Taskbar crashes after IDLE - 25H2

Bastet · Dec 16, 2025

dacrone said:
Boot into BIOS and under ERP disable S4 and S5 and see if it still does it (based off of a handful of other threads online - I’m not positive because I cannot replicate the issue).

Also - just for testing purposes, I’m curious if you use ExplorerPatcher or StartAllBack just to replace the taskbar, does it occur? I’m only wondering this because I’m trying to narrow down if it’s even connected to the taskbar at all or another root cause entirely…

No ERP from what I can see - it’s a home user laptop running Pro so to find it I may need specific instructions. Btw my device isn’t supported - CPU.
I don’t use either of those.

dacrone · Dec 16, 2025

Tatof said:
And yes I have Start11 installed. But when I deinstall it it still crashes.

uninstalling is not what i was getting at. are you using the enhanced taskbar via start11? if so, then it 99% chance is not the ShellMenuExperienceHost.

Bastet said:
No ERP from what I can see - it’s a home user laptop running Pro so to find it I may need specific instructions. Btw my device isn’t supported - CPU.
I don’t use either of those.

based on the above & your response, i would look into the SearchHost or NotificationService (WPN) as being the culprit. open services.msc and find both "Windows Push Notifications" services. disable them and reboot the pc. see if it still occurs. if so, you can re-enable them and continue to troubleshoot.

Bastet · Dec 16, 2025

Thanks. I rolled back Windows to the 1st July & although it looked good on restarting the freeze returned so am restoring again to try the suggestion.

Tatof · Dec 16, 2025

dacrone said:
uninstalling is not what i was getting at. are you using the enhanced taskbar via start11? if so, then it 99% chance is not the ShellMenuExperienceHost.

Yes i'm using the enhanced taskbar. Start11 said to me that the made there own version of explorer.exe and that the problem issnt caused by them. Tried a lot to fix that..

Anyhow the bug also happens every time Filezilla uploads something. Here is a video:

https://devtof.nl/winbug.mp4

The restart of explorer (taskbar) went out of screen. But you can see the bug clearly.
File explorer keeps working fine, filezilla freezes for some seconds. Taskbar crashes.
This also happens when i use the file system from filezilla. (so no drag/drop from file explorer)

Just restarted and filezilla works fine. So it is not always bugged. maybe only after the pc idles ones? (i go change the bios settings now)

Edit:
Finaly got some more info in my event viewer!

1 error today:
- Hyper-V-Hypervisor
Hypervisor launch failed; Either SVM not present or not enabled in BIOS.

2 error today:
- Kernel-Boot
The virtualization-based security enablement policy check at phase 0 failed with status: Virtual Secure Mode (VSM) is not initialized. The hypervisor or VSM may not be present or enabled.

3 error today:
- NETLOGON
This computer is configured as a member of a workgroup, not as a member of a domain. The Netlogon service does not need to run in this configuration.

4 & 5 error today:
- CertificateServicesClient-CertEnroll
GetCACaps: Not Found
SCEP Certificate enrollment initialization for Local system via https://amd-keyid-907d65e9b562315997dd5ad086b2b7598957b92c.microsoftaik.azure.net/templates/Aik/scep failed:

6 error today:
- Kernel-EventTracing
Session "Cloud Files Diagnostic Event Listener" failed to start with the following error: 0xC0000022

7 error today:
- TPM-WMI
Secure Boot certificates have been updated but are not yet applied to the device firmware. Review the published guidance to complete the update and ensure full protection. This device signature information is included here.

8 error today:
- Application Hang
The program explorer.exe version 10.0.26100.7462 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed. To see if more information about the problem is available, check the problem history in the Security and Maintenance control panel.

And alot of DistributedCOM warnings and after a while errors.

Tatof · Dec 16, 2025

I changed my BIOS.

SVM -> Enabled
Updated BIOS to latest version (I hope TPM error will be fixed then)

edit: no luck didn't fix it

edit 2: ERP was disabled. Because of my LED lights behind display on usb power.
I enabled it. maybe it works :)

Bastet · Dec 16, 2025

dacrone said:
uninstalling is not what i was getting at. are you using the enhanced taskbar via start11? if so, then it 99% chance is not the ShellMenuExperienceHost.

based on the above & your response, i would look into the SearchHost or NotificationService (WPN) as being the culprit. open services.msc and find both "Windows Push Notifications" services. disable them and reboot the pc. see if it still occurs. if so, you can re-enable them and continue to troubleshoot.

