Solved Missing Windows 11 Toolbar after Windows update.

BaJohn · Mar 10, 2024

Flashorn said:
Disk Management looks OK except that you have unallocated space on both Disk 0 & 1. Was that intentional?

Yes sort of. It is the Over Provisioning for the SSD, 10% on Disk 0 ( Drive C: only ) and only 3% on Disk 1 ( Drives D:, E:, F: and G: ).

Flashorn said:
I would not let belarc install the updates for you.

I have only ever used Belarc passively - In fact I never new you could use it to install updates.

Flashorn said:
The KB5034848 is a Preview and is wreaking havoc on allot of systems. Uninstall KB5034765
& KB5034848 and disable Belarc for now. Reboot and see what happens making sure to have the updates Paused and the slider
under updates Off.

Why do you think uninstalling these 2 KB's will help? I currently have the menu and taskbar back, but with problems with search, closing Task Mananger, and the updates have been paused (and slider updates off) for 2 days now, I think.

Flashorn said:
Can you get to the CMD by way of tweak and if so, run

Yes and have been doing with or without the taskbar problem.
I found no irregularities when I actioned these this morning along with checking drive C:.

Flashorn said:
you can access those snipping tool screen shots By looking in Navigation Pane under ScreenShots

This was useful, thankyou although it must be possible to get the 'preview' available back in the bottom right corner.

I'm coming to the view that a "Clean Install" will stop all this messing around as I can't see a way forward with mucking about with KBs every few days.

BaJohn · Mar 10, 2024

glasskuter said:
I've tried to follow this thread and have to admit I have had difficulty. If issues remain after uninstalling the offending update, and running
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth as @Flashorn suggested doesn't fix those issues, one could first try a repair install. If still no joy, a clean install is all that's left.

Sidenote: I may have overlooked it, but did anyone mention to the OP not only should he not manually tell WU to download an update preview but should also go to windows update>toggle off get latest updates as soon as they're available.

All of this has been tried and YES I am admitting defeat and consider a "Clean Install" a sensible option (Unfortunately).

BaJohn · Mar 10, 2024

badrobot said:
I lost my taskbar, too the other day. I didn't even try to solve it. I just restored to my latest image and download updates afterwards. All good now. The power of Macrium!

I installed Macrium on my Win 10 PC well over a year ago, to test it first before putting it on Win 11 PC.
Unfortunately I gave up trying to understand the instructions as they seemed too complicated.
Also I really wanted to know how often you need to use it to take images and how long it takes to reinstall them, before making an absolute decision to fully employ it.

bobkn · Mar 10, 2024

BaJohn said:
I installed Macrium on my Win 10 PC well over a year ago, to test it first before putting it on Win 11 PC.
Unfortunately I gave up trying to understand the instructions as they seemed too complicated.
Also I really wanted to know how often you need to use it to take images and how long it takes to reinstall them, before making an absolute decision to fully employ it.

I use the paid version of Macrium Reflect.

It takes me less than 10 minutes to image my boot drive (something over 100GB) to an internal HDD. It'd take about the same to restore (to an M.2 SSD).

I may switch away if Macrium moves to subscription plan.

I was an Acronis True Image user, until they went to "Cyber Protect Home Office". Aside from it being a subscription product, it was so much more than a simple drive imaging software that I didn't want it.

If Macrium Reflect is too complex for you, I don't know what to recommend.

badrobot · Mar 10, 2024

BaJohn said:
I installed Macrium on my Win 10 PC well over a year ago, to test it first before putting it on Win 11 PC.
Unfortunately I gave up trying to understand the instructions as they seemed too complicated.
Also I really wanted to know how often you need to use it to take images and how long it takes to reinstall them, before making an absolute decision to fully employ it.

I usually do it every change of season or if there is a very significant change I made on my OS.
I only use the basic imaging feature of macrium. I don't do data backu-up. All my data are on separate drive that's why it is faster to create an image. If you mix your data with OS on the same drive , it will be a bigger image and will take longer. My OS is 122GB and takes about 10 minutes to image and restore.

Creating an image is a 5 step task. These are the minimum steps I take to create an image:

Flashorn · Mar 10, 2024

BaJohn said:
Why do you think uninstalling these 2 KB's will help? I currently have the menu and taskbar back, but with problems with search, closing Task Mananger, and the updates have been paused (and slider updates off) for 2 days now, I think.

