mackid1993

I use Directory Opus to make a floating toolbar. They can have any sort of application or macro on them. I set mine to show/hide with a keystroke and macro but they can show and hide with just moving the mouse near them or dock to any side of the screen permanently. They can also live on the desktop sort of like Stardock Fences but on steroids. It's a more complex program than just that, it's a full featured file manager that is more operating system than file manager, but this is what my toolbar looks like.

You could also find a way to acquire Windows 10 LTSC IoT Enterprise 2021. That should give you updates until 2031.

You can use third party tools to make a vertical application launcher and then hide the taskbar. That's what I mean by a plan b.

If you go back a page or two Tihiy stated that he's reached an agreement with Microsoft to disable the classic taskbar by default on new 24H2 installs. I read that as when a new user on 24H2 installs StartAllBack they will have to manually enable the enhanced classic taskbar. Based on the feature flag to disable it and the fact that Microsoft is flagging apps that use it it seems that they want to discourage use because they may not be able to remove it entirely for compatibility reasons with legacy software. That's my theory, if they could remove it it would have been gone already when they removed the old systray. They've resorted to crippling it instead. Hopefully the media attention and backlash will result in them turning a blind eye, use at your own risk. That's what we have to hope for. Edit: I also want to advise building a plan B, evaluate your workflow and see where you can build a new workflow with other tools around the new taskbar worst case scenario. I know I've already figured out how I will manage with the new taskbar if forced to use it.

There has also been a ton of media coverage, even LinusTechTips had a video about it on TechLinked. Maybe that will have an influence in Microsoft to live and let live.

Yeah Start11 is crap. I tested 26100.1 and like everyone said SAB works fine. Hopefully disabling the taskbar by default on new installs is enough to appease Microsoft. Use at your own risk I guess. Clearly they can't remove the code, hence to aggressive behavior to stop people from activating it.

You can do some of that using floating toolbars with Directory Opus. They act almost like a taskbar and can be heavily customized.

Yeah I like the small buttons. I'm trying to do my best to get used to stock Win 11 just in case.

I went back and my whole reason for using SAB was icon ungrouping, now that we have that I may be able to eventually get used to the new taskbar.

It sounds like it's going to be disabled on new installs and the end user will have to manually check the option to enable it. That's what I read. Whether that is reality is not yet known.

Let's hope the rest of the taskbar is possible to rewrite like the system tray is. It appears that Start11 uses a fully custom taskbar, the registry hacks it used at the beginning don't exist anymore. RetroBar is also a thing, so it's been done before. Actually after playing with Start11 it seems like they are patching the Win 11 taskbar with their own mods.

Is Dark Magic being deprioritized again because of the taskbar issues in 24H2?

I guess it's time to disable the classic taskbar and adjust my workflow to prepare. Edit: The new taskbar isn't awful, if Tihiy (or if Microsoft wakes up) could give us small icons and find a way to add back toolbars (deskband) I think it would be good. The animations are nice looking, just the lack of customization that's the issue. Edit 1: That didn't last long. I guess I'm sticking with 23H2 until we have more information about what is and isn't going to be possible.

Or reimplement the taskbar like Start 11, which didn't run afoul of Microsoft,

@Tihiy already went through this on Twitter. They are compatblocking StartAllBack*.exe. The classic taskbar is effectively dead, I think we need to give Tihiy some time as I'm sure he is busy working on whatever he has to to ensure SAB continues which likely means replacing the taskbar.

Right click, unlock the taskbar, then drag it like it's been since Windows 95.

I have a feeling the classic taskbar is being removed, hence the compat block. Hopefully they will realize it was done in a completely shoddy way and update it so it targets a specific version and not the whole program.

If you're looking to remove the Recommended section from the Win11 Start Menu you'll need another tool to do that. SAB has its own Start Menu and doesn't touch the Win 11 one.

The systray doesn't work in EP because Tihiy completely rewrote it from scratch for SAB after it was removed in canary.

Tihiy was saying on Twitter that it's StartAllBack*.exe that is blocked. So putting something in front of StartAllBack should work too.

Are you referring to the guy on the Explorer Patcher Github calling me a twit because I suggested they rename the installer? I was like I don't even use your app, it kinda sucks but here's a solution.

SAB's start menu is a reimplementation of the Windows 7 one that hooks into explorer with no external processes running. I would suggest trying it, it's going to feel much more native than what you are getting with OpenShell.

It probably isn't Microsoft being the bad guy or the good guy, they are probably just about to remove the rest of the taskbar like you said. I think this blog post gives some insight into how they feel about this: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20230324-00/?p=107966

Check your indexing settings, searching for reg pulls up registry editor for me. You can add custom start orbs, this already exists. The start menu is essentially as it was in Windows 7, this is how Windows 7 behaved. I doubt this will be changed since it works as expected. Right click and shutdown, restart from there. I'm not the dev, but I think he has bigger things to work on right now re: taskbar. Why not just use Open-Shell for this?

I agree, because Start11 wasn't affected. Start11 has a fully reimplemented taskbar. SAB will likely have the same as Tihiy already reimplemented the systray. It's the only way to not play a cat and mouse game with MS, patching the Win 11 taskbar isn't sustainable as it will contently break any time a change is made which frequently happens in the beta channel. Based on my understanding reimplementation is the only solution. We've known this was going to be an issue for a while so hopefully a beta will be ready before 24H2 is released.