029263
This issue is related to: #1689 (reported last month)
The fix for the related issue was to uninstall KB5028254 and disable Preview updates
This will not work however as KB5029263 is a standard update and so cannot be avoided
- (Unless you disable ALL windows updates) however I would strongly recommend against this for obvious reasons
👤@valinet -- Hopefully you have seen this ticket. AN UPDATE TO EXPLORERPATCHER IS NEEDED ASAP PLEASE!

Additional Information

Uninstalling the update makes little difference as Windows will automatically re-install the update again a few minutes later
Attempts to block this specific update using the Microsoft 'hide/show windows updates' tool were unsuccessful

Additional Complication: Windows usable/unusable

I found that Explorer was restarting every 10 seconds or so
This was significantly slowing down my system as it was still try to load all the start-up apps/services and now stuck also trying to constantly reload Explorer every few seconds
Because Explorer did not restart within 3 seconds, EP's automatic self-deactivation did not trigger and so my PC was stuck in this cycle for 10+ minutes
RECOMMENDATION: Increase EP's explorer crash timeout to something like 5x in 5 minutes (rather than just 3x in 10 seconds)

Additional Advice: Getting Windows stable

Press CTRL + SHIFT + ESC to load Task Manager
Load Services tab
Right click on: ExplorerPatcher Desktop Window Manager Service and click Stop
Run new task msconfig
Select Services and un-tick ExplorerPatcher Desktop Window Manager Service

^ The above will manually deactivate EP and at least get your computer usable again!

I raised the original issue with the Preview update (KB5028254) several weeks ago to give Valiant a head's up on this -- hopefully they are already on the case and are able to release an update soon! 🤞🏼

romafrogs commented a year ago

Same here

👎1

Answer 1 · 2023-08-09T05:54:31.000Z

Same behaviour on my system, just started after installing KB5029263. But, in my case, it stopped itself so the computer is stable, without EP, of course.

Answer 2 · 2023-08-09T05:59:41.000Z

I can also confirm that ExplorerPatcher became unstable on my Windows 11 after installing the KB5029263 update.

Answer 3 · 2023-08-09T06:06:32.000Z

yes same here

Answer 4 · 2023-08-09T06:40:02.000Z

Same here, oof.

Answer 5 · 2023-08-09T07:08:53.000Z

Welp... what was a preview update now is a standard unavoidable update and it breaks EP for everyone who didn't turn off Windows Updates.
Please prioritize!

Answer 6 · 2023-08-09T07:19:38.000Z

...but no need to shout (capitals) or make any stress. This is a free and open project. Of course the maintainer is aware of it -without this pushing.

Answer 7 · 2023-08-09T07:35:40.000Z

@exodus444: Welp... what was a preview update now is a standard unavoidable update and it breaks EP for everyone who didn't turn off Windows Updates. Please prioritize!

Yeah, it's pretty bad! 😔

Ironically I literally even commented in the KB5028254 issue that:

" This is a concern as this update is being applied currently in Preview... Presumably in the next few months, Microsoft will re-publish this update globally as a main (non-Preview) update [and it will then break EP for everyone!] "

In hindsight, while my concern above ended up being exactly what happened - in fairness I thought we might have something like 2-4 months and I wasn't expecting Microsoft to force this out to everyone just over a fortnight later! 🤦🏼‍♂️

@kp-gl: ...but no need to shout (capitals) or make any stress. This is a free and open project. Of course the maintainer is aware of it -without this pushing.

Appreciate your comment. I would just say...

I didn't intend it to come across like that, and don't think my comment has that tone (I only capitalised 10 words out of 300+)
My main aim was just to make sure it was on Valiant's radar as I didn't get any comment/reply from him on my KB5028254 issue and so wasn't sure how closely he was still working on this project
I appreciate everyone has multiple things they are working on at any one time and priorities can change, so just wanted to make sure this was clear and alerted Valiant to a somewhat major problem 👍🏼

Answer 8 · 2023-08-09T07:53:51.000Z

I am having the same issue.

I didn't know what I had until I lost it, I genuinely can't live without EP.

Answer 9 · 2023-08-09T08:07:11.000Z

ExplorerPatcher saves my mental health. Now Microsoft broke my brain again causing EP to break fully and crash.

I just don't understand what Microsoft was thinking not allowing to NOT group programs. It's horrible UI / UX for a developer. I'm struggling all the time finding my way back to a previously opened window.

Design over usability. Complete fail.

Answer 10 · 2023-08-09T08:08:44.000Z

Valinet: Just wanted to say this is the best crash I've ever had; thanks for designing such a great error handler. Not only did it automatically provide a workaround (i.e. auto disabling), but it gave me all the info I needed to take follow up steps; great work; thank-you.

Answer 11 · 2023-08-09T08:36:47.000Z

Same here, and here is a quick tip:
Press Win+R to quickly crash the patched explorer (to induce failsafe mode).

Answer 12 · 2023-08-09T08:43:18.000Z

Not sure if related, but when the update installed I got a BSOD ( The bugcheck was: 0x0000004e (0x000000000000009a, 0x000000000066e480, 0x0000000000000006, 0x0000000000000002).

Answer 13 · 2023-08-09T08:51:19.000Z

See #1702 (comment) for a likely fix - worked for me!

Answer 14 · 2023-08-09T08:59:16.000Z

@CedNet...

ExplorerPatcher saves my mental health. Now Microsoft broke my brain again causing EP to break fully and crash.

100%!... I have been so happy using EP for so long now, that I had genuinely forgotten how bad Windows 11 was... Except as part of my initial issues with KB5028254 and attempts to fix it, I uninstalled EP and got a very sudden and very painful reminder of just how insanely bad W11 is!... I used features like Toolbars pinned to the Taskbar daily - except they've been completely removed in W11

I just don't understand what Microsoft was thinking not allowing to NOT group programs. It's horrible UI / UX for a developer. I'm struggling all the time finding my way back to a previously opened window.

One thing that really annoys me is that they just invent this fictious and false use cases to justify their changes...

"Users told us that they like Windows 10 but they wish there was more blank/wasted space, so instead of easily-clickable buttons, we'd prefer it if everything was hidden behind menus so that we can spend hours enjoying re-discovering how to do everything again and where everything has moved to"
"Users expect their laptop to be like their phone"... Do they!?
- Do many people spend 8 hours writing code on their phone?
- Or use their phone to rename, move and re-organise hundreds of files?
- Or use their phone for 8 hours to make a presentation, regularly switching between PowerPoint, a Browser, an Image Editor and Excel?

Design over usability. Complete fail.

Urgh, again, 100%! -- OK Microsoft, let's go back to the above and fine, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and agree users told you they don't value productivity on their PC and value easy access to apps with a single tap... Except in your implementation, I can access LESS apps on my laptop's 16" start menu screen than I can on my phone's 6" home screen!

@JohnLBevan: Valinet: Just wanted to say this is the best crash I've ever had; thanks for designing such a great error handler. Not only did it automatically provide a workaround (i.e. auto disabling), but it gave me all the info I needed to take follow up steps; great work; thank-you.

Don't get me wrong, EP is great! It improves SO MANY things in the daily Windows experience, it's fantastic!... And again, any urgency or stress that it might seem like I am giving off is NOT down to frustration at EP in anyway -- on the contrary, it's that I have been so happy with EP and it making such a positive improvement, that now every hour having to use Windows 11 without it, and suffer the UI as Microsoft designed it to be, is just painful!

Anyway, I have to really hold back in this reply as if I let myself start, I could easily spend the rest of the day just listing all the issues with the Windows 11 UI/design, and the frustrating arrogance Microsoft seem to have about it all (as in "We know what users want better than they do")

Answer 15 · 2023-08-09T09:02:16.000Z

See #1702 (comment) for a likely fix - worked for me!

