Quick Launch with 24H2?

allan said:

Yes, as I mentioned several times in this thread, I use Explorer Patcher. I appreciate everyone's input.

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The reason i ask is qoute on their page that «We DO NOT recommend using EP on work machines running Windows 11 version 24H2.»

ferale said:

The reason i ask is qoute on their page that «We DO NOT recommend using EP on work machines running Windows 11 version 24H2.»

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Yeah, I know. It works fine. And I always have a current drive image just in case...

hdmi said:

The latest pre-release (22621.3880.66.7) works fine for me on 24H2. You just need to choose "Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher)" instead of "Windows 10" as the taskbar style.

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I just want to say, HDMI has it right above. Once I selected Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher), I had the Toolbars option, and I could select the Quick Launch folder. Also, Quick Launch has always been available on Windows 11, I've used it for years now.

Bubbi Smith said:

I just want to say, HDMI has it right above. Once I selected Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher), I had the Toolbars option, and I could select the Quick Launch folder. Also, Quick Launch has always been available on Windows 11, I've used it for years now.

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Sigh. As soon as I installed 24H2 there was no quick launch toolbar option. I reinstalled the NEW version of EP, selected Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher) and STILL no quick launch (or ANY toolbar) option. Installed TrayToolbar and everything was back to normal.

And I've also used Quick Launch with W11 for years - along with Explorer Patcher.

Marcus Vinicus said:

I think MS removed Quick Launch functionality from Windows 11 before it was released in October 2021.

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No, it was removed from 24H2

The quick launch option may have been removed, but the Pin to Taskbar option is rather good. You can even pin certain files to the application making it more versatile.

jourrapide said:

The quick launch option may have been removed, but the Pin to Taskbar option is rather good. You can even pin certain files to the application making it more versatile.

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I tried Pin to Taskbar a couple weeks ago, thinking to make a change from Quick Launch. The problem was the icons get moved around as you open them, so when you go to use them, you never quite know where they'll be. I switched back immediately.

Anixx said:

No, it was removed from 24H2

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Multiple sources report the Quick Launch Toolbar was officially no longer supported by Microsoft going back to 2016 and was disabled and removed from the taskbar.

ExplorerPatcher work just fine in 24H2, no need to resort to / add something else like TrayToolbar if you are already using EP. That's what I was looking for. I just needed an upgrade to the shipping version.

Bubbi Smith said:

ExplorerPatcher work just fine in 24H2, no need to resort to / add something else like TrayToolbar if you are already using EP.

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That's right, but it doesn't seem to be working properly for @allan so, seeing as he's been using ExplorerPatcher for years, I don't think he accidentally enabled Do not change the taskbar context menu (e.g. do not display the "Properties" item) in the Advanced category of ExplorerPatcher settings so, either it must be some kind of bug that no one else has reported yet or there's some other explanation like maybe a strange compatibility issue of sorts. Amrsatrio on GitHub already said a few weeks ago that there's a spree of bugs needing to be fixed. Lucky for me, ExplorerPatcher 22621.3880.66.7 runs stable on 24H2 build 26100.2033 with no apparent bugs except only the Simple Window Switcher got Finlandized by Microsoft.

EDIT: Actually, the "Toolbars" item does appear for me even after the aforementioned option is enabled under the Advanced. (When still using the "Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher)" like before, that is.)

Advice wanted... [You may skip any context background information that is between '[]' - well, too late for this one]

[I've lost my previous computer in a motherboard burn, and I have been 'forced' into Windows 11. I was not expecting too much burn, and to this point, it's ok-ish (Microsoft wants to adapt to people who can't read and to Apple users and of course to Surface-like products - I can understand) while not much in favour for people like me (need to some customization level for not changing too much their habits, especially the productivity and hard-brained-wired reflexes]

I would have liked a lot a taskbar like the one in the attached picture [taken from my 2012 non-dead W8.1 laptop]. Task bar on the left side of the screen, personalized width, small icons, no labels, two toolbars.

- I understand "left side" is currently a no-no and no-workaround-allowed. Difficult, but I can adapt.
- Toolbars within a taskbar. I have read a lot, viewed some videos (Taskbar Groups, Explorer Patcher, Tray Toolbar, and maybe others). Videos (always?) preclude 24H2.
- Whatever you write in response will not be retained against you
- I am not asking any of the respondents to take position in favor or against one or another tool. I would be glad to hear clear opinions, though.

