New Version of ExplorerPatcher

flhthemi · Oct 8, 2024

spapakons said:
Compatibility report: In my main PC (2nd system specs) I have Open Shell and Explorer Patcher installed to customize appearance. I have set Windows 7 start menu and start button and a lighter blue shade than default for the taskbar in Open Shell. I have set Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher) style for the taskbar and to ungroup the power-network-sound icons so I can customize them (if grouped the default icons show instead). I noticed that after the upgrade to 24H2 the taskbar color might change to the darker default blue shade when I open an application and can return to the lighter blue shade if I open another. Not always, but it happens. Also if I switch from one application to another or I open a new application, the search icon and the "change desktop" icon next to it might disappear from the taskbar. To bring them back, I open Explorer Patcher settings or Windows taskbar settings and temporarily change to search box and back to search icon. Since Open Shell is no longer supported, hopefully a newer Explorer Patcher version will fix that. Not big deal, but annoying if I want to search something and the search icon has disappeared.

No virus warnings or other 24H install issues with EP being there?

spapakons · Oct 8, 2024

In my main PC, no warning. In my Fujitsu Stylistic Q702 laptop I had a warning but I disabled Windows Defender before installing. Weird.

WAI · Oct 8, 2024

spapakons said:
In my main PC, no warning. In my Fujitsu Stylistic Q702 laptop I had a warning but I disabled Windows Defender before installing. Weird.

oh no it's not weird it's just Microsoft and the whole big 24H2 update

spapakons · Oct 8, 2024

Whatever...

hdmi · Oct 9, 2024

spapakons said:
Compatibility report: In my main PC (2nd system specs) I have Open Shell and Explorer Patcher installed to customize appearance. I have set Windows 7 start menu and start button and a lighter blue shade than default for the taskbar in Open Shell. I have set Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher) style for the taskbar and to ungroup the power-network-sound icons so I can customize them (if grouped the default icons show instead). I noticed that after the upgrade to 24H2 the taskbar color might change to the darker default blue shade when I open an application and can return to the lighter blue shade if I open another. Not always, but it happens. Also if I switch from one application to another or I open a new application, the search icon and the "change desktop" icon next to it might disappear from the taskbar. To bring them back, I open Explorer Patcher settings or Windows taskbar settings and temporarily change to search box and back to search icon. Since Open Shell is no longer supported, hopefully a newer Explorer Patcher version will fix that. Not big deal, but annoying if I want to search something and the search icon has disappeared.

I don't have this problem. Running Open-Shell 4.4.191 (latest) and ExplorerPatcher 22621.3880.66.6 (latest) on Windows 11 version 24H2 build 26100.2033 (latest) using the Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher) taskbar style option in ExplorerPatcher settings and using the Transparent option on the Taskbar tab of the Open-Shell Menu settings window panel. On this same Taskbar tab, Taskbar text color gets ignored. Both Taskbar opacity and Taskbar color work fine, though. Search button also works fine, at least for me. Who told you that Open-Shell is no longer supported? Just because there are a few minor issues like the Taskbar texture no longer covering the Pinned area on the Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher) taskbar, doesn't also mean that Open-Shell currently is unsupported on 24H2. A lot of the stuff that Microsoft puts out is no longer supported by people who are sane. lmao

spapakons · Oct 9, 2024

I meant that there is no newer version of Open Shell for too long, so if anything need fixing, don't expect it soon. When I click on the search icon to find something, my taskbar color reverts to the darker Windows default. When I close the search window it goes back to the lighter blue shade I have set in Open Shell. Sometimes when I load a new application the search icon might disappear (not always), but I can switch to search box and back to search icon to get it back. I haven't yet updated to build 26100.2033, maybe this can fix the bug.