Oh holy shit, thank you. Turned my night around.

Answer 16 · 2023-08-09T09:10:27.000Z

See #1702 (comment) for a likely fix - worked for me!

Can confirm, this worked. Mental stability regained!

Microsoft HAS been given strong negative feedback about this after the release of Windows 11:
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-11/how-to-enable-never-combine-taskbar-buttons-windows-11/m-p/2824344
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-insider-program/how-to-let-windows-11-quot-never-combine-taskbar-buttons-quot/m-p/2513043

Maybe make a Windows version for developers, where usability and productivity is in focus. It's been 2 years so far of Windows 11 features overlapping Windows 10 ui components. They released Windows 11 in an unfinished non-production ready state.

Answer 17 · 2023-08-09T09:24:34.000Z

Can confirm, it worked even before the symbols got downloaded. No second restart was needed as well.
Simply uninstall - clean reg - install did the trick.
Noice.

Answer 18 · 2023-08-09T09:31:56.000Z

See #1702 (comment) for a likely fix - worked for me!

Huge thanks to @IMMX5 for sharing this tip!... have to admit, as it was posted a few weeks ago I wasn't sure if it would work for KB5029263 (which came out literally just yesterday) but very glad to confirm that it does! 🎉

✅ Fix Summary

I realise it isn't a huge time-saving, but in an effort to help as much as I can, I have put a summary of the steps to get EP working again below...

Uninstall EP
Remove these registry keys (you can save the below as a .reg file if you prefer)...

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ExplorerPatcher]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ExplorerPatcher]

Reboot
Reinstall EP (the latest / same version you that was installed previously will work)

NB: The above should work up to and including Windows 11 22H2 build 22621.2134

Also, I want to thank everyone for their efforts on this and so thanks also to @AgentFire for your tip...

Press Win+R to quickly crash the patched explorer (to induce failsafe mode).

I had EP installed on another machine and found pressing Win + R repeatedly caused EP to self-deactive MUCH more quickly, so thanks for sharing this too! 👍🏼

Answer 19 · 2023-08-09T09:32:16.000Z

Alt-tab / win-tab is not working after reboot. Is it just me?

Answer 20 · 2023-08-09T09:34:25.000Z

Alt-tab / win-tab is not working after reboot. Is it just me?

Alt + Tab: ✅ Works for me (I am using the "Simple Windows Switcher" option)
Win + Tab: ❌ Doesn't work (although TBH I can't remember what this was supposed to do)

Answer 21 · 2023-08-09T09:45:42.000Z

Thanks.
I'm using Alt-Tab in default(WIn-11) mode.
Looks like it's reported already.
#1801

Answer 22 · 2023-08-09T09:58:58.000Z

It's not crashing, but Win-Tab is not working and after pressing Win-Tab once the Alt-Tab also stops working.

Edited: also the right-click on the windows icon button stops working too.

Answer 23 · 2023-08-09T11:00:29.000Z

Not sure if related, but when the update installed I got a BSOD ( The bugcheck was: 0x0000004e (0x000000000000009a, 0x000000000066e480, 0x0000000000000006, 0x0000000000000002).

Very unlikely... BSOD's happen when error happens in the kernel space (drivers/hardware failure)

Answer 24 · 2023-08-09T11:00:55.000Z

@gaiking-uk re title change: having workaround available is not the same as having this fixed. Every single EP user (>>15000 people) that gets this update today will run into a explorer crash loop, unless this is fixed, released & they are lucky to have their EP update before the update installs.

Answer 25 · 2023-08-09T11:23:27.000Z

Alt-tab works for me, ctrl-win-(left/right) work, but Win-tab and clicking the "task view" button both do nothing as of the most recent Windows update. I tried the work-around above (Uninstall EP, remove reg entries, reboot, install EP) to no avail.

Edit to add:
This served as a reminder of how much I depend on EP, so I sent money to valentingabrielradu@gmail.com out of gratitude for all the benefit I've received so far. I also hope it encourages an expedited fix, but I don't feel entitled to it.

Answer 26 · 2023-08-09T11:23:49.000Z

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ExplorerPatcher

Confirm this works – simple reinstallation was not working, removing the keys sorted it.
Running with KB5029263 ✔️

Though this is a patch not a bugfix, a bugfix would be to implement an auto update to do the same.

Answer 27 · 2023-08-09T11:25:14.000Z

win button isn't working even with fix

Answer 28 · 2023-08-09T11:26:40.000Z

win button isn't working even with fix

Working fine here, both windows 10 and win 11, did remove all settings and start again?

Answer 29 · 2023-08-09T11:28:30.000Z

win button isn't working even with fix

Working fine here, both windows 10 and win 11, did remove all settings and start again?

yup, it is only working with 10 win style taskbar + 10 win style start menu. mixed styles don't work

Answer 30 · 2023-08-09T11:31:16.000Z

win button isn't working even with fix

Working fine here, both windows 10 and win 11, did remove all settings and start again?

yup, it is only working with 10 win style taskbar + 10 win style start menu. mixed styles don't work

Not for me. I did the work-around and ensured I had 10 style taskbar and menu selected. See also my previous comment.

Edit to add: tested with 11 style of both and that works, but I use EP to get Win10 style taskbar so I can put it at the top of my screen, so this work-around doesn't work for me.

Answer 31 · 2023-08-09T11:31:58.000Z

win button isn't working even with fix

Working fine here, both windows 10 and win 11, did remove all settings and start again?

yup, it is only working with 10 win style taskbar + 10 win style start menu. mixed styles don't work

Strange, working fine here with mixed styles
I usually use Windows 10 taskbar with win11 start, tried win11 taskbar with win10 start, all work fine.

Answer 32 · 2023-08-09T11:37:03.000Z

@gaiking-uk re title change: having workaround available is not the same as having this fixed. Every single EP user (>>15000 people) that gets this update today will run into a explorer crash loop, unless this is fixed, released & they are lucky to have their EP update before the update installs.

@jan-glx -- OK, I take your point that the developer has not issued a new version of EP in the 24 hours since this bug has arisen, that directly fixes the issue, however I think it was prudent to change the title in order to attract the attention of the 15,000 users that will be likely experiencing this issue over the next few days and will be be eagerly seeking a way to get EP working again.

Consider the two scenarios...

Listed still as urgent issue: User is affected, they come to GitHub and see there there is an open, unresolved issue for this fault already.. Likely action: they see someone has already reported this issue, they may read this, or could go straight to releases, see there is no update and decide to wait until a new version is released. Outcome: They may not get EP working for some time as they are unaware of this 'workaround'
Listed as fixed: User is affected, they come to GitHub and see there that there is a fix for the issue they are experiencing!... Outcome: Users are significantly more likely to read this post and ultimately a much higher percentage of users are able to get EP back up and working again in <10 minutes.

Also bear in mind that...

The issue is not closed/resolved
Valiant will have received the notifications / emails with the original title and so hopefully is aware of this and is working on a release that will directly fix the issue

Answer 33 · 2023-08-09T12:14:21.000Z

See #1702 (comment) for a likely fix - worked for me!

Huge thanks to @IMMX5 for sharing this tip!... have to admit, as it was posted a few weeks ago I wasn't sure if it would work for KB5029263 (which came out literally just yesterday) but very glad to confirm that it does! 🎉

✅ Fix Summary

I realise it isn't a huge time-saving, but in an effort to help as much as I can, I have put a summary of the steps to get EP working again below...
1. Uninstall EP

2. Remove these registry keys (you can save the below as a .reg file if you prefer)...
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ExplorerPatcher]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ExplorerPatcher]
3. Reboot

4. Reinstall EP (the latest / same version you that was installed previously will work)
NB: The above should work up to and including Windows 11 22H2 build 22621.2134

Also, I want to thank everyone for their efforts on this and so thanks also to @AgentFire for your tip...