So... I am trying to decide before trying by myself and downloading things that are uncertain (ok-ish) or obsolete (Taskbar Groups?). I do not want to replicate a W10 environment, but just the toolbars in the taskbar with or without indirection (opening a submenu) [for example, I don't care about Start Menu, I have not used it after 2012, if ever before]. I am not

Q1: I have read here (Allan, hdmi, and others?) that Traytool with EP will do the job. Is there a cost associated to it (lot of time going in the registry)? Or is it so straightforward I should not have written this message?

Q2: I have read at one of EP's page "We DO NOT recommend using EP on work machines running Windows 11 version 24H2". Any take on this? Will I risk to break the registry and have to reset/restore W11 or will it just about uninstalling the tool.

Q3: Should I wait for Microsoft to change their minds and bring bar Windows XX (XX<11) taskbars?

Thanks in advance

Gilbert

ghxyzzy said:

Q1: I have read here (Allan, hdmi, and others?) that Traytool with EP will do the job. Is there a cost associated to it (lot of time going in the registry)? Or is it so straightforward I should not have written this message?

Q2: I have read at one of EP's page "We DO NOT recommend using EP on work machines running Windows 11 version 24H2". Any take on this? Will I risk to break the registry and have to reset/restore W11 or will it just about uninstalling the tool.

Q3: Should I wait for Microsoft to change their minds and bring bar Windows XX (XX<11) taskbars?

Thanks in advance

Gilbert

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1) No cost financially or time-wise. Virtually plug & play with a few settings you can adjust.

2) You have to download the latest release of EP from GitHub and add the posted exclusions to your AV so it allows installation. The advisory is against using EP with 24H2 on a production system. Personally, I have had NO issues whatsoever. Having said that, you should always have an up to date image of your system in the event of ANY major issues which would cause you to want to revert to a prior image. I've been making this recommendation since Norton Ghost was first introduced (then Acronis True Image and now Macrium Reflect) - it is not related to EP.

3) You should do whatever makes you comfortable.

allan said:

1) No cost financially or time-wise. Virtually plug & play with a few settings you can adjust.

2) You have to download the latest release of EP from GitHub and add the posted exclusions to your AV so it allows installation. The advisory is against using EP with 24H2 on a production system. Personally, I have had NO issues whatsoever. Having said that, you should always have an up to date image of your system in the event of ANY major issues which would cause you to want to revert to a prior image. I've been making this recommendation since Norton Ghost was first introduced (then Acronis True Image and now Macrium Reflect) - it is not related to EP.

3) You should do whatever makes you comfortable.

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I will keep this thread updated (in a couple of days)

BTW, oddly enough on a laptop (xps 15) which just updated to 24H2 I did not need TrayTool. I installed the latest EP (Bit Defender doesn't make it easy, even with the exclusions) and the Quick Launch toolbar remained intact. Perhaps it was an anomaly with the desktop. I'll try one or two other systems over the next few days and report back.

ghxyzzy said:

Q1: I have read here (Allan, hdmi, and others?) that Traytool with EP will do the job. Is there a cost associated to it (lot of time going in the registry)? Or is it so straightforward I should not have written this message?

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I didn't know what TrayTool was so had to look it up. SystemTrayMenu is what I use in conjunction with EP (and Open-Shell, former ClassicShell), but SystemTrayMenu serves an antirely different purpose than TrayTool. There's no need to go in the registry, but you always could decide to go in there still nevertheless at least if you know what you're doing of course. As far as EP is concerned, you'll soon find that, when compared to many other tools, by design, it tends to be a whole lot easier in that regard.

There's just one registry setting that I use to eliminate the potential risk of an endless loop in which the explorer process keeps crashing and automatically being restarted (and that could potentially happen regardless of whether you have installed EP). This will prevent the explorer process from automatically being restarted after it crashes:
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon" /v AutoRestartShell /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

ghxyzzy said:

Q2: I have read at one of EP's page "We DO NOT recommend using EP on work machines running Windows 11 version 24H2". Any take on this? Will I risk to break the registry and have to reset/restore W11 or will it just about uninstalling the tool.

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I don't actually even recommend to run Windows on work machines, let alone run Windows 11 version 24H2 on work machines. In its current state, 24H2 is intended to be used only by Windows Outsider MVPs. Seriously, though.. I have been running EP 22621.3880.66.7 on 24H2 build 26100.2161 for some time now. I haven't had any real issues with it, just that a few features currently are broken in it (e.g., the Win+X menu, the option to Disable rounded corners for application windows, and the Simple Window Switcher option). Even so, the fact that you should, regardless of anything, always make reliable backups of all your important data behooves no explanation.

