mackid1993

Just tested Canary 26212, classic taskbar still works!

Download the latest pre-release. Someone else already had this issue and I believe Tihiy patched it. https://startisback.com/StartAllBack_setup.exe

So solid! Hopefully with the new reorganization and Panos Panay out things will get better. Panos is a hardware guy and never should have been in charge of Windows as much as I love Surface. They also got rid of the Bing ads guy that was running Windows for like a month. I guess start menu ads are a holdover from his tenure.

Yeah when I tested 24H2 briefly on my main machine control center was overhauled but borked. Leave it to the world class engineers at Microsoft. I wish they'd get back to the way they were in the 90s and 2000s.

Blame Microsoft. Check and make sure C:\Program Files\StartAllBack is empty, or check if it's still installed in appdata if installed per user. As a test I installed 26100.1 on my main system from a UUP dump iso with 3.7.9 installed and the installer allowed me to update with no problem and when I landed in 24H2 the classic taskbar was enabled. I then imaged back to 23H2 because the Settings app was using 30% CPU, it's still not ready for prime time.

Classic taskbar confirmed working in 26120.461.

Mine are the same color.

Omg! No wonder Windows 11 is the way it is!!

Does this mean Microsoft is allowing SAB on 24H2 now?

That is the pre-release link Tihiy uses when he publishes a quick bugfix or in this case a test build to show to Microsoft so they remove the compatblock. The build can change. The link isn't wrong, maybe Tihiy took it down and put it back up? I doubt that because I downloaded it right after you posted that and got the same test build I got last week. Perhaps operator error? Cache? 3.7.9 is not actually released yet. The test build I have was signed Saturday April 20th and will be released if/when Tihiy decides to release it.

It makes sense, Microsoft removed the system tray from the old taskbar in 24H2 essentially breaking it. I saw your post on Github complaining about that to the EP devs, you probably don't realize that the system tray works in SAB in 24H2 only because Tihiy completely rewrote it from scratch. Explorer Patcher doesn't reimplement anything, it just patches Explorer with it's modifications to things existing in Windows already. It's free software and rewriting the entire system tray is outside the scope of what it's intended to do. StartAllBack is a commercial product that patches explorer with its own proprietary code, that's the difference. It's meant to be a customization tool to bring a classic Windows 7 era UI to Windows 8-11. Start11 is 10 times the size of StartAllBack because it seems to hook more into explorer after it's already running and intercept function calls to do its thing, it runs a service and everything. That's why it's immune to Microsoft because it's not modifying Explorer in memory with a DLL, it's completely proprietary, it's also bug ridden and unstable. SAB consists of a few DLLs with Tihiy's special sauce, the config utility and an updater. It loads with Explorer, not after. Start11 is incredibly bloated, I've even restarted explorer with Start11 and seen it take a second to hook where the regular Windows 11 start menu will pop up and the taskbar will be stock and not their enhanced one. That will never happen with StartAllBack. Edit: I just want to share this comment on Neowin. @Tihiy is indeed a genius and the entire fate of Windows does indeed rest with him.

No it does not.

26100.268 is out, SAB 3.7.9 still works! Looks like Explorer Patcher is worse off... @Tihiy how is SAB able to still use the Win 10 taskbar if EP is saying it no longer works? Is this because you replaced the systray with your own code or is there more to the SAB taskbar that makes it more resilient to Microsoft?

Yup, you're right! Just tested and confirmed. Good news though: I uninstalled 3.7.9 and kept the settings with the classic taskbar enabled Reinstalled and let explorer restart. Classic taskbar was automatically enabled. This seems to be a one time thing going from 3.7.8 to 3.7.9 on 24H2 and future updates it will stay enabled. I'm guessing Microsoft is planning on breaking more things and Tihiy is going to have to keep fixing the rot. Lucky for Tihiy there is no competition, Explorer Patcher is certainly dead since it doesn't have any unique code like SAB does and Start11 is a thing of nightmares made by developers who have no idea how to write software, market based on being an ad free Start Menu and then push full screen ads to their users to get them to upgrade to their v2 app that crashes explorer when doing a search.

Yup, already said that when I posted. This is Microsoft's requirement and should only apply to new installs not upgrades over existing installs based on my testing.

Pre releases are always published here: https://startisback.com/StartAllBack_setup.exe

That's great news that they aren't abandoning us power users. There's a reason why people use StartAllBack and they have to understand that your users are likely their most loyal users as well and that they really dropped the ball when it comes to supporting enthusiasts. Thanks for replying and for the reassurance! 😃

@Tihiy did you get any new info from Microsoft about 3.7.9 and removing the update block?

Let's hope the update block is removed in the next insider flight.

Oh so you have to get their approval first so they remove the block?

I hope @Tihiy doesn't get upset with me for posting this. But I downloaded the latest pre-release build for 3.7.9. I frequently check to see if any new pre release builds are published out of habit since I have a little OCD about SAB since I love it so much. I have the pre-release download link bookmarked in my browser. The new build installs on 26100 without having to rename the exe and the classic taskbar is disabled out of the box. Simply clicking the toggle and restarting explorer enables it and everything works. Seems like we're saved! Update! More good news! Thank you Tihiy for continuing to support this wonderful application that brings such a lightweight and clean experience to our PCs! You are the man!!

https://msfn.org/board/topic/186074-startallback-settings-do-not-fully-transfer-between-pcs/?do=findComment&comment=1263761

See this post with your exact issue: https://msfn.org/board/topic/183013-startallback-for-windows-11/?do=findComment&comment=1261000

So I have some info to share for anyone coming back to this thread later. Backup HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\StartIsBack to save StartAllBack settings Backup HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StartPage2 to save Start Menu pins. Check to see if HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StartPage3 exists, back it up if it does. Set up new computer, reinstall all programs that were pinned. Merge .reg file with SAB settings, merge StartPage2 reg file and StartPage3 reg file if that existed for you. Reinstall SAB, all settings but systray layout should transfer.

All of the settings for the tray icons are under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\NotifyIconSettings. If you wipe everything under that it will reset your icons and the order and such but if you are having weird issues that may help. Just clear and restart Explorer. If you're worried you can also export NotifyIconSettings beforehand just to be extra safe!