New Version of ExplorerPatcher

Jambon29 · Oct 3, 2025

I use it with 25H2 without any visible issue. I was able to restore a taskbar that looks like the Win 10 one.

spapakons · Oct 3, 2025

I have upgraded a virtual machine to 25H2 to explore any new features and see if there are any bugs. I haven't seen yet anything different on the Windows 111 default Start menu. That's probably because is a new installation and is not populated by many apps.

Try3 · Oct 3, 2025

spapakons said:
Does anyone have used Explorer Patcher with 25H2?

Yes, on two 25H2 computers.

spapakons said:
Any issues?

No. I just installed the latest version and it was fine.
My ExplorerPatcher guide to Windows 11 Taskbar Toolbars [post #2225] - ElevenForum

spapakons said:
Does it work as expected?

Yes.

spapakons said:
I am mainly interested in the Windows 10 (Explorer Patcher) style of taskbar

Likewise. And it's fine.

spapakons said:
What about Explorer Patcher along with Open Shell?

I know nothing of OpenShell.

All the best,
Denis

maur0 · Oct 3, 2025

spapakons said:
Quick question: Does anyone have used Explorer Patcher with 25H2? Any issues? Does it work as expected? I am mainly interested in the Windows 10 (Explorer Patcher) style of taskbar. What about Explorer Patcher along with Open Shell?

Thanks

I replaced explorer patcher with startallback

hdmi · Oct 3, 2025

spapakons said:
What about Explorer Patcher along with Open Shell?

Nothing appears to have changed in any way whatsoever. (The same also holds true about using ExplorerPatcher's "Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher)" taskbar style choice along with both Open-Shell and Windhawk's "Click on empty taskbar space" mod, "Disable grouping on the taskbar" mod, and "Middle click to close on taskbar" mod.)

The cosmetic bug that causes Open-Shell's taskbar texture [which becomes possible to use afer changing Taskbar look to "Opaque"] to be missing in the taskbar's Pinned/Open apps area is still there also so, AFAIK in every little detail the whole behavior has stayed exactly the same as before. With or without customizations/tweaks, I don't actually even notice that I have 25H2 installed.

hdmi · Oct 3, 2025

maur0 said:
I replaced explorer patcher with startallback

I didn't

spapakons · Oct 3, 2025

Yes, I also didn't find any obvious difference. No many new features as it seems.

Wolfzz · Oct 3, 2025

ExplorerPatcher 26100.4946.69.4 Pre-Release

Tested on OS builds 26100.4946, 26100.5074, 26200.5751, and 26220.6682.

1

ep_weather: Fixed "Unable to load weather information" due to changes in Google's side. Thanks @davids5 for the fix! (#1334, #4351) (c3c83ff)
Start11: Fixed hiding of Recommended Section on recent builds of 24H2. Thanks @m-wigley for the fix! (#4476) (9106226)
GUI: File Explorer > Title bar is now available again on >= 22H2. Thanks @SandTechStuff! (583fa53)
Reduced the occurrences of the Windows 11 bug in Explorer windows where WM_SETTINGCHANGE would scroll the folder items list to the top. (fa19402)
Changed hooking library to SlimDetours. (ff30457)
- On ARM64, fixes incompatibilities with certain Windhawk mods that hook CreateWindowExW such as Taskbar Volume Control.
- On ARM64, fixes a very slim chance bug where hooked functions would cause a crash when called until a reboot.
ep_taskbar: Now statically links to private functions it uses. (ab99f26)
Taskbar10: Fixed folder toolbar menus and Toolbars > New toolbar not working on builds with TrayThreadBSTA (54481602) feature flag turned on, such as 26100.5074+. (#4542) (1bbe207)
GUI: Windows 8 Network flyout is now no longer an option on builds >= 25346 as van.dll was removed. Thanks @m-wigley for the fix! (#4478) (72c6983)
On Windows 11 22H2+, Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher) taskbar a.k.a. ep_taskbar is now used by default. (ad2fa72)

2

Fixed weather button not having an icon. (#4545) (6959c69)
- You may need to perform "Clear weather widget local data" in EP properties > Weather.