Push notifications user service gives a parameter incorrect error when I try to disable it.
I’m suspecting a bad program update - it’s just trying to narrow it down. I’m rolling back to Windows 10, if it still happens then I’ll know that is the case.

dacrone · Dec 16, 2025

Bastet said:
Push notifications user service gives a parameter correct error when I try to disable it.

you can do it through reg:

Code:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WpnService]
"Start"=dword:00000004

Code:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WpnUserService]
"Start"=dword:00000004

Code:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WpnUserService_xxxx]
"Start"=dword:00000004

^ "xxxx" will differ per machine

then reboot

Bastet · Dec 16, 2025

I’m suspecting the problem lies with an auto installing program update as on booting after the image restore everything is fine but not on a reboot after something has updated.

Bastet · Dec 17, 2025

dacrone said:

you can do it through reg:

Code:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WpnService]
"Start"=dword:00000004

Code:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WpnUserService]
"Start"=dword:00000004

Code:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WpnUserService_xxxx]
"Start"=dword:00000004

^ "xxxx" will differ per machine

then reboot

Thanks @dacrone That seems to have worked. I’ve also disabled Steam from auto starting as well as OneDrive & uninstalled iCloud (app version) which are my other suspicions as to the cause. Currently changing the startup of each program, restarting & if all ok running a backup.

Tatof · Dec 17, 2025

I still have no luck. Do you think the same works for me?
Can't figure out what the problem is

{CA03D10A-B64F-4D38-98BB-1B3FCBEC4CEA} 1.webp

Bastet · Dec 17, 2025

I’d certainly try it @Tatof. If it doesn’t work then you can put the registry setting back to the original number (mine were set to 2 originally). I also blocked OneDrive from starting automatically with Windows & uninstalled iCloud app which along with Steam I thought might also be the cause.
I’d previously disabled secure boot to try & reinstall Win 10 but had problems so restored Win 11 & tried the reg change so it’s still disabled for the moment but I can’t see that being the cause of the crash.

Tatof · Dec 17, 2025

But I use onedrive a lot!

ill try de regitry changes

Bastet · Dec 17, 2025

Tatof said:
But I use onedrive a lot! ill try de regitry changes

You can always enable it again if it isn’t the cause.

Bastet · Dec 17, 2025

Update: The cause is Secure Boot. When all was working I enabled SB & the laptop froze again on restart so I disabled it again & all back to normal. Secure boot has been enabled for some time.

sinpool · Dec 18, 2025

Not the same issue, at least for me, my system is usable, just the explorer hangs and restarts while playing games. I already disabled gaming services, bcastdvr, etc., uninstalled the Xbox app, etc., but nothing fixed it yet. I may try an in-place upgrade, and if it doesn't fix it, then another clean install.

Bastet · Dec 18, 2025

sinpool said:
Not the same issue, at least for me, my system is usable, just the explorer hangs and restarts while playing games. I already disabled gaming services, bcastdvr, etc., uninstalled the Xbox app, etc., but nothing fixed it yet. I may try an in-place upgrade, and if it doesn't fix it, then another clean install.

Yeah, I realised mine couldn’t be the same problem when it happened again after enabling secure boot. I suspect your problem is the one stemming from July’s update.

Tatof · Dec 18, 2025

Disabling WpnService works!!!

this is amazing.

But now this is disabled what am I missing?
I understand it is for push notifications. Are those the flying cards with windows notifications?

I think this could be an important function right?

Bastet · Dec 18, 2025

I expect it blocks the taskbar notifications/pop ups.

Tatof · Dec 18, 2025

Yes I see. dont care about the notifications. But opening the notification bar is also impossible

that can be usefull some times.
Hope to find the root of the problem.. then I can reinstall windows without this bug.

dacrone · Dec 18, 2025

Tatof said:
Yes I see. dont care about the notifications. But opening the notification bar is also impossible that can be usefull some times.
Hope to find the root of the problem.. then I can reinstall windows without this bug.

instead of disabling it, you can try changing the notification center to the windows 10 action center and see if it still causes the freezes...

Action Center Changer (.bat) Win10 or Win11

For anyone interested, here is a batch I made to choose the Windows 10 or Windows 11 Action Center. It will execute your choice and restart explorer to apply the change. nothing fancy... i'll make a powershell gui when i have some free time. copy the below code and paste in notepad. save file as...

www.elevenforum.com

Taskbar crashes after IDLE - 25H2

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