Press Win+R to quickly crash the patched explorer (to induce failsafe mode).

I had EP installed on another machine and found pressing Win + R repeatedly caused EP to self-deactive MUCH more quickly, so thanks for sharing this too! 👍🏼

Still, can we identify which setting exactly causes the crashing? Deleting everything is not a fix... it takes a few minutes to selectively delete one entry from the registry, restart explorer, and see if it crashes; if it does, delete another entry and retry, until we identify which setting exactly causes this, as then the crashing will stop. Then, knowing that setting, we can look where that is used in the code and identify the zone which might cause trouble.

It's not the first time in the last 2 years that I ask something along these lines - never got anywhere with it. All 'fixes' just stop at deleting all the config and calling it a day, "fixed"... Then the bug reproduces in the next Windows update and people wonder why.

Last time EP crashed that hard is when I implemented 0ad140c as a fix. The symptoms were similar back then. The solution then was to disable a feature id which enabled back some legacy parts of the shell and made everything work again. Maybe now they removed the feature id altogether or disabled its functionality, so explorer still starts with the new shell parts and thus the crashing and the problems happen.

Can anyone check whether feature id 26008830 still exists? If so, does toggling it produce anything?

Thanks.

Answer 34 · 2023-08-09T12:22:02.000Z

See #1702 (comment) for a likely fix - worked for me!

Huge thanks to @IMMX5 for sharing this tip!... have to admit, as it was posted a few weeks ago I wasn't sure if it would work for KB5029263 (which came out literally just yesterday) but very glad to confirm that it does! 🎉

✅ Fix Summary

I realise it isn't a huge time-saving, but in an effort to help as much as I can, I have put a summary of the steps to get EP working again below...

Uninstall EP

Remove these registry keys (you can save the below as a .reg file if you prefer)...
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ExplorerPatcher]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ExplorerPatcher]
Reboot

Reinstall EP (the latest / same version you that was installed previously will work)

NB: The above should work up to and including Windows 11 22H2 build 22621.2134

Also, I want to thank everyone for their efforts on this and so thanks also to @AgentFire for your tip...

Press Win+R to quickly crash the patched explorer (to induce failsafe mode).

I had EP installed on another machine and found pressing Win + R repeatedly caused EP to self-deactive MUCH more quickly, so thanks for sharing this too! 👍🏼

If Win button is not working and Start menu either then:

Change Taskbar style : Windows 11
Change back Taskbar style : Windows 10
Restart file explorer and will work again

Answer 35 · 2023-08-09T12:27:20.000Z

See #1702 (comment) for a likely fix - worked for me!

Huge thanks to @IMMX5 for sharing this tip!... have to admit, as it was posted a few weeks ago I wasn't sure if it would work for KB5029263 (which came out literally just yesterday) but very glad to confirm that it does! 🎉

✅ Fix Summary

I realise it isn't a huge time-saving, but in an effort to help as much as I can, I have put a summary of the steps to get EP working again below...
1. Uninstall EP

2. Remove these registry keys (you can save the below as a .reg file if you prefer)...
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ExplorerPatcher]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ExplorerPatcher]
3. Reboot

4. Reinstall EP (the latest / same version you that was installed previously will work)
NB: The above should work up to and including Windows 11 22H2 build 22621.2134
Also, I want to thank everyone for their efforts on this and so thanks also to @AgentFire for your tip...

Press Win+R to quickly crash the patched explorer (to induce failsafe mode).

I had EP installed on another machine and found pressing Win + R repeatedly caused EP to self-deactive MUCH more quickly, so thanks for sharing this too! 👍🏼
Still, can we identify which setting exactly causes the crashing? Deleting everything is not a fix... it takes a few minutes to selectively delete one entry from the registry, restart explorer, and see if it crashes; if it does, delete another entry and retry, until we identify which setting exactly causes this, as then the crashing will stop. Then, knowing that setting, we can look where that is used in the code and identify the zone which might cause trouble.

It's not the first time in the last 2 years that I ask something along these lines - never got anywhere with it. All 'fixes' just stop at deleting all the config and calling it a day, "fixed"... Then the bug reproduces in the next Windows update and people wonder why.

Last time EP crashed that hard is when I implemented 0ad140c as a fix. The symptoms were similar back then. The solution then was to disable a feature id which enabled back some legacy parts of the shell and made everything work again. Maybe now they removed the feature id altogether or disabled its functionality, so explorer still starts with the new shell parts and thus the crashing and the problems happen.

Can anyone check whether feature id 26008830 still exists? If so, does toggling it produce anything?

Thanks.

Unfortunately I just went in with the hard reg delete rather than testing, assuming my home PC has this issue I will test each option and let you know.

Answer 36 · 2023-08-09T12:34:37.000Z

would u be so kinda as to stop mentioning me in the replies thx

Answer 37 · 2023-08-09T12:36:25.000Z

See #1702 (comment) for a likely fix - worked for me!

Huge thanks to @IMMX5 for sharing this tip!... have to admit, as it was posted a few weeks ago I wasn't sure if it would work for KB5029263 (which came out literally just yesterday) but very glad to confirm that it does! 🎉

✅ Fix Summary

I realise it isn't a huge time-saving, but in an effort to help as much as I can, I have put a summary of the steps to get EP working again below...
1. Uninstall EP

2. Remove these registry keys (you can save the below as a .reg file if you prefer)...
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ExplorerPatcher]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ExplorerPatcher]
3. Reboot

4. Reinstall EP (the latest / same version you that was installed previously will work)
NB: The above should work up to and including Windows 11 22H2 build 22621.2134
Also, I want to thank everyone for their efforts on this and so thanks also to @AgentFire for your tip...

Press Win+R to quickly crash the patched explorer (to induce failsafe mode).

I had EP installed on another machine and found pressing Win + R repeatedly caused EP to self-deactive MUCH more quickly, so thanks for sharing this too! 👍🏼
Still, can we identify which setting exactly causes the crashing? Deleting everything is not a fix... it takes a few minutes to selectively delete one entry from the registry, restart explorer, and see if it crashes; if it does, delete another entry and retry, until we identify which setting exactly causes this, as then the crashing will stop. Then, knowing that setting, we can look where that is used in the code and identify the zone which might cause trouble.

It's not the first time in the last 2 years that I ask something along these lines - never got anywhere with it. All 'fixes' just stop at deleting all the config and calling it a day, "fixed"... Then the bug reproduces in the next Windows update and people wonder why.

Last time EP crashed that hard is when I implemented 0ad140c as a fix. The symptoms were similar back then. The solution then was to disable a feature id which enabled back some legacy parts of the shell and made everything work again. Maybe now they removed the feature id altogether or disabled its functionality, so explorer still starts with the new shell parts and thus the crashing and the problems happen.

Can anyone check whether feature id 26008830 still exists? If so, does toggling it produce anything?

Thanks.

I still have feature 26008830 on my system, it was enabled, so I disabled it with ViVeTool and restarted explorer.exe, but it didn't solve the issues for me. However, I didn't experience any instability issues, on my system Win+Tab isn't working, the volume/brightness popup doesn't show up when setting with hardware keys, also the notifications and the action center are placed incorrectly (aligned to the bottom of the screen instead of the top of the taskbar).

I also don't use much features from Explorer Patcher, only the Win10 taskbar and open start menu to all apps.

Edit: I rebooted the OS but still no luck.

Answer 38 · 2023-08-09T12:38:06.000Z

would u be so kinda as to stop mentioning me in the replies thx

Not sure why a quote would trigger a mention again... 😂- Sorry on behalf of everyone.

Answer 39 · 2023-08-09T12:39:13.000Z

would u be so kinda as to stop mentioning me in the replies thx

Not sure why a quote would trigger a mention again... 😂- Sorry on behalf of everyone.