3

File Explorer: Fixed "Shrink address bar height" resulting in broken graphics on recent 24H2 builds. (#4552) (6d946bd)
Start10: Fixed open/close animation patching on x64 27938+ and ARM64 27881+. (201a7e5, 79f8dd3, f873888, 465117e, 4434d10)
Start10: Fixed Windows 10 Start menu refusing to open when the new Windows 11 Start menu feature flag(s) are enabled. (#4523) (afd109f)
Fixed Windows 10 Alt+Tab and Windows 10 taskbar Win+X functionality on ARM64 226x1 and 27686+. (18dfcd0)

4

File Explorer: Corrected shrunk address bar toolbar button size when Servicing_CFDNavButtonsTheming (NI: 56845961, GE: 52061322) is enabled. (#4552) (9e91030)

Known issues we will address in the short term:

Changing weather icon pack to "Microsoft" has no effect.
On Nickel (Windows 11 22H2/23H2), when the new Windows 11 Start menu is enabled, using Windows 10 or Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher) taskbar will crashloop explorer.exe.

Release 26100.4946.69.4 · valinet/ExplorerPatcher

CautionThis GitHub repository is the only official distribution channel of ExplorerPatcher. Do not download "ExplorerPatcher" from any other places than this releases page, as they may contain malw...

github.com

spapakons · Oct 5, 2025

I have both Explorer Patcher and Open Shell installed. In previous versions in 24H2 there were two known bugs. One was that the search icon might disappear if there was any monitor change, such as changing resolution or enabling/disabling the second monitor. The other bug was that if you click the search icon the taskbar color reverted to the Windows 11 default ignoring the color set by Open Shell. In previous version of Explorer Patcher the first bug rarely happened if ever, while the second bug was still there and rather annoying. I just updated to latest version of Explorer Patcher 26100.4946.69.4 and I gladly report the second bug with the taskbar color is finally fixed! I clicked several times on the search icon and the taskbar color wasn't affected, it remained the one set in Open Shell, as it should. I remind you that for this to work you must set taskbar style to Windows 10 (Explorer Patcher). At last, you fixed that. Thanks!

Wolfzz · Oct 5, 2025

ExplorerPatcher 26100.4946.69.4 (Final)

ExplorerPatcher 26100.4946.69.4 changelog:

Tested on OS builds 26100.4946, 26100.5074, 26200.5751, and 26220.6682.

TIP: Windows Defender no longer flags ExplorerPatcher. It is no longer needed to configure Defender exclusions. Enjoy!

Changes:

ep_weather: Fixed "Unable to load weather information" due to changes in Google's side. Thanks @davids5 for the fix! (#1334, #4351) (c3c83ff)
Start11: Fixed hiding of Recommended Section on recent builds of 24H2. Thanks @m-wigley for the fix! (#4476) (9106226)
GUI: File Explorer > Title bar is now available again on >= 22H2. Thanks @SandTechStuff! (583fa53)
Reduced the occurrences of the Windows 11 bug in Explorer windows where WM_SETTINGCHANGE would scroll the folder items list to the top. (fa19402)
Changed hooking library to SlimDetours. (ff30457)
On ARM64, fixes incompatibilities with certain Windhawk mods that hook CreateWindowExW such as Taskbar Volume Control.
On ARM64, fixes a very slim chance bug where hooked functions would cause a crash when called until a reboot.
ep_taskbar: Now statically links to private functions it uses. (ab99f26)
Taskbar10: Fixed folder toolbar menus and Toolbars > New toolbar not working on builds with TrayThreadBSTA (54481602) feature flag turned on, such as 26100.5074+. (#4542) (1bbe207)
GUI: Windows 8 Network flyout is now no longer an option on builds >= 25346 as van.dll was removed. Thanks @m-wigley for the fix! (#4478) (72c6983)
On Windows 11 22H2+, Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher) taskbar a.k.a. ep_taskbar is now used by default. (ad2fa72)
Fixed weather button not having an icon. (#4545) (6959c69)
You may need to perform "Clear weather widget local data" in EP properties > Weather.
File Explorer: Fixed "Shrink address bar height" resulting in broken graphics on recent 24H2 builds. (#4552) (6d946bd)
Start10: Fixed open/close animation patching on x64 27938+ and ARM64 27881+. (201a7e5, 79f8dd3, f873888, 465117e, 4434d10)
Start10: Fixed Windows 10 Start menu refusing to open when the new Windows 11 Start menu feature flag(s) are enabled. (#4523) (afd109f)
Fixed Windows 10 Alt+Tab and Windows 10 taskbar Win+X functionality on ARM64 226x1 and 27686+. (18dfcd0)
File Explorer: Corrected shrunk address bar toolbar button size when Servicing_CFDNavButtonsTheming (NI: 56845961, GE: 52061322) is enabled. (#4552) (9e91030)