Here are a few things to want to keep in mind when using EP.

In the possible event that your taskbar and desktop disappears (i.e. when the explorer process crashes), just press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager, choose Run new task, type in explorer and press Enter (don't tick the checkbox at the bottom). Next, it should be fixed, at least temporarily until the next time when it happens. However, IME you can avoid it from happening altogether, simply by choosing to manual reboot each time after you did something that needed you to restart the explorer process (e.g. by clicking on the link at the bottom of the EP settings window panel). Normally, you shouldn't frequently have to do something that needs you to restart the explorer process so, as long as you can remember that all File Explorer windows will be closed forcibly when the explorer process crashes, you should be fine, and, if you also remember what I just said about choosing to manual reboot, you should doubly be fine.

In addition to setting the taskbar style to Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher), which lets you achieve what you have described, you can go to the File Explorer category of EP settings, where you can choose Control Interface: Windows 10 Ribbon. Choosing this option brings back the classic/old File Explorer of Windows 10. The main reason why I recommend this option is because the new File Explorer (with tabs) of Windows 11 is still rife with all sorts of quirks and bugs IME. You'd think that Microsoft ironed out the wrinkles by now, and you'd think wrong. On many occasions, I found that either it or the Windows 11 taskbar was directly responsible for crashing the explorer process, even on systems that didn't have any tweaks applied to them. The irony is that, at least if you use it how I described above, EP is what actually fixes these problems for you. No joke.

In those situations where you can't seem to find a way to open the EP settings window panel, you can run
rundll32 %windir%\dxgi.dll,ZZGUI. This command works also in the aforementioned Run new task dialog window, even after your taskbar has disappeared. If, for whatever the reason, it doesn't, you can still use the Run new task dialog window to run
%programfiles%\ExplorerPatcher\ep_setup /uninstall. This command opens the confirmation dialog window that lets you uninstall EP. I am only saying this just in case, just so you'll know if you ever get stuck in this manner, even though normally that should never happen.

Finally, also keep in mind that EP gets flagged as a false positive by many AV solutions, also including Windows Security (Defender). However, in Windows Security it is possible to add the file exclusions and folder exclusions that are needed to prevent EP from being blocked by it. PowerShell commands are written in the release notes of EP for this purpose.

ghxyzzy said:

Q3: Should I wait for Microsoft to change their minds and bring bar Windows XX (XX<11) taskbars?

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IMO it most heavily depends on how long you can wait for Christmas and Easter to coincide.

EDIT: New pre-release version of EP available: 22621.4317.67.1

ghxyzzy said:

I will keep this thread updated (in a couple of days)

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@allan @hdmi and any other who have cared, here is some feedback about what I tried, and what I will do (for now). [As previously, I will use '[]' for war stories, so you may skip them]

Once the shocking news about Windows 11 change of design (see my questions above), and your various advises, my conclusion is a mix of "let's try to adapt and survive" and "how can I find tools to help adapting" [I do not like adapting too much - I still use office and outlook 2007, EAC+Lame, itunes 10, PSP7, emacs, and many more dinosaurs - BUT I am still alive and adapting to much of the rest - I am still adapting to the Alienware keyboard with labels inverted compared to the rest of PCs...]

Try to adapt and survive:

1. the taskbar at bottom is ok-ish if I can get a true taskbar on the left
2. toolbars (embedded or not in the Taskbar) is a must, preferably at the left side of the screen [Remember, I was a X-windows user in 1987]
3. File explorer W10 ribbon. OK if I lose it [I have worked on Windows 3.1 at some point... fast forward to the introduction of the ribbon everywhere? Was it 2007 with XP or with Office 2007? Anyway I remember people yelling online about the ribbon's design]
4. I like and usually used a lot the capability to drag and drop a file in a middle of a path on the File Explorer's address bar
5. All over the years (since 2008 and Vista? Can"t remember before) I was NOT using the Start menu much, since I had all the tools I wanted in three toolbars, for accessing the rest (see picture in my original message.

