ExplorerPatcher issue with drilling back up levels

@valinet
Hi,
I am having a problem that I think is related to ExplorerPatcher. I want to resolve it because I the look and function is exactly what I want and the default Windows 11 taskbar misses in many ways, like size, quicklaunch, and clock/ calendar.

When I install ExplorerPatcher, the File Explorer works as it should. When I change to these settings, it doesn't.

Without changing settings, it looks like this: (continued after the screenshot)


You can see I drilled down 6 levels from My PC to get to the folder that contains these music tracks in the Address Bar field that is on the same plane that has the Back, Forward, and Up arrows. If you use these arrows, File Explorer works as intended.

After I set my ExplorerPatcher settings, those arrows still work as far as that address bar window that shows the path of where I am, but the main window does not go back to match the folder I returned to. Here is another screenshot after I made my custom settings in ExplorerPatcher. I pressed the Up or Back arrow 6 times (on the first screen), the Address Bar backs out of all of those sub folders (just shows Desktop), but the main windows still shows the deepest window.



You can see I backed out all of the way from the 6 levels of the folder that had the music tracks, and it reflects in the Address Bar window, but the main screen does not reflect the current folder for each time I backed up a level.

My settings are:
Hide Action Center
Taskbar:
X show Search Screen
X show TaskView Button
Combine Taskbar Icons (primary and secondary)
Small Taskbar
System Tray:
X Control Center button

If I go again to EP Properties>About>Restore Default Settings, it fixes the problem, but I loose my custom settings. This is reproducible, but I can't pinpoint the cause.

I really like the Taskbar that I have with EP. I hope you can help find a fix.

Thanks!

Sorry I can't help you. My GUI is virgin (that's the only thing that is around here.) Lots of folks use it so someone will step in. I believe @Edwin And @hdmi are proficient with EP.

glasskuter said:

I believe @Edwin And @hdmi are proficient with EP.

Click to expand...

Nope! I'm a StartAllBack guy!!!

I encountered exactly the same thing when I was testing EP. I think I resolved it by doing something simple, such as logging out and back in.

After returning to the computer, the back arrow seems to be working again and I am using EP (my taskbar is how I like it).

This is a reinstall of Windows 23H2. I wonder if maybe it is something like Windows was indexing a drive? I specifically started the reinstall because of this issue. I checked to see if it persisted at several points of setting up my system. I found that it (the back arrow) didn't properly back out of layers into a folder after I set my EP tweaks (and worked after I removed them).

I tried restarting Explorer and Folder default settings, but only resetting the settings in EP and uninstalling it seemed to work, but now a few hours later it seemed to have fixed itself. I hope it holds. I've seen this issue before so I really want(ed) to track this down.

Thanks

I know from using EP it takes a few mins after installing to download all of the symbols for the OS. Maybe something along those lines was messed up..

dacrone said:

I know from using EP it takes a few mins after installing to download all of the symbols for the OS. Maybe something along those lines was messed up..

Click to expand...

Thanks, hopefully it stays stable. I've used EP for awhile and had the issue before on other computers, but only since this install that I tried to track it down.

After EP finishes downloading the new symbols successfully, it informs you about it by popping up a notification in your notification center, and, it asks you to restart explorer to make these new symbols take effect. However, I found that merely restarting explorer (i.e. by clicking on the option in the bottom left corner of the EP settings window panel) after that can sometimes (sometimes often) lead to unstable/unpredictable behavior of File Explorer and of the Windows 10 taskbar on Windows 11. At first, the issues don't occur so all appears to be like normal. Then suddenly, after some period of time, it flakes out. Doing a reboot fixes it, and then it stays fixed until the next time when EP finishes downloading new symbols (i.e. when Windows Update finalizes the install of another Cumulative Update). So, what I like to do is, I reboot my computer each time after EP says that it successfully downloaded new symbols, and, I also reboot each time after EP updates itself to the latest version. For me, it works.

If you still have problems with EP that aren't fixed after doing a reboot, then uninstall EP, and, download and install the latest version of EP from GitHub. (I always choose to use the latest Pre-release version, if available.)

Aside from this, run the usual sfc /scannow and the dism /cleanup-image /online /restorehealth commands to ensure that system files aren't corrupted. If the issue persists, if nothing else works, repair your Windows by doing an in-place upgrade. Finally, if repairing your Windows doesn't help either, do a clean install of Windows (or restore from image by using your preferred system imaging method or strategy).

hdmi said:

Finally, if repairing your Windows doesn't help either, do a clean install of Windows (or restore from image by using your preferred system imaging method or strategy).

Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply. It sounds like although you had issues too, you find EP worth a little trouble of a few glitches to get the look and features we want. Like I said I experienced the inability to back out of layers of a folder on previous builds and computers that also had EP installed. This fresh reinstall was specifically to find the problem.

I had no idea what caused the problem, but the only quick fix was to go again to This PC and restart your quest into a folder (because you couldn't back out previously). It was annoying. I don't know if I fixed it by the stuff I tried OR it just fixes itself.

And I am not 100% EP has anything to do with this at all, but I was testing for this at any stage of my Windows re-setup that might have caused this. I did reproduce the problem as I wrote in the original post, and was able to reset EP to fix the problem, and then break it again. Then after dinner it was fine.

It seemed to fix itself for now. I hope it stays fixed.

Having to reboot one additional time after an update so as to avoid glitches is just a (very) minor inconvenience, when compared to having to live with what Microsoft has done to the taskbar, File Explorer and the Alt+Tab window switcher. I also use Open-Shell (and Classic Explorer thereof), along with various other customizations and tweaks. The main purpose is to not have to sacrifice on productivity where there is no apparent reason to sacrifice on it. I am a pragmatist. As long as it doesn't burn my eyes or looks like a pinball machine, I don't really care that much about looks. For example, I keep transparency effects turned off in Windows Settings, and my context menu backgrounds are just plain with no mica effect. The things I care about are things like changing the color of the clock to something less bright so the moving seconds don't become a distraction. Or disabling rounded corners so I don't have to press and hold the dpi switch on the side of my Logitech G402 Hyperion Fury just to be able to grab a corner (yes, really...). Just to give only two examples of Microsoft total ridiculousness.