Known issues we will address in the short term:

Changing weather icon pack to "Microsoft" has no effect.

Release 26100.4946.69.4 · valinet/ExplorerPatcher

CautionThis GitHub repository is the only official distribution channel of ExplorerPatcher. Do not download "ExplorerPatcher" from any other places than this releases page, as they may contain malw...

github.com

Wolfzz · Oct 16, 2025

ExplorerPatcher 26100.4946.69.5 (Pre-Release)
Tested on OS builds 26100.4946, 26100.5074, 26200.5751, and 26220.6682.

1

ep_weather: Fixed "Unable to load weather information" due to changes in Google's side. Thanks @davids5 for the fix! (#1334, #4351) (c3c83ff)
Start11: Fixed hiding of Recommended Section on recent builds of 24H2. Thanks @m-wigley for the fix! (#4476) (9106226)
GUI: File Explorer > Title bar is now available again on >= 22H2. Thanks @SandTechStuff! (583fa53)
Reduced the occurrences of the Windows 11 bug in Explorer windows where WM_SETTINGCHANGE would scroll the folder items list to the top. (fa19402)
Changed hooking library to SlimDetours. (ff30457)
- On ARM64, fixes incompatibilities with certain Windhawk mods that hook CreateWindowExW such as Taskbar Volume Control.
- On ARM64, fixes a very slim chance bug where hooked functions would cause a crash when called until a reboot.
ep_taskbar: Now statically links to private functions it uses. (ab99f26)
Taskbar10: Fixed folder toolbar menus and Toolbars > New toolbar not working on builds with TrayThreadBSTA (54481602) feature flag turned on, such as 26100.5074+. (#4542) (1bbe207)
GUI: Windows 8 Network flyout is now no longer an option on builds >= 25346 as van.dll was removed. Thanks @m-wigley for the fix! (#4478) (72c6983)
On Windows 11 22H2+, Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher) taskbar a.k.a. ep_taskbar is now used by default. (ad2fa72)

2

Fixed weather button not having an icon. (#4545) (6959c69)
- You may need to perform "Clear weather widget local data" in EP properties > Weather.

3

File Explorer: Fixed "Shrink address bar height" resulting in broken graphics on recent 24H2 builds. (#4552) (6d946bd)
Start10: Fixed open/close animation patching on x64 27938+ and ARM64 27881+. (201a7e5, 79f8dd3, f873888, 465117e, 4434d10)
Start10: Fixed Windows 10 Start menu refusing to open when the new Windows 11 Start menu feature flag(s) are enabled. (#4523) (afd109f)
Fixed Windows 10 Alt+Tab and Windows 10 taskbar Win+X functionality on ARM64 226x1 and 27686+. (18dfcd0)

4

File Explorer: Corrected shrunk address bar toolbar button size when Servicing_CFDNavButtonsTheming (NI: 56845961, GE: 52061322) is enabled. (#4552) (9e91030)

5

Start10: Fixed Windows 10 Start menu not opening on 22H2/23H2 ARM64. (c08b0a6)

Known issues we will address in the short term:

Changing weather icon pack to "Microsoft" has no effect.
On Nickel (Windows 11 22H2/23H2), when the new Windows 11 Start menu is enabled, using Windows 10 or Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher) taskbar will crashloop explorer.exe.