OK so, I'll show you this again as I think I did already. This is from a few weeks ago and will show why we uninstall or do not install
them at all:

Do not install Windows 11 KB5034848 patch - Microsoft confirms there is a problem

Discover the problems caused by the Windows 11 KB5034848 patch and Microsoft's response to the issue. Stay informed

www.gizchina.com

Microsoft confirms broken Windows 11 update, offers workaround

Windows 11 update KB5034765 keeps causing new problems on computers.

www.pcworld.com

It is very hard for Microsoft to admit to a failed update and since they did so early on, it is because they Really are
bad updates.

I'm trying to get you back to where everything works again by trying different methods. It is not hard to uninstall an update
and to run sfc and DISM to try and save you the trouble of having to re-install the OS. But, these are only my recommendations.
If you feel overwhelmed by them then, maybe a clean install would be the last resort for your case.

BTW, did the PC come with a restore DVD or USB for the eventual restore of the OS. This would be very helpful as all the
systems drivers would be there and installed along with the OS and you'd have a working PC just like when you brought
it home the first time.

BaJohn · Mar 10, 2024

Flashorn said:
OK so, I'll show you this again as I think I did already. This is from a few weeks ago and will show why we uninstall or do not install
them at all:

Do not install Windows 11 KB5034848 patch - Microsoft confirms there is a problem

Discover the problems caused by the Windows 11 KB5034848 patch and Microsoft's response to the issue. Stay informed

www.gizchina.com

Microsoft confirms broken Windows 11 update, offers workaround

Windows 11 update KB5034765 keeps causing new problems on computers.

www.pcworld.com

It is very hard for Microsoft to admit to a failed update and since they did so early on, it is because they Really are
bad updates.

I'm trying to get you back to where everything works again by trying different methods. It is not hard to uninstall an update
and to run sfc and DISM to try and save you the trouble of having to re-install the OS. But, these are only my recommendations.
If you feel overwhelmed by them then, maybe a clean install would be the last resort for your case.

BTW, did the PC come with a restore DVD or USB for the eventual restore of the OS. This would be very helpful as all the
systems drivers would be there and installed along with the OS and you'd have a working PC just like when you brought
it home the first time.

The PC did not come with a restore DVD or USB, but I had created (I think) a Restore myself, but it is at least a year old.
I will try and find this, if you think this will work.

If I can't find it I will:-
1. Delete C:\$WinREAgent.
2. Disable Belarc (although not certain why as I thought this was a passive program).
3. Uninstall KB5034765.
4. Uninstall KB5034848.
5. Let you know on this post how things went.

Am I right in thinking that Microsoft have stopped prompting to install these 2 KBs, as they admit that they have problems?

glasskuter · Mar 10, 2024

BaJohn said:
Am I right in thinking that Microsoft have stopped prompting to install these 2 KB

Both updates are still active in the update catalog. Update Tues. is this coming Tues. so those of us who do not install preview updates will get this update if MS doesn't pull it. There is a possibility MS has already fixed the preview using the same KB#. I urge everyone to read this article so you'll know what you may or may not experience with this update.

Microsoft confirms Windows 11 KB5034848 issues

Windows 11 KB5034848 has a bug that may cause installation problems. The update is required for optional Moment 5 features.

www.windowslatest.com

IMO this is one of those updates one would not want to apply unless you make a system image first.

badrobot · Mar 10, 2024

BaJohn said:
how long it takes to reinstall them, before making an absolute decision to fully employ it.

clean install will take you an entire day (OS + programs). Image restore is between 5 and 60 mins depending on how big your image is.

badrobot · Mar 10, 2024

glasskuter said:
IMO this is one of those updates one would not want to apply unless you make a system image first.

Good advice. It is make or break so you better have something to go back to.

BaJohn · Mar 11, 2024

glasskuter said:
Both updates are still active in the update catalog. Update Tues. is this coming Tues. so those of us who do not install preview updates will get this update if MS doesn't pull it. There is a possibility MS has already fixed the preview using the same KB#. I urge everyone to read this article so you'll know what you may or may not experience with this update.

Microsoft confirms Windows 11 KB5034848 issues

Windows 11 KB5034848 has a bug that may cause installation problems. The update is required for optional Moment 5 features.

www.windowslatest.com

IMO this is one of those updates one would not want to apply unless you make a system image first.