Because GitHub sucks, I mean, no wonder really, considering their parent company... plenty of features they don't want to look into or fix...

Answer 40 · 2023-08-09T12:40:02.000Z

would u be so kinda as to stop mentioning me in the replies thx

Not sure why a quote would trigger a mention again... 😂- Sorry on behalf of everyone.

Because GitHub sucks, I mean, no wonder really, considering their parent company... plenty of features they don't want to look into or fix...

Truer words cannot be spoken 🤣

Answer 41 · 2023-08-09T12:48:16.000Z

In case it's any help in debugging, I exported my reg keys before deleting them.

Original Values (when the system was crashing)

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ExplorerPatcher]
"CrashCounter"=dword:00000000
"MigratedFromOldSettings"=dword:00000001
"FileExplorerCommandUI"=dword:00000000
"OSBuild"="10.0.22621.1992"
"OpenPropertiesAtNextStart"=dword:00000000
"IsUpdatePending"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ExplorerPatcher\sws]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ExplorerPatcher\twinui.pcshell]
"CImmersiveContextMenuOwnerDrawHelper::s_ContextMenuWndProc"=dword:002489e0
"CLauncherTipContextMenu::GetMenuItemsAsync"=dword:0064b900
"ImmersiveContextMenuHelper::ApplyOwnerDrawToMenu"=dword:0069f3dc
"ImmersiveContextMenuHelper::RemoveOwnerDrawFromMenu"=dword:0069fbe4
"CLauncherTipContextMenu::_ExecuteShutdownCommand"=dword:0065dc2c
"CLauncherTipContextMenu::_ExecuteCommand"=dword:0065d8f4
"CLauncherTipContextMenu::ShowLauncherTipContextMenu"=dword:0064cf50
"IsUndockedAssetAvailable"=dword:00026f90
"winrt::Windows::Internal::Shell::implementation::MeetAndChatManager::OnMessage"=dword:004d61cc

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ExplorerPatcher]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ExplorerPatcher\StartDocked]
"StartDocked::LauncherFrame::ShowAllApps"=dword:001e6780
"StartDocked::LauncherFrame::OnVisibilityChanged"=dword:001e4fa0
"StartDocked::SystemListPolicyProvider::GetMaximumFrequentApps"=dword:00004a50
"StartDocked::StartSizingFrame::StartSizingFrame"=dword:001b9d28

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ExplorerPatcher\StartUI]
"StartUI::SystemListPolicyProvider::GetMaximumFrequentApps"=dword:00036660

New values (after a fresh install)

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ExplorerPatcher]
"CrashCounter"=dword:00000000
"MigratedFromOldSettings"=dword:00000001
"FileExplorerCommandUI"=dword:00000000
"OSBuild"="10.0.22621.2134"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ExplorerPatcher\sws]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ExplorerPatcher\twinui.pcshell]
"CImmersiveContextMenuOwnerDrawHelper::s_ContextMenuWndProc"=dword:0026a250
"CLauncherTipContextMenu::GetMenuItemsAsync"=dword:00672310
"ImmersiveContextMenuHelper::ApplyOwnerDrawToMenu"=dword:006c5fbc
"ImmersiveContextMenuHelper::RemoveOwnerDrawFromMenu"=dword:006c67c4
"CLauncherTipContextMenu::_ExecuteShutdownCommand"=dword:0068463c
"CLauncherTipContextMenu::_ExecuteCommand"=dword:00684304
"CLauncherTipContextMenu::ShowLauncherTipContextMenu"=dword:00673960
"IsUndockedAssetAvailable"=dword:00036c78
"winrt::Windows::Internal::Shell::implementation::MeetAndChatManager::OnMessage"=dword:004fb7ac


[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ExplorerPatcher]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ExplorerPatcher\StartDocked]
"StartDocked::LauncherFrame::ShowAllApps"=dword:001e74e4
"StartDocked::LauncherFrame::OnVisibilityChanged"=dword:001e5cf0
"StartDocked::SystemListPolicyProvider::GetMaximumFrequentApps"=dword:00004a50
"StartDocked::StartSizingFrame::StartSizingFrame"=dword:001bb3d8

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ExplorerPatcher\StartUI]
"StartUI::SystemListPolicyProvider::GetMaximumFrequentApps"=dword:00036660

Differences:

Answer 42 · 2023-08-09T12:53:47.000Z

All I see is the proper symbols getting downloaded and having been installed in the second screenshot, compared to the first one. Other than that, not much else, the config is pretty much clean. Maybe people delete everything, and this triggers ExplorerPatcher to redownload the symbols and extract offsets from them? Idk, it should do this automaticallt, that's what the OSBuild entry is for, it keeps track of the OS build on which those offsets are valid, when the OSBuild differs from Windows` build number, the symbols should be downloaded again, offsets extracted and saved to the registry...

Answer 43 · 2023-08-09T13:13:39.000Z

Hmm, could it be that the app started before it had detected the OS update & thus it was using old symbols (my knowledge of C, ExplorerPatcher, & Windows internals is severely lacking, so sorry if that's not helpful.)

Here's the Application Event Log entry from the time of the first crash:

Faulting application name: Explorer.EXE, version: 10.0.22621.2070, time stamp: 0x2bd7252c
Faulting module name: twinui.pcshell.dll, version: 10.0.22621.2070, time stamp: 0x0eca457b
Exception code: 0xc0000409
Fault offset: 0x00000000001ab0cd
Faulting process id: 0x0x2104
Faulting application start time: 0x0x1D9CA975A9A9ADB
Faulting application path: C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\twinui.pcshell.dll
Report Id: cb33a2f9-85d3-4e15-ac29-4b077ee0fb60
Faulting package full name: 
Faulting package-relative application ID:

Please let me know if I can provide any other info or run any tests to help (note: I've already applied the suggested workaround).

Answer 44 · 2023-08-09T13:17:55.000Z

If Win button is not working and Start menu either then:
1. Change Taskbar style : Windows 11

2. Change back Taskbar style : Windows 10

3. Restart file explorer and will work again

This fixed the Win key and Alt-Tab, but it didn't fix Win-Tab or the Task View button. In fact, pressing either Win-Tab or the Task View button breaks Alt-Tab again until File Explorer is restarted.

Answer 45 · 2023-08-09T13:24:59.000Z

If Win button is not working and Start menu either then:
1. Change Taskbar style : Windows 11

2. Change back Taskbar style : Windows 10

3. Restart file explorer and will work again
This fixed the Win key and Alt-Tab, but it didn't fix Win-Tab or the Task View button. In fact, pressing either Win-Tab or the Task View button breaks Alt-Tab again until File Explorer is restarted.

Doing the step 3 is enough. Just go to Properties and click on Restart File Explorer in the bottom left

Answer 46 · 2023-08-09T14:09:25.000Z

If Win button is not working and Start menu either then:
1. Change Taskbar style : Windows 11

2. Change back Taskbar style : Windows 10

3. Restart file explorer and will work again
This fixed the Win key and Alt-Tab, but it didn't fix Win-Tab or the Task View button. In fact, pressing either Win-Tab or the Task View button breaks Alt-Tab again until File Explorer is restarted.

Symptoms are similar to when this bug happened the first time in March. The workaround then was to disable a feature id, which seems to no longer help. Idk what the proper solution is or how involved it is.

Answer 47 · 2023-08-09T14:14:33.000Z

I've do also a backup before deleting registry values.

Left one are previous registry information, right are after delete registry keys and reinstall.

I've changed start menu from windows 11 style to windows 10 style after reinstall. Working OK now.

The only thing I've seen, are this:

My computer has been restarted because windows update tonight. After login, explorer was crashing until the error window from EP.
I've uninstalled EP, after this, backup registry keys and delete them. Restart computer and reinstall EP.
Start menu was not working until EP automatically installs debug symbols. After this, I've restarted explorer and all is working fine.

