New Version of ExplorerPatcher

hdmi · Aug 16, 2023

Johnboy200 said:
People use different things in EP so some peoples experience will differ from what other people consider to be fine.

Here are all my ExplorerPatcher settings:

flhthemi · Aug 17, 2023

The-Hive said:
@flhthemi has nailed it, well it works for me. I am using EP and ClassicShell with the win 10 taskbar. If I open Explorer from the desktop shortcut or the taskbar shortcut all works fine with a win 11 ribbon even though it is set to a win10 ribbon in
EP>File Explorer>Control Interface>Windows 10 Ribbon but if I open explorer from a link on the ClassicShell menu all is still working fine but I do get the Win 10 ribbon. Great for me I hope this helps others, it certainly fixed mine

Not me! @hdmi did it I just showed ya how to get there

The-Hive · Aug 18, 2023

flhthemi said:
Not me! @hdmi did it I just showed ya how to get there

I just read your post and tried and it worked, thanks, @hdmi is a clever guy

hdmi · Aug 18, 2023

The-Hive said:
@hdmi is a clever guy

Nah. Anyone who is even just a little bit familiar with Windows already knows that each time when Microsoft decides to replace an old feature with something new you should probably kill the new one immediately because that one will almost certainly be broken.

pokeefe0001 · Aug 20, 2023

flhthemi said:
This worked for me!!! Thanks!

It was a little tricky to find the setting so this might help!
View attachment 67971

Yup, that worked for me, too. Many Thanks!

However, I wonder there are registry hacks that might achieve the results I want without the use of ExplorerPatcher. I suspect this has been addressed somewhere in the 87 pages (so far) of this thread but I haven't gone through the whole think.

My goals:

Have the old full File Explorer right-click context menu.
Have small icons on the taskbar. (Not a necessity - just nice.)
Have labeled icons on the taskbar.
Never combine taskbar icons (or combine only when full).

I know there's a registry hack for #1, and uninstalling ExplorerPatcher does not undo it, so I don't really need to know what that registry setting is; I'm just curious. The other things I want disappear when ExplorerPatcher is uninstalled so I'm guessing thre are no registry setting (outside of ExplorerPatcher's own registry records) for them, but I'd love to be wrong about that.

I've read that #4 will officially be available again in 23H2 so Microsoft will give me that one ... when I'm brave enough to go to 23H2. Is #3 included in that change?

hdmi · Aug 21, 2023

pokeefe0001 said:
I know there's a registry hack for #1, and uninstalling ExplorerPatcher does not undo it, so I don't really need to know what that registry setting is; I'm just curious.

Disable "Show more options" context menu in Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable having to click on "Show more options" to see the full context menu for your account or all users in Windows 11. When you right click on an item in Windows 11, you will see a new modern condensed context menu with Show more options...

www.elevenforum.com

flhthemi · Aug 21, 2023

Well I want MS to put the option of relocating the taskbar back into Windows settings. I wonder if they were bombarded with this request if they would put it back.

BTW, not complaining just letting folks know, I have a ton of new problems all of a sudden (it seems) with EP. If I play a video with the old windows media player and then 2X click to go full screen the video gets covered by WMP's interface and the directory I played the video from. Nothing on screen functions, video keeps playing but WMP can be exited using the X in the top right corner of the full screen player. I've also noticed that menu items in Firefox become non-functional. So I've had to UN-install EP till the next update.

spapakons · Aug 21, 2023

I had seen a couple of applications that when in full screen there is no menu, no button to exit. You must first press ESC to exit full screen mode. But I didn't realize these are related to Explorer Patcher.

hdmi · Aug 21, 2023

flhthemi said:
Well I want MS to put the option of relocating the taskbar back into Windows settings. I wonder if they were bombarded with this request if they would put it back.

BTW, not complaining just letting folks know, I have a ton of new problems all of a sudden (it seems) with EP. If I play a video with the old windows media player and then 2X click to go full screen the video gets covered by WMP's interface and the directory I played the video from. Nothing on screen functions, video keeps playing but WMP can be exited using the X in the top right corner of the full screen player. I've also noticed that menu items in Firefox become non-functional. So I've had to UN-install EP till the next update.

View attachment 68503

After uninstalling EP, try repairing your Windows by doing an in-place upgrade. I know that it takes a while to finish, and you lose some of your changes you made in Windows Settings so, you won't hear me say that it isn't in any way cumbersone. It is. But I've also had unexpected, weird, troubles with Windows 11 a few times in the past after a Cumulative Update had been installed, and, each time when this happened the sfc /scannow didn't report any system file corruptions. Exorcise the ghost from Microsoft IMO... Finally, reinstall EP and see if everything else except Task View and the Volume Change popup/overlay (if using the Windows 10 taskbar option in EP) is back to normal again─while still using the Windows 10 Ribbon option under the File Explorer section of EP, that is.