That's a lot of changes in one KB, no wonder there are some bugs.
Ironically it adds another facility to repair the PC through windows update.

I will carry out my actions as in #207 this afternoon hopefully.

BaJohn · Mar 11, 2024

Actually I don't think I have to do anything to get rid of them as they are not in my Win 11 PC.
Looking at my Information supplied in #196, and there has been no change since.
KB5034765 was installed twice on 14/02/24 and 09/03/24 and KB5034848 was installed on 02/03/24.
The 'get-hotfix' does not show either of these.

The Update history ONLY says what was installed and does not show those that were uninstalled.
I uninstalled the last update (I believe was KB034848) on 09/03/24 before the information supplied in #196.
I can only assume that uninstalling that KB also took out the other one.

So I don't have to attempt to uninstall anything more at the moment and still have my problems.

glasskuter · Mar 11, 2024

BaJohn said:
So I don't have to attempt to uninstall anything more at the moment and still have my problems.

I'm a little lost here in what's happening. If you do not have these updates installed and still have problems , it would be worth your time to do a repair install to see if it will get you back to normal without doing a clean installI and lose everything. You have to download an iso either way. I know it will be awkward having to open everything through task manager. Just open a new task of explorer.exe and leave it open. It's easier to
mo-jo from there than task manager. Repair Install Windows 11 with an In-place Upgrade Tutorial

Flashorn · Mar 11, 2024

glasskuter said:
If you do not have these updates installed and still have problems

I don't know where that comes from because he posted the update history in which both updates are
in there. At this point, I just don't know how to proceed. We have tried just about every single tool
and fix that I can think of even the one you just mentioned. From what I can tell, the repair will not
let him keep his files so....

Winuser · Mar 11, 2024

BaJohn said:
The PC did not come with a restore DVD or USB

Sometimes on OEM computers you either have to make the OEM recovery disk yourself or use a utility you access when the computer first starts. This will bring the computer back to factory new. Seeing your computer was built to your specs I don't know if it came with any way to factory restore or not.

Winuser · Mar 11, 2024

Flashorn said:
I don't know where that comes from because he posted the update history in which both updates are
in there.

BaJohn said:
Actually I don't think I have to do anything to get rid of them as they are not in my Win 11 PC.

Flashorn · Mar 11, 2024

He has made a recovery USB but, it's from the time, I presume , of when he first got it.
The screen shot is his and it clearly shows both are installed.

glasskuter · Mar 11, 2024

Flashorn said:
he screen shot is his and it clearly shows both are installed

That's what threw me. Regarding preserving his files if he can open an explorer.exe task using task manager, he should be able to copy them to external media.That not be the case he could boot from a live Linux distro usb and recover them that way.

To @BaJohn Know this BEFORE you clean install.
1. If you use a MS account, all you personal folders will be tied to Onedrive. If this is not what you want, create a local account during install using the procedure listed in this tutorial step 21
Clean Install Windows 11 Tutorial

2. I strongly suggest you disconnect all other drives except the system drive before install.

3. If you system is optioned as raid in UEFI bios, your system drive will not be recognized by the installation process until you load Intel Rapid Storage Controller during the 'load driver' phase of the install process. It's in the tutorial. OR you can change to AHCI in bios and the install process will use the MS storage controller driver.

4. Make sure all partitions are deleted and windows is installed on unallocated space. It's in tutorial.

Flashorn · Mar 11, 2024

glasskuter said:
he could boot from a live Linux distro usb and recover them that way.

That might be a bit much to ask. He's been pretty good so far but, using a distro might just
be a bit far reaching. Thanks for all the help so far @glasskuter .

BaJohn · Mar 12, 2024

Flashorn said:
I don't know where that comes from because he posted the update history in which both updates are
in there. At this point, I just don't know how to proceed. We have tried just about every single tool
and fix that I can think of even the one you just mentioned. From what I can tell, the repair will not
let him keep his files so....

From my #212
The Update history ONLY says what was installed and does not show those that were uninstalled.
I uninstalled the last update (I believe was KB034848) on 09/03/24 before the information supplied in #196.
I can only assume that uninstalling that KB also took out the other one.

Basically using the Update history is misleading as it shows what was installed, BUT does not take those KB out of the history if they are uninstalled.
That's why the 'get-hotfix' is a better view of what is installed as it is a picture of 'now'.