I hope this information can help to find the problem.

Maybe one of the problem can be the detection of the OS version (as suggested by @JohnLBevan. As you can see on the first SS, the OSBuild stored on registry are release 1992, and after reinstall, this one is 2134. If EP doesn't detect the OS version change correctly, and does not download the new symbols, maybe that's all the problem.

Answer 48 · 2023-08-09T14:18:54.000Z

If EP doesn't detect the OS version change correctly, and does not download the new symbols, maybe that's all the problem.

At startup of ExplorerPatcher there is this check:

    RegQueryValueExW(
        hKey,
        TEXT("OSBuild"),
        0,
        NULL,
        szStoredVersion,
        &dwSize
    );
    RegCloseKey(hKey);
    if (!bNeedToDownload && (!bIsTwinuiPcshellHardcoded || !bIsStartHardcoded))
    {
        bNeedToDownload = wcscmp(szReportedVersion, szStoredVersion);
    }
    return bNeedToDownload;

If the OS build reported by the system is different than the version stored in that registry entry, then ExplorerPatcher will download the new symbols (bNeedToDownload becomes TRUE):

if (LoadSymbols(&symbols_PTRS, hModule))
    {
        if (bEnableSymbolDownload)
        {
            printf("Attempting to download symbol data; for now, the program may have limited functionality.\n");
            DownloadSymbolsParams* params = malloc(sizeof(DownloadSymbolsParams));
            params->hModule = hModule;
            params->bVerbose = FALSE;
            CreateThread(0, 0, DownloadSymbols, params, 0, 0);
        }
    }
    else
    {
        printf("Loaded symbols\n");
    }

This generally worked. Idk why it would suddenly start failing now, but anything is a possibility...

Answer 49 · 2023-08-09T14:21:43.000Z

The strange thing is I cannot reproduce these crashes on my test VMs. I have upgraded a VM now; I run ep_setup.exe, it installs, then explorer loads fine. Indeed, Win-Tab does not work, action center overlaps the taskbar, Alt-Tab is broken after using Task View until an explorer restart, yeah, similar to how it was before the fix I referenced above (disabling that feature id).

Answer 50 · 2023-08-09T14:22:33.000Z

Just want to reiterate that setting the taskbar style to Win 11 is not an option for me. The only reason I have EP installed is to allow me to move the taskbar to the top of the screen. I've had it that way since 1995 and I'm rather used to it. Also I'm not having any crashes, so maybe we're talking about two different bugs here: one for clicking "Task View" doing nothing and one for crashes?

Answer 51 · 2023-08-09T14:22:46.000Z

@valinet when release? build 2134 or 2129.57.1 or 56.2?

Answer 52 · 2023-08-09T14:29:52.000Z

I'm not getting any crashes using W10 Taskbar and W11 Start Menu.

I do have the issues with overlapping taskbar pop-ups from wifi, clock, etc.

The worst part is UI elements are no longer being shown. Screen brightness and audio level pop-ups are missing and sometimes action center notifications don't appear at all.

Answer 53 · 2023-08-09T14:30:09.000Z

Just want to reiterate that setting the taskbar style to Win 11 is not an option for me. The only reason I have EP installed is to allow me to move the taskbar to the top of the screen. I've had it that way since 1995 and I'm rather used to it. Also I'm not having any crashes, so maybe we're talking about two different bugs here: one for clicking "Task View" doing nothing and one for crashes?

Yeah, 2 bugs.

As a general recommendation, if you have the possibility, upgrade back to Windows 10 - that's my conclusion after these past 2 years. The feature set there is set in stone, so it won't be changed, allowing you to continue to use your workflow. Microsoft is actively removing legacy parts from the OS altogether. Xeno on Twitter mentioned and even SAB's developer confirmed that, for example, newer Windows builds removed the code for the legacy system tray, for example. That's probably just the beginning - the old taskbar might be scraped altogether from explorer.exe. It's weird for it to be there anyway, they at some point started migrating it to a separate DLL (Taskbar.dll) but gave up, or rather, gave up on the old taskbar there and started working on the new one, which lives there. There are some releases where the legacy taskbar is in 2 places, both explorer.exe and Taskbar.dll; initial hacks reviving the old taskbar for og Windows 11 were using the Taskbar.dll from Windows Server 2022 if I remember correctly...

The situation is not going to get any better. A way forward might be to devise a pack of system files from some Windows build that work well and are fully patchable with the existing code, and to try to apply that to newer builds and use those altogether instead of attempting to patch explorer and it's friends from each new build which only scrap more old things and implement more changes...

Answer 54 · 2023-08-09T14:38:45.000Z

As a general recommendation, if you have the possibility, upgrade back to Windows 10 -

You mean "downgrade" right? Or were you making light of 11 being worse than 10?

that's my conclusion after these past 2 years. The feature set there is set in stone, so it won't be changed, allowing you to continue to use your workflow. Microsoft is actively removing legacy parts from the OS altogether. Xeno on Twitter mentioned and even SAB's developer confirmed that, for example, newer Windows builds removed the code for the legacy system tray, for example. That's probably just the beginning - the old taskbar might be scraped altogether from explorer.exe. It's weird for it to be there anyway, they at some point started migrating it to a separate DLL (Taskbar.dll) but gave up, or rather, gave up on the old taskbar there and started working on the new one, which lives there. There are some releases where the legacy taskbar is in 2 places, both explorer.exe and Taskbar.dll; initial hacks reviving the old taskbar for og Windows 11 were using the Taskbar.dll from Windows Server 2022 if I remember correctly...

I'm more likely to go to Linux than Windows 10. It's not that I don't like Win 10 (clearly), but that going back to Linux is a permanent solution. Thanks for the info!

Answer 55 · 2023-08-09T14:47:43.000Z

@rdeforest No, I mean upgrade. Stock Windows 10 today feels to me like an upgrade compared to Windows 11 - no more annoying feature updates, familiar, robust and productive UI. It just works. Of course they need to mess it up and deny us using it...

If you're at liberty of doing so, of course the freedom in the Linux userland is unbeatable, go with that without looking back.

Answer 56 · 2023-08-09T15:04:25.000Z

@valinet Removing

"IsUndockedAssetAvailable"=dword:00026f90

fixes it for me.

Edit: after removing, it's added again with a new value of 00036c78 which is working.

Answer 57 · 2023-08-09T15:15:57.000Z

@rdeforest No, I mean upgrade. Stock Windows 10 today feels to me like an upgrade compared to Windows 11 - no more annoying feature updates, familiar, robust and productive UI. It just works. Of course they need to mess it up and deny us using it...

If you're at liberty of doing so, of course the freedom in the Linux userland is unbeatable, go with that without looking back.

That's not an option for those of us who upgraded to the modern hardware - there are no drivers for W10 anymore.
Also MS will eventually drop support for W10.
W11 in the mean of the taskbar looks like a huge step backward in comparison to W10... but in all other regards it's better on the modern hardware.
Let's hope we will see a proper taskbar in W12. W11 is like W8 where they tried to force that crappy unusable UI onto users with tiles etc.

Answer 58 · 2023-08-09T15:16:33.000Z

It's so annoying that microsoft just doesn't want to allow the taskbar being at the upper part of the screen.

Literally that's the only reason I am even using ExplorerPatcher and now with the new windows 11 update it's broken again 😭

Answer 59 · 2023-08-09T15:17:32.000Z

It's so annoying that microsoft just doesn't want to allow the taskbar being at the upper part of the screen.

Literally that's the only reason I am even using ExplorerPatcher and now with the new windows 11 update it's broken again 😭

For me it's important to have text on the buttons.