Tools for adapting:

• Taskbar group: seems to be dead
• Stardock looks like it could do the job, but not taskbar at the left. So why pay?
• TrayTool and SystemTrayMenu: Not really for what I need (did not look much into them, see 5 above)
• Explorer Patcher:lots of good things, including the Remove Recommended from Start, and above all 4 above (coming with 3) and other good things.
  • In the version I downloaded of EP, the Taskbar Style is "Windows 10 (explorerPatcher)" the 'true' Windows 10 style is not available (Version 22621.43117.67.1).
  • So the result is dull, not resizable, no color (aero or metro), flat. I can get toolbars, towards the right side of the bar (when at the bottom). So far away from where my mouse is looking for things.
  • If I move the taskbar at the left of the screen. Dull, not resizeable (many icons on each line), the toolbars are at the bottom (ok-ish

Conclusion (for the time being)

... not yet

Conclusion (for the time being)

I am also looking at RocketDock, but can't see the capability of expanding a toolbar. So... I will use Explorer Patcher until I find better (if something exists) or until Easter and Christmas coincide.

G.

ghxyzzy said:

In the version I downloaded of EP, the Taskbar Style is "Windows 10 (explorerPatcher)" the 'true' Windows 10 style is not available (Version 22621.43117.67.1).

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This is because the 'true' Windows 10 style uses legacy code that, as of Windows 11 version 24H2, has been removed from Windows 11 by Microsoft. Amrsatrio has been working almost all year to, from scratch, build a replacement that matches the original as closely as possible. That's no easy task. Still nevertheless, the result is really nothing short of spectacular. IME and IMO.

ghxyzzy said:

So the result is dull, not resizable, no color (aero or metro), flat. I can get toolbars, towards the right side of the bar (when at the bottom). So far away from where my mouse is looking for things.

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I am running ExplorerPatcher version 22621.4317.67.1 on Windows 11 version 24H2 build 26100.2161. In horizontal mode and in vertical mode, the "Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher)" taskbar is resizeable after it has been unlocked. Only the number of rows (in horizontal mode) or the number of columns (in vertical mode) can be changed, though, but the size of the taskbar also is part determined by other factors such as, e.g., the taskbar icons size, the screen resolution and Scale.

Toolbars can be dragged to anywhere between the Start button and the Notification area. It means that it also is possible to drag a toolbar to the area between the Start button and the Pinned area. To be able to drag it there, you have to use the 'Snap' feature (that was introduced by Microsoft with the release of Windows 7). Snap = drag it with your mouse at much faster speed than normal mouse dragging.

As for customizing the taskbar background. Open-Shell lets you make the Taskbar transparent (with adjustable opacity). So, I simply edited my desktop background picture in such a way that makes it look like my taskbar uses a skin. It's still only a 'fake' skin alright, but looks exactly the same as the 'real' taskbar texture minus the bug that causes it to be be missing on the Pinned area of the "Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher)" taskbar.

ghxyzzy said:

If I move the taskbar at the left of the screen. Dull, not resizeable (many icons on each line), the toolbars are at the bottom (ok-ish

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I have the taskbar positioned at the bottom of my screen so, I moved it at the left of the screen, and tried to figure out what you are talking about here.

Due to the width of the clock, the minimum width of the taskbar in vertical mode that I was able to achieve was two columns. I was able to move my toolbars to the top, simply by dragging them there while the taskbar was unlocked. By adding a new empty toolbar below the existing toolbar and dragging that new toolbar up a little, I was able to resize the existing toolbar. This is exactly the same behavior type as the original taskbar of Windows 7. So, I have no idea what you are trying to accomplish with it.

hdmi said:

In horizontal mode and in vertical mode, the "Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher)" taskbar is resizeable after it has been unlocked. Only the number of rows (in horizontal mode) or the number of columns (in vertical mode) can be changed, though, but the size of the taskbar also is part determined by other factors such as, e.g., the taskbar icons size, the screen resolution and Scale.
Toolbars can be dragged to anywhere between the Start button and the Notification area. It means that it also is possible to drag a toolbar to the area between the Start button and the Pinned area. /.../

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Well, many thanks to you for this reminder... I may have been so shocked that I completely forgot about the (pretty much visible) "Lock the taskbar' check box... You have solved my main remaining problems. The rest is much less an issue. Many many thanks.

hdmi said:

I have the taskbar positioned at the bottom of my screen so, I moved it at the left of the screen, and tried to figure out what you are talking about here.

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You succeeded in figuring out... Unlock the taskbar did respond to the question.

G.

Please check out True Launch Bar v8.0. I am using it and so far I'm impressed. Let me know if you find any malware in it. I checked it with Avast and Malwarebytes - no issues found.