EDIT: I might have found the fix to the search icon disappearing bug. In Open Shell settings, Search box section, I selects "No search box" and let Explorer Patcher provide it. We will see. The color bug is still there after upgrading to build 26100.2033, but I will have another look in Open Shell settings and see if there is a fix.

hdmi · Oct 9, 2024

spapakons said:
I meant that there is no newer version of Open Shell for too long, so if anything need fixing, don't expect it soon. When I click on the search icon to find something, my taskbar color reverts to the darker Windows default. When I close the search window it goes back to the lighter blue shade I have set in Open Shell. Sometimes when I load a new application the search icon might disappear (not always), but I can switch to search box and back to search icon to get it back. I haven't yet updated to build 26100.2033, maybe this can fix the bug.

EDIT: I might have found the fix to the search icon disappearing bug. In Open Shell settings, Search box section, I selects "No search box" and let Explorer Patcher provide it. We will see. The color bug is still there after upgrading to build 26100.2033, but I will have another look in Open Shell settings and see if there is a fix.

Are you using the Transparent option that's under Taskbar look on the Taskbar tab of the Open-Shell Menu Settings window panel? Choosing this option should let you use both the Taskbar opacity option and the Taskbar color option.

spapakons · Oct 9, 2024

I have selected Opaque, changing to transparent makes no difference, the color still changes when I click on the search icon. Also the search icon still disappears. I will wait for the next Explorer Patcher version and see.

Light blue taskbar color set by Open Shell

Default blue color when I click on search icon

When the search icon and the desktop change icon disappear is like the first image with an empty space in the place of the two icons. To get them back I have to switch to search box and back to search icon. Why this happens? Probably a conflict with the new way taskbar is displayed in 24H2. I have read that in some Canary versions the taskbar is invisible.

hdmi · Oct 9, 2024

spapakons said:
I have selected Opaque, changing to transparent makes no difference, the color still changes when I click on the search icon. Also the search icon still disappears. I will wait for the next Explorer Patcher version and see.

Light blue taskbar color set by Open Shell
View attachment 111733

Default blue color when I click on search icon
View attachment 111734

When the search icon and the desktop change icon disappear is like the first image with an empty space in the place of the two icons. To get them back I have to switch to search box and back to search icon. Why this happens? Probably a conflict with the new way taskbar is displayed in 24H2. I have read that in some Canary versions the taskbar is invisible.

I see now. Apparently, this issue only occurs after you have chosen a light color as the Taskbar color in Open-Shell. With a dark Taskbar color the issue doesn't occur. I found a nice workaround:

In ExplorerPatcher, make sure that "Search:" Show search icon is selected. Next, enable the Task View button (setting directly below "Search:").
In Settings for Open-Shell Menu, click on Taskbar color , and hit on OK.
In ExplorerPatcher, disable the Task View button.
Keep clicking on the Search icon repeatedly while waiting 1-2 seconds between clicks. After clicking like this for some seconds, the issue should go away. (Before it does, you might see a progress bar appear in the Search menu for a second or two.)
Finally, as long as you leave these settings alone, hopefully the issue stays gone. But you can just repeat the steps above whenever the issue comes back.

This workaround turned out successful for me each time when I tried it. But if it later tuns out that the issue comes back frequently, then just let me know, as I will post another workaround.

spapakons · Oct 9, 2024

Was fast to celebrate. Yes it fixed, until I clicked on Microsoft Edge icon to reply. It came back again. Thanks anyway.

hdmi · Oct 9, 2024

spapakons said:
Was fast to celebrate. Yes it fixed, until I clicked on Microsoft Edge icon to reply. It came back again. Thanks anyway.