Release 26100.4946.69.5 · valinet/ExplorerPatcher

CautionThis GitHub repository (valinet/ExplorerPatcher) is the only official distribution channel of ExplorerPatcher. Do not download "ExplorerPatcher" from any other places than this releases page...

github.com

Wolfzz · Oct 20, 2025

ExplorerPatcher 26100.4946.69.5 (Final)
Tested on OS builds 26100.4946, 26100.5074, 26200.5751, and 26220.6682.

1

ep_weather: Fixed "Unable to load weather information" due to changes in Google's side. Thanks @davids5 for the fix! (#1334, #4351) (c3c83ff)
Start11: Fixed hiding of Recommended Section on recent builds of 24H2. Thanks @m-wigley for the fix! (#4476) (9106226)
GUI: File Explorer > Title bar is now available again on >= 22H2. Thanks @SandTechStuff! (583fa53)
Reduced the occurrences of the Windows 11 bug in Explorer windows where WM_SETTINGCHANGE would scroll the folder items list to the top. (fa19402)
Changed hooking library to SlimDetours. (ff30457)
- On ARM64, fixes incompatibilities with certain Windhawk mods that hook CreateWindowExW such as Taskbar Volume Control.
- On ARM64, fixes a very slim chance bug where hooked functions would cause a crash when called until a reboot.
ep_taskbar: Now statically links to private functions it uses. (ab99f26)
Taskbar10: Fixed folder toolbar menus and Toolbars > New toolbar not working on builds with TrayThreadBSTA (54481602) feature flag turned on, such as 26100.5074+. (#4542) (1bbe207)
GUI: Windows 8 Network flyout is now no longer an option on builds >= 25346 as van.dll was removed. Thanks @m-wigley for the fix! (#4478) (72c6983)
On Windows 11 22H2+, Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher) taskbar a.k.a. ep_taskbar is now used by default. (ad2fa72)

2

Fixed weather button not having an icon. (#4545) (6959c69)
- You may need to perform "Clear weather widget local data" in EP properties > Weather.

3

File Explorer: Fixed "Shrink address bar height" resulting in broken graphics on recent 24H2 builds. (#4552) (6d946bd)
Start10: Fixed open/close animation patching on x64 27938+ and ARM64 27881+. (201a7e5, 79f8dd3, f873888, 465117e, 4434d10)
Start10: Fixed Windows 10 Start menu refusing to open when the new Windows 11 Start menu feature flag(s) are enabled. (#4523) (afd109f)
Fixed Windows 10 Alt+Tab and Windows 10 taskbar Win+X functionality on ARM64 226x1 and 27686+. (18dfcd0)

4

File Explorer: Corrected shrunk address bar toolbar button size when Servicing_CFDNavButtonsTheming (NI: 56845961, GE: 52061322) is enabled. (#4552) (9e91030)

5

Start10: Fixed Windows 10 Start menu not opening on 22H2/23H2 ARM64. (c08b0a6)

Known issues we will address in the short term:

Changing weather icon pack to "Microsoft" has no effect.
On Nickel (Windows 11 22H2/23H2), when the new Windows 11 Start menu is enabled, using Windows 10 or Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher) taskbar will crashloop explorer.exe.