Answer 60 · 2023-08-09T15:19:47.000Z

The strange thing is I cannot reproduce these crashes on my test VMs. I have upgraded a VM now; I run ep_setup.exe, it installs, then explorer loads fine. Indeed, Win-Tab does not work, action center overlaps the taskbar, Alt-Tab is broken after using Task View until an explorer restart, yeah, similar to how it was before the fix I referenced above (disabling that feature id).

Fresh install works fine. I had crashes until I uninstalled the EP, cleared registry and installed it back as was suggested.

Answer 61 · 2023-08-09T15:51:37.000Z

@rdeforest No, I mean upgrade. Stock Windows 10 today feels to me like an upgrade compared to Windows 11 - no more annoying feature updates, familiar, robust and productive UI. It just works. Of course they need to mess it up and deny us using it...
If you're at liberty of doing so, of course the freedom in the Linux userland is unbeatable, go with that without looking back.

That's not an option for those of us who upgraded to the modern hardware - there are no drivers for W10 anymore. Also MS will eventually drop support for W10. W11 in the mean of the taskbar looks like a huge step backward in comparison to W10... but in all other regards it's better on the modern hardware. Let's hope we will see a proper taskbar in W12. W11 is like W8 where they tried to force that crappy unusable UI onto users with tiles etc.

I run Windows 10 on 13th gen Intel just fine. Anyway, that's not the point of it - Microsoft can do whatever they want with the OS and eventually the legacy code will be dropped, as evidence suggests. We do what we can do... On the other hand, the Windows 11 taskbar will soon kind of reach feature parity with the old one at least...

Answer 62 · 2023-08-09T15:54:46.000Z

I have looked on explorer's code, compared previous build with this new one, all checks for feature id 26008830 are gone, and the code that got activated by that is gone as well. Yeah, not promising...

Answer 63 · 2023-08-09T16:00:22.000Z

Some of the code in ExplorerPatcher has been ported to Windhawk modules (hopefully they kept the code GPL2). Maybe this could be a way forward, organizing a poll here, deciding which features are most sought after in ExplorerPatcher, and from that determining what could be ported to live a new life there. Windhawk is less monolithic compared to ExplorerPatcher. My only gripe with it is that it is not open source, that's why I refrained from migrating to it - I want to learn as well how its architecture works, how it does stuff and so on, although this could be discussed I think. Or reimplement Windhawk and open source it, basically use a design more akin to it for an ExplorerPatcher v2... Also, the usual lack of time...

Answer 64 · 2023-08-09T16:01:19.000Z

@rdeforest No, I mean upgrade. Stock Windows 10 today feels to me like an upgrade compared to Windows 11 - no more annoying feature updates, familiar, robust and productive UI. It just works. Of course they need to mess it up and deny us using it...
If you're at liberty of doing so, of course the freedom in the Linux userland is unbeatable, go with that without looking back.

That's not an option for those of us who upgraded to the modern hardware - there are no drivers for W10 anymore. Also MS will eventually drop support for W10. W11 in the mean of the taskbar looks like a huge step backward in comparison to W10... but in all other regards it's better on the modern hardware. Let's hope we will see a proper taskbar in W12. W11 is like W8 where they tried to force that crappy unusable UI onto users with tiles etc.

I run Windows 10 on 13th gen Intel just fine. Anyway, that's not the point of it - Microsoft can do whatever they want with the OS and eventually the legacy code will be dropped, as evidence suggests. We do what we can do... On the other hand, the Windows 11 taskbar will soon kind of reach feature parity with the old one at least...

Well, if they bring back text (and ungroup) to my buttons, I will be ok with it.

My statement applies primarily at laptops. For example, ASUS discontinued providing drivers for W10 more than a year and half ago. You could try installing drivers from each of the hardware vendors, but there is absolutely no guarantee they will work.

Answer 65 · 2023-08-09T16:02:11.000Z

It's not crashing, but Win-Tab is not working and after pressing Win-Tab once the Alt-Tab also stops working.

Edited: also the right-click on the windows icon button stops working too.

Same here.

Answer 66 · 2023-08-09T17:05:31.000Z

See #1702 (comment) for a likely fix - worked for me!

Huge thanks to @IMMX5 for sharing this tip!... have to admit, as it was posted a few weeks ago I wasn't sure if it would work for KB5029263 (which came out literally just yesterday) but very glad to confirm that it does! 🎉

✅ Fix Summary

I realise it isn't a huge time-saving, but in an effort to help as much as I can, I have put a summary of the steps to get EP working again below...
1. Uninstall EP

2. Remove these registry keys (you can save the below as a .reg file if you prefer)...
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ExplorerPatcher]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ExplorerPatcher]
3. Reboot

4. Reinstall EP (the latest / same version you that was installed previously will work)
NB: The above should work up to and including Windows 11 22H2 build 22621.2134
Also, I want to thank everyone for their efforts on this and so thanks also to @AgentFire for your tip...

Press Win+R to quickly crash the patched explorer (to induce failsafe mode).

I had EP installed on another machine and found pressing Win + R repeatedly caused EP to self-deactive MUCH more quickly, so thanks for sharing this too! 👍🏼
Still, can we identify which setting exactly causes the crashing? Deleting everything is not a fix... it takes a few minutes to selectively delete one entry from the registry, restart explorer, and see if it crashes; if it does, delete another entry and retry, until we identify which setting exactly causes this, as then the crashing will stop. Then, knowing that setting, we can look where that is used in the code and identify the zone which might cause trouble.
It's not the first time in the last 2 years that I ask something along these lines - never got anywhere with it. All 'fixes' just stop at deleting all the config and calling it a day, "fixed"... Then the bug reproduces in the next Windows update and people wonder why.
Last time EP crashed that hard is when I implemented 0ad140c as a fix. The symptoms were similar back then. The solution then was to disable a feature id which enabled back some legacy parts of the shell and made everything work again. Maybe now they removed the feature id altogether or disabled its functionality, so explorer still starts with the new shell parts and thus the crashing and the problems happen.
Can anyone check whether feature id 26008830 still exists? If so, does toggling it produce anything?
Thanks.
I still have feature 26008830 on my system, it was enabled, so I disabled it with ViVeTool and restarted explorer.exe, but it didn't solve the issues for me. However, I didn't experience any instability issues, on my system Win+Tab isn't working, the volume/brightness popup doesn't show up when setting with hardware keys, also the notifications and the action center are placed incorrectly (aligned to the bottom of the screen instead of the top of the taskbar).

I also don't use much features from Explorer Patcher, only the Win10 taskbar and open start menu to all apps.

Edit: I rebooted the OS but still no luck.

Works for me! win 11

Answer 67 · 2023-08-09T18:22:19.000Z

@valinet Removing

"IsUndockedAssetAvailable"=dword:00026f90

fixes it for me.

Edit: after removing, it's added again with a new value of 00036c78 which is working.

This also worked for me, didnt have to remove all the registry keys and reinstall.

The key is in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ExplorerPatcher\twinui.pcshell

Answer 68 · 2023-08-09T21:42:38.000Z

After installing KB5029263 on Windows 11 Home (which was forced on me) the Task View button and Alt-Tab have become non-functional - meaning they do nothing. I'm now on Build: 22621.2134

I uninstalled Explorer Patcher and removed these registry keys as suggested:

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ExplorerPatcher]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ExplorerPatcher]

After rebooting, I reinstalled Explorer Patcher and experiences exactly the same behavior - Task View and Alt-Tab task switching are disabled.

It looks like I'm stuck dealing with the brain-dead Windows 11 task bar until a new update becomes available for Explorer Patcher. I really hope it is forthcoming soon!

Answer 69 · 2023-08-09T23:04:08.000Z

For those users who are experienced enough but don't have admin permissions (and IT support isn't available) so you can't get ExplorerPatcher uninstalled (yes, this is me).