Off topic: don't play videos with WMP. Do yourself a favor, go to codecguide.com and grab K-Lite Codec Pack Full. Choose MPC-HC as the player, madVR as the renderer. You'll see... sliced bread is the next best thing to it!

spapakons · Aug 22, 2023

Doing an unnecessary in-place upgrade or sfc or Dism will only cancel all your personalization settings (including custom icons) and will NOT fix any issues related to Explorer Patcher. The only solution is to uninstall Explorer Patcher and wait for a new version.

hdmi · Aug 22, 2023

You don't know if it's unnecessary until after you have tried it.

spapakons · Aug 22, 2023

hdmi said:
You don't know if it's unnecessary until after you have tried it.

And you have lost about one hour doing it. My experience says it is unnecessary because it is not directly related to Explorer Patcher. If you can prove it is related, then it would be worth trying. So you do it first and post the results. Lucky guess: no issues will be fixed.

hdmi · Aug 22, 2023

spapakons said:
And you have lost about one hour doing it. My experience says it is unnecessary because it is not directly related to Explorer Patcher. If you can prove it is related, then it would be worth trying. So you do it first and post the results. Lucky guess: no issues will be fixed.

Believe it or not, but each time when Windows 11 kept acting up on me after a Cumulative Update had been installed, and kept acting up on me in spite of the fact that the sfc /scannow had reported no system file corruptions and simply rebooting again also didn't help, I bit the bullet and ran the in-place upgrade anyway, and, it worked. I don't know why it worked, but it did. It just did. lol This happened to me about three times now. I uninstalled ExplorerPatcher each time before I did the in-place upgrade, and I reinstalled it after. That's it, no more problems besides the same bugs that other people reported too, like, Task View not working with ExplorerPatcher if you choose to use its Windows 10 taskbar option.

I have been running on Windows 11 (production builds only, as I've always felt like I'm a bit of a reject so I don't do insider builds...) since the first weekend after its official release, and I have been using ExplorerPatcher on it since only a few days after that. I don't use any 3rd party AV nor use anything else that is almost certainly going to jinx Windows. Also, my laptop isn't the exotic type in any way, all the hardware and all the drivers that it uses are so completely average/mainstream that this likely is not going to be the culprit either.

My only conclusion is that, for reasons still unknown, Windows 11 can occasionally corrupt itself in such a particular way that the system files still appear to be intact so the sfc/ scannow can't detect anything wrong, but neither the built-in troubleshooters of Windows nor any other fix that can easily be found by googling can make the problems go away. So, when that happens I don't waste my time waiting for someone else to come up with a final solution. Instead, I actually fix it myself. Even, if it's only just a temporary fix. When dealing with Microsoft, there's only two words that can help you survive: duct tape. You've got to love duct tape, and, next, you've also got to love it some more...

Zoloft · Aug 23, 2023

Explorer Patcher 22621.1992.56.2 is out, but fix not quite there yet, as soon as it's installed, lots of explorer crashes . . .but, good to know it's being worked on!

spapakons · Aug 23, 2023

Lucky guess: The cumulative updates change some system files and cause issues. An in-place upgrade restores the older version of these files and fixes the issues. That's why it always works.

WAI · Aug 23, 2023

Hmm I assume after the last update to explore patch he fixed at least for me the issues I was having before. All good on just updates or feature like

flhthemi · Aug 23, 2023

spapakons said:
Doing an unnecessary in-place upgrade or sfc or Dism will only cancel all your personalization settings (including custom icons) and will NOT fix any issues related to Explorer Patcher. The only solution is to uninstall Explorer Patcher and wait for a new version.

This is exactly what I'm doing.....just waiting. Then once everyone has determined EP is fixed if I STILL have problems I'll to the in-place upgrade. Keep in mind I'm running W11 on an unapproved PC but even on my new approved PC I'm having these issues. so I'll wait....no hurry here.

EDIT- Just tried 56.3 still have the shortcut to a folder issue. Open a shortcut to the same folder/network 2 times in a row and EP restarts. Like I say, no hurry. All good things come in time.

Hary · Aug 23, 2023

spapakons said:
An in-place upgrade restores the older version of these files and fixes the issues. .

Can you clarify this?

spapakons · Aug 24, 2023

Hary said:
Can you clarify this?

How do you do an in-place upgrade? You run Setup from the ISO. But the ISO doesn't contain the latest updates, so any system files are of earlier versions and immune to the latest updates issues.

antspants · Aug 24, 2023

Zoloft said:
Explorer Patcher 22621.1992.56.2 is out, but fix not quite there yet, as soon as it's installed, lots of explorer crashes . . .but, good to know it's being worked on!

.56.3 now. Small icons are working, haven't looked at the rest yet.