Microsoft is blocking Windows 11 build upgrades on systems with StartAllBack

Workaround is to uninstall StartAllBack, complete the upgrade, rename and reinstall the SAB executable.

NormanF said:

Workaround is to uninstall StartAllBack, complete the upgrade, rename and reinstall the SAB executable.

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Will see next week if your advice is really neccesary.............

Microsoft is guilty of all kinds of things (and worthy of blame) - but this particular case - is not one of them. Point being... their reasoning in this specific case (while taking into account the way Windows works and the ecosystem on which is built-upon) - is mostly valid. This apps (or more accurately "cracks" ) - are modifying core Windows files to achieve that specific look. Which, can be problematic - on a Windows Update which happens to be dependent of those files. And thus... there's room for all kinds of issues with Windows - for which Microsoft devs get blamed upon releasing the update in question - only to realize (later on) - that the main cause for those issues was users related - by cracking core windows files - which end-up causing conflicts with the changes they introduced with said updates.

In terms of visual/appearance customizations - Windows itself is still rather limited. There's all kinds of apps that can change that "without interfering with Windows itself" - such as RocketDock and other apps or widgets - which work on top of Windows. Probably the most famous in this regard is part of Stardock - such as Start11 or WindowsBlinds 11 - but this are paid apps. And even tho, they don't interfere with Windows in such way - to cause issues with Windows updates, there have been cases - where Windows updates broke their themes by changing the way taskbar works. Anyway, this is the current state of Windows.

If you want an OS that's fully customizable - one of the many Linux distributions (depending on your taste - since compared to Windows or macOS - Linux has dozens of flavors and multiple Desktop Environments to chose from) - might be able to fulfill your expectations - GUI customization being among the main visual advantages of Linux compared to any other desktop OS. To get an idea, here's a transparent (subjective tastes wise - but it approaches both the bad and the good - it's not of those boasting videos focused only on what shines) ranking of some of the most popular Linux Desktop Environments:

That's just a brief look on above Desktop Environments (a DE is basicly the Graphical User Interfce - similar to Windows Explorer) - as was mentioned in the video - there's room for extensive customisation for each DE (some more capable than others). And since their oficial DE - those don't interfere with updates.

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Berton said:

That shouldn't come as a surprise since we don't buy Windows but the license to use it and Microsoft can make changes. I've seen some Version Upgrades and Build updates reset customizations back to default.

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You accept that nonsense? It's in my possession, it belongs to me.

Startallback should sue MS and make millions. Wanna play silly legal games eh?

neves said:

... modifying core Windows files to achieve that specific look. Which, can be problematic - on a Windows Update which happens to be dependent of those files.

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Wasn't an issue in the past. Why all of a sudden on April 3, 2024?

Lamberto Vitali said:

You accept that nonsense? It's in my possession, it belongs to me.

Startallback should sue MS and make millions. Wanna play silly legal games eh?

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I was going to say something but thought better of it.

Lamberto Vitali said:

You accept that nonsense? It's in my possession, it belongs to me.

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Think again! Better read The Microsoft Terms of Service - which YOU IMPLICITLY AGREED TO when you paid for the right to USE their services

"b. The software is licensed, not sold"

Microsoft Services Agreement

modifying core Windows files

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Does SAB modify core windows files ?

San Martino said:

Think again! Better read The Microsoft Terms of Service - which YOU IMPLICITLY AGREED TO when you paid for the right to USE their services

"b. The software is licensed, not sold"

Microsoft Services Agreement

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You are confusing different things.

Where the copyright holder makes available to his customer a copy – tangible or intangible – and at the same time concludes, in return for payment of a fee, a licence agreement granting the customer the right to use that copy for an unlimited period, that rightholder sells the copy to the customer and thus exhausts his exclusive distribution right. Such a transaction involves a transfer of the right of ownership of the copy. Therefore, even if the licence agreement prohibits a further transfer, the rightholder can no longer oppose the resale of that copy

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Lamberto Vitali said:

You accept that nonsense? It's in my possession, it belongs to me.

Startallback should sue MS and make millions. Wanna play silly legal games eh?

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lol what?

I do what I gotta do to make it work. One day at a time.
Or, should I say, one Build at a time!

SIW2 said:

You are confusing different things.

https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2012-07/cp120094en.pdf

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Microstft are covered, they’ve spent Billions protecting themselves. Also, there are different TOS & MSA’s across Microsoft. If they want to revoke a licence, they would have no problem doing so. Ambiguously or directly, they have covered every angle.

Microsoft also have terms that explicitly protect their property, basically they are “temporarily” blocking a software and they have legally protected themselves to do so. This isn’t a USA vs Microsoft situation.
I don’t see any panic or words of war statements written by any companies that are being affected. It’ll all correct itself.

Wolfzz said:

Microsoft is blocking Windows 11 build upgrades on systems with StartAllBack

If you use StartAllBack, a popular third-party tool for tweaking Windows 11 UI, you may have a hard time upgrading to a newer build. Microsoft is blocking updates due to "performance issues."

www.neowin.net

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Just rename the .exe file and then run it. . . . If you do an upgrade, you'll have to uninstall it, do the upgrade, then reinstall it. .

Edwin said:

Wouldn't surprise me a bit!

View attachment 92545

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IF that is 100% true, then I won't be upgrading to 24H2. . I'll completely disable MS Updates for a while.

antspants said:

Microsoft also have terms that explicitly protect their property, basically they are “temporarily” blocking a software and they have legally protected themselves to do so. This isn’t a USA vs Microsoft situation.
I don’t see any panic or words of war statements written by any companies that are being affected. It’ll all correct itself.

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StartAllBack can be installed on 24H2. . . You just have to rename the .exe file.

This from Moonnique at Virtual Customs

this app cant be blocked permanently
if you have any problem just do not install StartAllBack
this app can be used as portable
just extract StartAllBack to any directrory with 7zip and run StartAllBack.cfg file

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A Guy

Edwin said:

Wasn't an issue in the past. Why all of a sudden on April 3, 2024?

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If i was to guess - i'd say some of the changes involving this updates - caused some conflicts/issues during beta testing. That would be the logical assumption - cause as was proven in the past - when it comes to implementing all kinds of changes - Microsoft is also known to work in mysterious ways (doesn't make much sense for the general public - it's just a subjective reasoning of a Microsoft dev or product manager).

To quote Will "Much ado about nothing".

neves said:

This apps (or more accurately "cracks" ) - are modifying core Windows files

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Nope. ExplorerPatcher does not modify any system files.