You can get your computer stable again by opening task manager and regedit.

Then create a DWORD registry key under [Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ExplorerPatcher] called "OpenPropertiesAtNextStart" and set it to 1. Explorer patcher settings should open.

Then you can change taskbar style to Windows 11. That should let at least let Explorer boot properly so you can use your computer whilst waiting for IT.

If it's not a feature, may I suggest configuration and symbol download be separate executables so that they are not reliant so much on explorer.exe being able to execute, particularly for limited user accounts that don't have admin permission. Also a service based watchdog to automatically disable ExplorerPatcher wouldn't be bad either, it could mitigate future incidents like this.

Answer 70 · 2023-08-10T02:36:46.000Z

Removing "IsUndockedAssetAvailable" without reinstalling EP works for me.

Answer 71 · 2023-08-10T03:14:02.000Z

I simply deleted the OSBuild value of HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ExplorerPatcher, then restarted EP.
It successfully launched with a message to download symbols again.
I'm using Taskbar style set to Windows 10.

Answer 72 · 2023-08-10T08:17:33.000Z

As a general recommendation, if you have the possibility, upgrade back to Windows 10

For the first time, I'm actually considering it... So many promises with W11 but it's actually a horrible OS. I thought starting from scratch for many features would actually improve performance but it's the complete opposite, and new updates are not helping at all, on the contrary.

I guess it's useless to fight back - things simply won't improve. Releasing the new explorer, task manager or even paint redesign with this level of performance is simply unacceptable, and the fact they're not doing anything about it is very scary. Even alt tabbing or switching programs with win+1,2,3,etc. is a PITA with W11. Really frustrating because there are so many amazing programs on Windows, I don't feel like switching to Linux yet.
I'll probably try to go back to W10 this weekend. I guess this leaves MS two years to fix their new OS update. I'll miss some of W11's new designs but performance, stability and productivity are just way more important.

Answer 73 · 2023-08-10T08:36:02.000Z

Can confirm that after the latest updates explorer starts and crashes to the point where EP detects it and shuts itself down.

Answer 74 · 2023-08-10T10:12:04.000Z

I had crashes also, until it managed to download new symbols (I don't really know how, I just had the message "symbols successfully downloaded please restart"), then no more crashes, so I guess solution offered by dimiden must work.

Didn't know about Windhawk. Nice (despite not being open source).

Answer 75 · 2023-08-10T10:52:45.000Z

I had crashes also, until it managed to download new symbols (I don't really know how, I just had the message "symbols successfully downloaded please restart"), then no more crashes, so I guess solution offered by dimiden must work.

This didn't work for me.

I deleted the registry key. Also enabled symbols download from Advanced settings.

After restarting EP, I don't get a "symbols successfully downloaded please restart" message. It just crashes 3 times and disables itself every time.

EDIT: After following #1802 (comment) step by step, I got it working. But as others reported, Win+Tab doesn't work anymore.

Answer 76 · 2023-08-10T11:08:37.000Z

In my case, after a few crashes, the symbol was downloaded. and then restarted explorer and it became stable. I did not do anything else.

Answer 77 · 2023-08-10T11:13:05.000Z

Just to clarify, when you say it's working, can you also confirm that win+A (action center) and win+TAB work? While explorer isn't crashing anymore, these don't work (if it doesn't work, you'll have to restart explorer in order to make alt+tab work again).

Answer 78 · 2023-08-10T11:19:21.000Z

(Removing this comment as win+tab / alt+tab has its own issue.)

Answer 79 · 2023-08-10T11:45:47.000Z

Win+A and Win+Tab don't work.
I didn't know about these shortcuts since I don't use them :)
(I'm using my own virtual desktop manager, and it works well.)

Answer 80 · 2023-08-10T11:49:01.000Z

The issues were resolved on my Windows 11 after deleting the keys IsUndockedAssetAvailable (located at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ExplorerPatcher\twinui.pcshell) and OSBuild (located at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ExplorerPatcher). After that, I restarted EP and about 3 minutes later I received a notification of symbols being downloaded. After that, I restarted EP again and had no more problems.

Answer 81 · 2023-08-10T15:46:28.000Z

Regarding the KB5029263 update, has anyone else experienced the issue of the taskbar being overlapped by open windows on the desktop?
Is there a solution to this issue?
Thanks.

Answer 82 · 2023-08-10T17:54:20.000Z

Wait? Does this mean it will wont apply all explorer patcher settings?

Answer 83 · 2023-08-10T18:49:18.000Z

Same Problems In Windows 11 10.0.22631.2191 (KB5029336) https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2023/08/10/announcing-windows-11-insider-preview-build-22621-2191-and-22631-2191/

Answer 84 · 2023-08-10T18:56:31.000Z

I just came here to say fuck microshit

Answer 85 · 2023-08-10T21:01:51.000Z

To get ALT+TAB to work, go to Task Manager, right-click on Explorer.exe, and restart it. That should make it work again.

However, the on-screen volume change indicator doesn't seem to appear anymore. Haven't found a fix to that.

Answer 86 · 2023-08-11T01:04:26.000Z

Alt-tab / win-tab is not working after reboot. Is it just me?

Same - but just a restart of File Explorer fixed it - not sure if that is permanent!!

Answer 87 · 2023-08-11T06:37:35.000Z

Microsoft is now actively pushing this update to everyone, so it'll break for everyone in the coming days unless you disable Windows updates.
Valinet we're counting on you buddy! I miss my patched start menu.

Answer 88 · 2023-08-11T06:54:55.000Z

@HamR88: I miss my patched start menu.

In case it has been lost in the messages, [leaving aside for a second whether it's a "fix", "patch" or "workaround"] the important thing to know is that if you miss your EP-patched Start Menu and want it back ASAP, you CAN GET EP WORKING AGAIN RIGHT NOW, you just need to follow the steps below (should take less than 5 minutes)...

✅ Steps to get EP working again...

Uninstall EP
Remove these registry keys (you can save the below as a .reg file if you prefer)...

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ExplorerPatcher]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ExplorerPatcher]

Reboot
Reinstall EP (the latest / same version you that was installed previously will work)

After completing the above EP will be back working again -- the above patch will make EP run stably, I have rebooted several times and even explicitly re-run Windows update and EP is working fine! 👍🏼

Answer 89 · 2023-08-11T08:24:07.000Z

If ExplorerPatcher won't get fixed, we still have some alternatives, however they are closed source and mostly paid.
Right now I'm using Windhawk, it's free and I got to solve the things I need the most (open start menu to all apps by default, small taskbar, ungroup programs and show icon labels).
Stardock Start11 seems to have most features of ExplorerPatcher and StartAllBack also looks promising, but they are paid software.
Honestly it doesn't bother me that Microsoft tries to innovate, the bigger issue is that it doesn't leave us any choice and forces us to use the newer solutions with less features. It's a joke that indie developers can provide better customizations than them.

Answer 90 · 2023-08-11T09:13:15.000Z

Regarding the KB5029263 update, has anyone else experienced the issue of the taskbar being overlapped by open windows on the desktop? Is there a solution to this issue? Thanks.

Sometimes I've experienced this problem, mainly with games. Solution are to go to another application, minimize, click on desktop and some times use ESC key. At least that's the solution on my case.
But I don't know if it's the same problem.

Answer 91 · 2023-08-11T13:56:56.000Z

Yes, the fix works, though this

Alt-tab / win-tab is not working after reboot. Is it just me?

Alt + Tab: ✅ Works for me (I am using the "Simple Windows Switcher" option)
Win + Tab: ❌ Doesn't work (although TBH I can't remember what this was supposed to do)

in a way described here:

It's not crashing, but Win-Tab is not working and after pressing Win-Tab once the Alt-Tab also stops working.

Edited: also the right-click on the windows icon button stops working too.

is an issue I've been encountering as well.