Release 26100.4946.69.5 · valinet/ExplorerPatcher

CautionThis GitHub repository (valinet/ExplorerPatcher) is the only official distribution channel of ExplorerPatcher. Do not download "ExplorerPatcher" from any other places than this releases page...

github.com

Trebo58 · Oct 25, 2025

I have downloaded and installed the latest ExplorerPatcher (26100.4946.69.5) and now have all my Quick Launch shortcuts in place, but what I don't have is a Start menu, unless I right-click, which just gives me a list. I have tried both Windows 11 (default) and Windows 10, but neither of them brings up the start menu.

So my question is this a known fault/bug that will be resolved in time, and in the meantime, what can I use alongside ExploerPatcher that will give me a start menu, so I can have the best of both worlds

hdmi · Oct 26, 2025

Trebo58 said:
I have downloaded and installed the latest ExplorerPatcher (26100.4946.69.5) and now have all my Quick Launch shortcuts in place, but what I don't have is a Start menu, unless I right-click, which just gives me a list. I have tried both Windows 11 (default) and Windows 10, but neither of them brings up the start menu.

So my question is this a known fault/bug that will be resolved in time, and in the meantime, what can I use alongside ExploerPatcher that will give me a start menu, so I can have the best of both worlds

Did you check if it downloaded the symbols? In some cases it can happen that it only downloads some of the symbols, and choosing to manually reboot forces it to try to download the missing symbols if any.

Trebo58 · Oct 26, 2025

Thanks, hdmi, for replying. Yes, it did download the symbols. Do you know if there are any hacks to get the start menu back

hdmi · Oct 26, 2025

Trebo58 said:
Thanks, hdmi, for replying. Yes, it did download the symbols. Do you know if there are any hacks to get the start menu back

Open-Shell (using the Windows 7 style choice) has my absolute preference even though my Windows 11 Start menu still works. I also use SystemTrayMenu as my secondary Start menu for easy keyboard navigation (IMO the only thing that's still missing in Open-Shell), it opens with Ctrl+Win by default.

What build number of Windows 11 are you on? What else did you try to get it fixed? At least for me, the issue of the Windows 11 Start menu no longer working when ExplorerPatcher is installed has never returned after it was fixed in a version update of ExplorerPatcher a very long time ago.

Trebo58 · Oct 26, 2025

Using Windows version 25H2 and ExplorerPatcher 26100.4946.69.5 (which I believe is the most recent), I have been trying the methods shown by Brink, specifically the commands to rebuild the Start Menu, but with no luck. The strange thing is, when I first went over to Win11, I had both the Quicklaunch toolbar and the Start menu working, admittedly, that was version 23H2

hdmi · Oct 26, 2025

Trebo58 said:
Using Windows version 25H2 and ExplorerPatcher 26100.4946.69.5 (which I believe is the most recent), I have been trying the methods shown by Brink, specifically the commands to rebuild the Start Menu, but with no luck. The strange thing is, when I first went over to Win11, I had both the Quicklaunch toolbar and the Start menu working, admittedly, that was version 23H2

Have you already tried uninstalling/reinstalling ExplorerPatcher? What about running
dism /cleanup-image /online /restorehealth followed by
sfc /scannow? Do you use a third-party AV?

Trebo58 · Oct 27, 2025

Ran both
dism /cleanup-image /online /restorehealth followed by
sfc /scannow?
AV is Windows Defender

Uninstalled ExplorerPatcher, rebooted Windows, and ran both again and still no Start menu. So I have reinstalled ExplorerPatcher to give me my Quicklaunch toolbar back

dacrone · Oct 27, 2025

Trebo58 said:
Ran both
dism /cleanup-image /online /restorehealth followed by
sfc /scannow?
AV is Windows Defender

Uninstalled ExplorerPatcher, rebooted Windows, and ran both again and still no Start menu. So I have reinstalled ExplorerPatcher to give me my Quicklaunch toolbar back

1) does your start menu work without EP running/uninstalled?
1a) if not, make a thread about it and we can solve it. just dont want to clutter this thread for something technically off topic. thanks.

New Version of ExplorerPatcher

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