Try this:

Edit your desktop background picture in such a way that the part of it that will be covered by your taskbar is replaced with a light blue bar.
In Settings for Open-Shell Menu, choose Transparent (as opposed to Opaque), change Taskbar color to something dark, and change Taskbar opacity to 0.
Hit on OK.

spapakons · Oct 9, 2024

I will try later, now son calls me to go to the playground. Thanks.

spapakons · Oct 11, 2024

The same symptoms, the light blue color set by Open Shell is switched to the darker default blue color when I click on the search icon, also has my Fujitsu Stylistic Q702 hybrid tablet/laptop. So it is some conflict with one of the two applications and the new way taskbar is displayed in 24H2. The search icon occasionally is lost too, exactly the same symptoms. I will wait for the next Explorer Patcher version and hopefully the issue will be gone. Not big deal, just annoying.

click click · Oct 13, 2024

On Windows 11 Education 23H2 22631.4317 when launching Check for updates in the Update section, I always get the popup below, even though I can access the links in the About properties section. I'm connected to the Internet, so I don't know what the problem is. Does this option even work?

spapakons · Oct 13, 2024

Probably corrupt Explorer Patcher installation. Download latest version manually and install it to repair. Also check you haven't blocked Explorer Patcher in firewall.

dacrone · Oct 14, 2024

dacrone said:
@hdmi

well this one does. just opened 3 tabs in windows 11 tabbed explorer, ran the first command, restarted explorer, ran the second command and it launched all 3 windows and since i have that other ahk script running in the background it intercepted them and opened them in new tabs instead. 100% does work...

@hdmi & @spapakons

I've been tired of explorer not reopening explorer windows since 21H2, so I finally took a bit and made these 2 .ps1 files. Save .ps1 will export all open Explorer paths to a hidden .txt file in your Documents (I did this and not C so that it will run without Admin perms). The Restore .ps1 will pull all of the paths from that .txt and relaunch those windows. I may make a toggle for taskbar pinning at some point, but made 2 .ps1 files so I could schedule them as tasks for reboots, etc. Figured you may want them for ease. Extract the .ps1 files to C:\ and place the shortcuts anywhere you want (or edit the shortcut Target field to reflect the .ps1 locations).

spapakons · Oct 14, 2024

The PowerShell code mentioned on an older post works too, both with original PowerShell and PowerShell 7. You just have to use the absolute path to the application to load either PowerShell and then the commands. For example, to use the original PowerShell create a new shortcut and copy-paste this code at the field and save it:

Code:

C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -c $a=(New-Object -Com Shell.Application).Windows() |% {$_.Document.Folder.Self.Path}; pause; $a |% {explorer "$_"}

dacrone · Oct 14, 2024

spapakons said:
The PowerShell code mentioned on an older post works too, both with original PowerShell and PowerShell 7. You just have to use the absolute path to the application to load either PowerShell and then the commands. For example, to use the original PowerShell create a new shortcut and copy-paste this code at the field and save it:

Code:

C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -c $a=(New-Object -Com Shell.Application).Windows() |% {$_.Document.Folder.Self.Path}; pause; $a |% {explorer "$_"}

the way i did it, you dont have to leave a powershell window open.

Kees · Oct 14, 2024

Yesterday I did a test on the most recent version of ExplorerPatcher in my VirtualBox Windows 11 24H2 test environment.
And saw that the taskbar tweaks all are gone, it is saying that for this version of Windows no (Win10) changes to the taskbar are possible.

And exactly that is what I use the tweaking program for: to have a less high taskbar in a custom color.
Which other tweaking apps like StartAllBack, Start11 and WindHawk still are able to do, even in 24H2.

So ExplorerPatcher will not return to my main system. I started in Febr. 2023 with EP to tweak Windows 11, but now it does not fulfill my wishes anymore. After that I used StartAllBack an Start11 alternately and at the moment I am back in StartAllback again.

spapakons · Oct 14, 2024

If you look carefully, you will see that Explorer Patcher has a third option for taskbar in 24H2, called Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher). Using this option, as I have described in my earlier posts, all customizations are preserved, except for the known bug of the search icon disappearing occasionally and that the taskbar color returns to Windows default if I click on the search icon. It usually returns back to that set in Open Shell once I close the search window.

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