Solved Missing Windows 11 Toolbar after Windows update.

Ghot said:

On whatever PC you're using to make the Windows install media.
You want to always make that on a "clean" PC.

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I think the only infection I have is a cough, a sore throat and a slight headache, all probably exacerbated by how long and stressful this problem has been. I would like to continue and do the clean install, but need to know how long that is likely to take (BTW the media USB creation went like a dream).

BaJohn said:

I think the only infection I have is a cough, a sore throat and a slight headache, all probably exacerbated by how long and stressful this problem has been. I would like to continue and do the clean install, but need to know how long that is likely to take (BTW the media USB creation went like a dream).

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Clean install is fast... it's the settings and all the installing programs that takes a while.



Read the tutorial over a few times. There's quite a few options during the Windows install.

Ghot said:

Clean install is fast... it's the settings and all the installing programs that takes a while.

Clean Install Windows 11

This tutorial will show you step by step on how to clean install Windows 11 at boot on your PC with or without an Internet connection and setup with a local account or Microsoft account. Windows 11 has all the power and security of Windows 10 with a redesigned and refreshed look. It also comes...

www.elevenforum.com

Read the tutorial over a few times. There's quite a few options during the Windows install.

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One thing I am worried about is the possibility of Windows Setup installing the boot configuration files (bootloader) to the wrong SSD.
External drive - The easiest to remove power.
Internal HDD - Should be easy after case side comes of (It's glass and I can see it). Remove power cable.
That leaves the 2 SSD's which are mounted on the motherboard, behind graphics board, CPU and fan etc.
How can I ensure that the correct one is chosen by the program?

If you can open Disk Management note what the drive number is for the drive you want to clean install Windows on. For example, my system drive is Disk 1 and my D: drive is disk 0

WLwf said:

Your prompt for "ms settings" inevitably leads people to lean towards compatibility issues caused by certain theme like tools after updates.

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Looks like Windows corruption. The OS drive is sus. It could very well be faulty. Looks like the OP got the "hang-of-doom", a common drive failure symptom!

Winuser said:

If you can open Disk Management note what the drive number is for the drive you want to clean install Windows on. For example, my system drive is Disk 1 and my D: drive is disk 0

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That isn't the potential problem (I've already printed out for myself and supplied in this post), it was the 'boot configuration' which from the documentation could be put anywhere by Microsoft. At least that was what was implied, as I read it.

While I'm here:- Do all partitions have to be deleted INCLUDING the overprovisioning one, or I do I just recreate that after the new windows 11 is installed?

RJARRRPCGP said:

Looks like Windows corruption. The OS drive is sus. It could very well be faulty. Looks like the OP got the "hang-of-doom", a common drive failure symptom!

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I'm confused:- Are you saying a clean install is a good thing, a bad thing, or I should be doing something else?

BaJohn said:

At least that was what was implied, as I read it.

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I believe @BaJohn is right here. I ran into this issue right after 11 was released. In a MS article I read(I'm trying to find it so I can reference it here) I understood it to say that in a UEFI system with a multiple GPT drive setup, the installation process would write the bootloader to the first GPT disk that it SEES which is not always the system disk where Windows is located. Yes, if a system won't boot one can use diskpart and bootrec to direct the system to the partition where the bootloader is stored so windows can boot, but it's a can of worms anyone would want to avoid if one ever wanted t0 stop using the drive where the bootloader was stored.

In my case, the m.2 system drive was drive 1. The storage HDD drive was also partitioned as GPT, assigned drive 0 and luckily had no data on it. The install put the bootloader on the slow storage drive. I knew that drive was eventually going to be replaced and I didn't want my bootloader there anyway. For me , it was much easier to disconnect the sata hdd and install windows again to get everything straight. I then put the HDD in an extender and reformatted and repartitioned it before I reinstalled it.


Now that mobo manufacturers are making it difficult to remove additional m.2 drives due to their location on the board I found an intriguing response from co-pilot that pointed out something to me I did not know. Here's what it says.

• If you have an option in your UEFI setup (accessible via F12, ESC, or other keys depending on your motherboard), you might be able to disable specific drives (such as NVMe or SATA) temporarily, achieving the same effect as physically unplugging the drive.

I checked my own bios and sure enough, that option was there, big as day. How I could have overlooked it so long, I don't know. That's a heck of a lot easier that removing drives located under other components or even having to open up the case and unplug the ones that are there when I want to do a windows install..

BaJohn said:

Are you saying a clean install is a good thing, a bad thing, or I should be doing something else?

BaJohn said:

While I'm here:- Do all partitions have to be deleted INCLUDING the overprovisioning one, or I do I just recreate that after the new windows 11 is installed?

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If a repair install did not fix your issue and you do not have an image to restore that was created before the problem started, a clean install is appropriate. To answer your other question, the clean install tutorial specifically states 'Delete all partitions on the Drive # (ex: Drive 0) you want to install Windows 11 until that Drive # shows only as one Unallocated Space, select the unallocated space,"

glasskuter said:

I checked my own bios and sure enough, that option was there, big as day. How I could have overlooked it so long, I don't know. That's a heck of a lot easier that removing drives located under other components or even having to open up the case and unplug the ones that are there when I want to do a windows install..