Next issue I noticed later: The volume bar does not show when I press my media keys to change volume. Also the brightness bar doesn't show when I change brightness on my laptop ☹️

Answer 92 · 2023-08-11T20:58:41.000Z

Stardock Start11 seems to have most features of ExplorerPatcher and StartAllBack also looks promising, but they are paid software.

All except the most important feature for me--the ability to have a vertical task bar on the side of the screen instead of taking up valuable vertical screen space on the bottom. :(

Answer 93 · 2023-08-12T02:56:30.000Z

Disable Taskbar Context Menu Entry

Via "Propertiies (ExplorerPatcher)"

Press WinKey/OSKey to open Start Menu
Start typing ExplorerPatcher
Select the result Properties (ExplorerPatcher)
In ExplorerPatcher's Properties window, go to Advanced
Tick the checkbox for Do not change the taskbar context menu (e.g. do not display the "Properties" item)
Click Restart File Explorer (some tray icons may go missing until you re-logon or reboot. It's an issue with the way that software's tray icon was implemented)

Via Registry Entry

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ExplorerPatcher]
"NoPropertiesInContextMenu"=dword:00000001

Importing this will not remove or modify the other settings' values or the related subkeys.

I've not tested if this change works with all of ExplorerPatcher's taskbar-related patches.

For reference, these are my current settings...

EP_backup.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ExplorerPatcher]
"MigratedFromOldSettings"=dword:00000001
"FileExplorerCommandUI"=dword:00000001
"OSBuild"="10.0.22621.2134"
"OrbStyle"=dword:00000000
"MicaEffectOnTitlebar"=dword:00000000
"PropertiesInWinX"=dword:00000001
"OldTaskbar"=dword:00000000
"TaskbarGlomLevel"=dword:00000000
"MMTaskbarGlomLevel"=dword:00000000
"ClassicThemeMitigations"=dword:00000000
"SkinMenus"=dword:00000001
"OpenPropertiesAtNextStart"=dword:00000000
"IsUpdatePending"=dword:00000000
"CrashCounter"=dword:00000000
"LastSectionInProperties"=dword:00000000
"NoPropertiesInContextMenu"=dword:00000001
"AllocConsole"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ExplorerPatcher\sws]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ExplorerPatcher\twinui.pcshell]
"CImmersiveContextMenuOwnerDrawHelper::s_ContextMenuWndProc"=dword:0026a250
"CLauncherTipContextMenu::GetMenuItemsAsync"=dword:00672310
"ImmersiveContextMenuHelper::ApplyOwnerDrawToMenu"=dword:006c5fbc
"ImmersiveContextMenuHelper::RemoveOwnerDrawFromMenu"=dword:006c67c4
"CLauncherTipContextMenu::_ExecuteShutdownCommand"=dword:0068463c
"CLauncherTipContextMenu::_ExecuteCommand"=dword:00684304
"CLauncherTipContextMenu::ShowLauncherTipContextMenu"=dword:00673960
"IsUndockedAssetAvailable"=dword:00036c78
"winrt::Windows::Internal::Shell::implementation::MeetAndChatManager::OnMessage"=dword:004fb7ac

Answer 94 · 2023-08-12T09:52:20.000Z

Hi @valinet, Windhawk author here. A Windhawk user sent me a link to this discussion.

[...] Windhawk is less monolithic compared to ExplorerPatcher. My only gripe with it is that it is not open source, that's why I refrained from migrating to it - I want to learn as well how its architecture works, how it does stuff and so on, although this could be discussed I think.

I tried to address it in a previous discussion on Reddit:

Windhawk isn't open source, but I wrote about the approaches it uses here and released the core injection code.

Porting ExplorerPatcher to Windhawk sounds very interesting, please reach out to me (Reddit, Discord, Twitter, Email, anything). I'm willing to share any Windhawk code with you if it helps.

I also sent you a direct message, not sure if you saw it. I'm all for collaboration and doing what's necessary to help with this, so feel free to reach out.

Answer 95 · 2023-08-12T13:49:16.000Z

Stardock Start11 seems to have most features of ExplorerPatcher and StartAllBack also looks promising, but they are paid software.

All except the most important feature for me--the ability to have a vertical task bar on the side of the screen instead of taking up valuable vertical screen space on the bottom. :(

I just tested it in a VM with the latest versions (both are trials) and you're right, Start11 doesn't have that feature but StartAllBack does.

Answer 96 · 2023-08-12T16:43:37.000Z

Yes, the fix works, though this

Alt-tab / win-tab is not working after reboot. Is it just me?

Alt + Tab: ✅ Works for me (I am using the "Simple Windows Switcher" option)
Win + Tab: ❌ Doesn't work (although TBH I can't remember what this was supposed to do)

in a way described here:

It's not crashing, but Win-Tab is not working and after pressing Win-Tab once the Alt-Tab also stops working.
Edited: also the right-click on the windows icon button stops working too.

is an issue I've been encountering as well.

Next issue I noticed later: The volume bar does not show when I press my media keys to change volume. Also the brightness bar doesn't show when I change brightness on my laptop ☹️

Wanted to comment here to boost this, I struggled through potential fixes yesterday but didn't manage to make the volume bar popup return unless I uninstalled EP.

Answer 97 · 2023-08-13T00:40:31.000Z

duplicate of: #1687

Please close this one.

Answer 98 · 2023-08-13T00:52:24.000Z

Hi @valinet, Windhawk author here. A Windhawk user sent me a link to this discussion.

[...] Windhawk is less monolithic compared to ExplorerPatcher. My only gripe with it is that it is not open source, that's why I refrained from migrating to it - I want to learn as well how its architecture works, how it does stuff and so on, although this could be discussed I think.

I tried to address it in a previous discussion on Reddit:

Windhawk isn't open source, but I wrote about the approaches it uses here and released the core injection code.
Porting ExplorerPatcher to Windhawk sounds very interesting, please reach out to me (Reddit, Discord, Twitter, Email, anything). I'm willing to share any Windhawk code with you if it helps.

I also sent you a direct message, not sure if you saw it. I'm all for collaboration and doing what's necessary to help with this, so feel free to reach out.

I saw the DM back then, a few months ago, but did not know what to reply, really. And I still do not know today. I do not have any kind of plan for this port, do not really know if it’s worth the effort or not.

Also, while I appreciate and I am open and fully committed to collaboration as well, I keep wondering why have you decided not to open source the core app itself as well? I am just curious about the reason, that’s all, if it’s not too much to ask.

Thanks for your support and your great work and apps.

Answer 99 · 2023-08-13T05:45:05.000Z

Hi @valinet, Windhawk author here. A Windhawk user sent me a link to this discussion.

[...] Windhawk is less monolithic compared to ExplorerPatcher. My only gripe with it is that it is not open source, that's why I refrained from migrating to it - I want to learn as well how its architecture works, how it does stuff and so on, although this could be discussed I think.

I tried to address it in a previous discussion on Reddit:

Windhawk isn't open source, but I wrote about the approaches it uses here and released the core injection code.
Porting ExplorerPatcher to Windhawk sounds very interesting, please reach out to me (Reddit, Discord, Twitter, Email, anything). I'm willing to share any Windhawk code with you if it helps.

I also sent you a direct message, not sure if you saw it. I'm all for collaboration and doing what's necessary to help with this, so feel free to reach out.

I saw the DM back then, a few months ago, but did not know what to reply, really. And I still do not know today. I do not have any kind of plan for this port, do not really know if it’s worth the effort or not.

Also, while I appreciate and I am open and fully committed to collaboration as well, I keep wondering why have you decided not to open source the core app itself as well? I am just curious about the reason, that’s all, if it’s not too much to ask.

Thanks for your support and your great work and apps.

Closed source + russian developer = a major red flag