New Version of ExplorerPatcher

ThrashZone · Mar 1, 2023

The-Hive said:
I think now the project if not finished with by @valinet must be continued on the GitHub by other people who have the knowledge to do that sort of thing

Yeah openshell comes to mind and not sure why it's not on the list yet but I've seen many using it instead being free and all.

hdmi · Mar 1, 2023

ThrashZone said:
Hi,
Yep pity
I haven't had any issues so no updates in about 4 months didn't seem that weird to me seeing I'm not in the habit of fixing what is not broken
If the issue is he wants rubles now well I'd suggest maybe moving buddy seeing Russia is not in anyone's help list

But maybe local media has been manipulated there so much and he's clueless what is happening over there.

Romania is not Russia.

hdmi · Mar 1, 2023

ThrashZone said:
Yeah openshell comes to mind and not sure why it's not on the list yet but I've seen many using it instead being free and all.

I have only been using Open-Shell for 13 years. Maybe in 2036 it will be on the list?

LesFerch · Mar 1, 2023

I don't want to start a political discussion, but shareware developers typically can barely make enough money to pay rent and put food on the table. Their products are often their life's work (100s if not 1000s of hours of research, coding, and maintenance). I can't imagine that paying $5 for StartAllBack somehow funnels money to Putin's evil causes. I just don't think it's fair to assume that supporting a Russian developer is supporting the Russian government.

hdmi · Mar 1, 2023

LesFerch said:
I don't want to start a political discussion, but shareware developers typically can barely make enough money to pay rent and put food on the table. Their products are often their life's work (100s if not 1000s of hours or research, coding, and maintenance). I can't imagine that paying $5 for StartAllBack somehow funnels money to Putin's evil causes. I just don't think it's fair to assume that supporting a Russian developer is supporting the Russian government.

Even with the workaround that I just posted up thread, ExplorerPatcher with Open-Shell is still a much better choice than StartAllBack. That's my only reason why I think StartAllBack is not worth $5.

Stormbrain · Mar 1, 2023

It would be nice at least if Valinet would let us know if its been officially discontinued at least to put us out of our misery, hope is a powerful drug

LesFerch · Mar 1, 2023

hdmi said:
Even with the workaround that I just posted up thread, ExplorerPatcher with Open-Shell is still a much better choice than StartAllBack. That's my only reason why I think StartAllBack is not worth $5.

But ExplorerPatcher borks machines. Build a new Windows 11 machine and update it to 22621.1344. Then try installing ExplorerPatcher. The result is the desktop flashing in an infinite Explorer reload loop.

hdmi · Mar 1, 2023

LesFerch said:
But ExplorerPatcher borks machines. Build a new Windows 11 machine and update it to 22621.1344. Then try installing ExplorerPatcher. The result is the desktop flashing in an infinite Explorer reload loop.

I haven't experienced this infinite loop thing. Have you tried enabling auditing for process creation to find out which process keeps restarting the explorer process in this manner?

EDIT: The GUID for the process creation subcategory can be found here:

[MS-GPAC]: Subcategory and SubcategoryGUID

This section defines how the Subcategory and SubcategoryGUID values are used by the audit configuration client-side plug-in. The Subcategory

learn.microsoft.com

So, to enable auditing for successful process creation attempts:

Batch:

auditpol /set /subcategory:{0cce922b-69ae-11d9-bed3-505054503030} /success:enable

To disable it again:

Batch:

auditpol /set /subcategory:{0cce922b-69ae-11d9-bed3-505054503030} /success:disable

Next, you should be able to use Event Viewer to find out what goes on.

shrikefan · Mar 1, 2023

I never saw the announcement so the update came as a surprise. I have the black screen issue but can’t even open Task Manager (I can open the ctrl alt delete menu but the window never comes up: when I try to restart using the UI it says it’s open). I tried to get into recovery mode to go into safe mode but it just boots up normally. Does anybody know any other option?

The-Hive · Mar 1, 2023

ThrashZone said:
Yeah openshell comes to mind and not sure why it's not on the list yet but I've seen many using it instead being free and all.

I think, and I may be wrong that OpenShell uses an overlay and maybe doesn't affect the taskbar

shrikefan · Mar 1, 2023

Also, for alternatives, I really just need something free that gets rid of the rounded corners: I think they’re ugly and some of the programs I use have information cut off by the rounding.

The-Hive · Mar 1, 2023

Edwin said:
I suspect Valinet gave up, or at least shelved it..., the last few Builds really screwed up his work!
Not to mention all the b*tchin and complaining from users of the free software..., he probably said "Forget it, you bunch of ingrates!"

If you look back through older posts, now lockdown is over and with work commitments I think he found it all to much, and as you say, a lot os hassle he was getting from what basically was done as an educational hobby for him, but hey, who knows he may come back when he sees what a c*#%K up the new build of windows is

The-Hive · Mar 1, 2023

shrikefan said:
Also, for alternatives, I really just need something free that gets rid of the rounded corners: I think they’re ugly and some of the programs I use have information cut off by the rounding.

If that is your only concern then I wouldn't waste time on it, I am more interested in getting things working in a more productive way

hdmi · Mar 1, 2023

shrikefan said:
I never saw the announcement so the update came as a surprise. I have the black screen issue but can’t even open Task Manager (I can open the ctrl alt delete menu but the window never comes up: when I try to restart using the UI it says it’s open). I tried to get into recovery mode to go into safe mode but it just boots up normally. Does anybody know any other option?

Ctrl + Shift + Esc

hdmi · Mar 1, 2023

The-Hive said:
I think, and I may be wrong that OpenShell uses an overlay and maybe doesn't affect the taskbar

I use it to change the Windows 10 Taskbar's text color. The moving seconds are too much of a distraction when the digits are white.

shrikefan · Mar 1, 2023

hdmi said:
Ctrl + Shift + Esc

This method does not work either. Same as the CtrlAltDel version where the process apparently exists but the window never appears.

LesFerch · Mar 1, 2023

hdmi said:
I haven't experienced this infinite loop thing. Have you tried enabling auditing for process creation to find out which process keeps restarting the explorer process in this manner?

Explorer crashes on startup (no error message) and Windows just relaunches it, creating an endless loop. I'll try again on a VM this time and see if I can replicate the issue. It already happened twice on a physical machine. It was a test machine, so no big deal for me.

The-Hive · Mar 1, 2023

Does anyone know if customisations made with things like Ultimate Windows Tweaker or Winaero Tweaker to change the context menus has the same effect as StartAllBack and ExplorerPatcher ??

Edwin · Mar 1, 2023

shrikefan said:
Same as the CtrlAltDel version where the process apparently exists but the window never appears.

Can you interact with the Power button on the C/A/D screen?
If you can, click Shift/Restart, brings you straight to Recovery Options...

shrikefan · Mar 1, 2023

Edwin said:
Can you interact with the Power button on the C/A/D screen?
If you can, click Shift/Restart, brings you straight to Recovery Options...

I held Shift and pressed Restart but it restarted normally. It has the “processes preventing you from restarting” where the process stopping the restart has no name and a default icon. Is there something different that needs to be done on that screen?