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I just checked my BIOS and cannot find a way to switch a M.2 drive off.
However the 2 SSDs are M.2_1 (500GB Drive C:) and M.2_2 (1000GB Drives D: - G:).
I choose different size disks deliberately.
In many places the BIOS makes reference to booting, boot configuration and boot priority and M.2_1 fits all of these.
I therefore feel confident that the first disk it will pick will be the one with the C: drive on it.

BaJohn said:

That isn't the potential problem (I've already printed out for myself and supplied in this post), it was the 'boot configuration' which from the documentation could be put anywhere by Microsoft. At least that was what was implied, as I read it.

While I'm here:- Do all partitions have to be deleted INCLUDING the overprovisioning one, or I do I just recreate that after the new windows 11 is installed?

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The partition for the over over provisioning is up to you. If you do want that partition then don't delete it. I myself don't have a partition set aside for over provisioning. The reason why is because it's only needed if the drive is getting close to being full. Something I don't plan on ever doing. As for Windows placing the boot partition on the wrong drive; Yes it has been known to happen but it's a rare event. If it does install the boot partition to the other drive it won't be a actual problem unless you remove the drive or it fails.

glasskuter said:

f a repair install did not fix your issue and you do not have an image to restore that was created before the problem started, a clean install is appropriate. To answer your other question, the clean install tutorial specifically states 'Delete all partitions on the Drive # (ex: Drive 0) you want to install Windows 11 until that Drive # shows only as one Unallocated Space, select the unallocated space,"

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Giving this more thought, if I'm not mistaken if BaJohn does do a clean install he just needs to delete the partitions listed. The partition for the over provisioning will already be unallotted so the whole drive will be used. BaJohn will have to create the partition if he feels it's needed. From what I have found by searching is that the partition is only needed when the drive gets close to capacity.

I've heard a lot about WRE (Windows Recovery Environment) recently, mainly on Win 10 PCs.
Is there a problem with the size of the WRE for Win 11 PCs?
I assume that it is created by default during installation, but what size should it be and is it worth making it bigger.
See my Disk layout on this thread post 196.

The reason I ask is I have a large disk to install Win 11 on and might as well make use of the space.
Thank you for any thoughts.

BaJohn said:

I've heard a lot about WRE (Windows Recovery Environment) recently, mainly on Win 10 PCs.
Is there a problem with the size of the WRE for Win 11 PCs?
I assume that it is created by default during installation, but what size should it be and is it worth making it bigger.
See my Disk layout on this thread post 196.

The reason I ask is I have a large disk to install Win 11 on and might as well make use of the space.
Thank you for any thoughts.

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If you do the clean install, Windows will set it it up to the correct size and place it at the end and will be able to increase the size if needed.

Just have 5 minutes to tell you I have completed my 'Clean Install' and got Win 11 up to date and working as far as I can see normally.
Obviously loads of settings to sort out and Apps to install. Will give more details Monday afternoon (UK).

LOTS and LOTS of thanks to all who helped me get to this point.
Hopefully there is lots of good information in this post to help other people with similar problems.

@BaJohn I'm glad to hear that the clean install was successful. And you are welcome! We are more then happy to help someone whenever we can.

BaJohn said:

Just have 5 minutes to tell you I have completed my 'Clean Install' and got Win 11 up to date and working as far as I can see normally.
Obviously loads of settings to sort out and Apps to install. Will give more details Monday afternoon (UK).

LOTS and LOTS of thanks to all who helped me get to this point.
Hopefully there is lots of good information in this post to help other people with similar problems.

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That's the outcome we were hoping for in the first place.
Now, pls, do not install any preview updates and to be even
more on the safe side, Pause the future updates until you are sure they
are set to install. Some might be lucky with them but, as you found out
not everyone has the same outcome. I usually verify with Ask Woody
for info on those new updates just to be sure that I won't run into unexpected
problems. Also, make sure to install good security programs and do not
install software that you do not know enough about. i now that you most
likely know all of this but, it's nice to be reminded once in a while.

glasskuter said:

Do you mean "taskbar"? If so, are you running any 3rd party apps that alter the GUI. If so, either update to a newer version of the app or uninstall it. Restart and see if taskbar comes back.

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It has nothing to do with 3rd party. This bug exists in Windows 11 since a year or longer, that randomly the task bar is missing after login/reboot. It happens with higher chance after a Windows update. My guess it is a bug with timing if the PC starts too quickly. MS is just incompetent. Reboot, log out in, or restarting explorer process fixes it. I came to thix post because my task bar is at this very moment, again, also missing.

Have started the loading of Apps slowly, and you'll all be pleased that the first App was Macrium Reflect.
I was very surprised with this as my OS Disk size 44.4GB was crunched into the image backup size 15.8 GB in 1 minute 46 seconds.
When I did my test before the clean install, It took 20 minutes to create a OS Disk backup image.

Also I was surprised that the order of naming the disks 0, 1, 2 etc is DIFFERENT on Macrium to that for Windows 11.

maffle said:

It has nothing to do with 3rd party. This bug exists in Windows 11 since a year or longer, that randomly the task bar is missing after login/reboot. It happens with higher chance after a Windows update. My guess it is a bug with timing if the PC starts too quickly. MS is just incompetent. Reboot, log out in, or restarting explorer process fixes it. I came to thix post because my task bar is at this very moment, again, also missing.

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Interesting as I have 'Fast Boot' set in my BIOS.