VIVETOOL, and how to use it...

Vincent · Aug 9, 2023

Ghot said:
Part B
1. Go here and download ViVeTool-version 0.x.x.zip
2. Create a folder in C:\ called zVIVE
3. Extract the contents of the .zip file you downloaded to: C:\zVIVE
4. Open an elevated (as admin), command prompt.
5. Type: cd C:\zVIVE
6. When the prompt changes to... c:\zVive, type: vivetool /disable /id:26008830
7. Reboot the computer, and Taskbar resizing, should be working again.

It seems the new update broke the small taskbar fix. running this command again sadly does not work anymore (for me?). the taskbar stays "medium" after going trough part B and restarting.

this were the updates that got installed (that broke it):
2023-08 Cumulative Update for Windows 11 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5029263)
2023-08 Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8.1 for Windows 11, version 22H2 for x64 (KB5028948)

current windows version i have installed:
22621.2134

Ghot · Aug 9, 2023

Vincent said:
this were the updates that got installed (that broke it)

Yeah. 22621.2070 on July 26th broke it first... and yesterdays update (.2134), didn't fix it.

Haven't found any new work-around, yet.
MS has been trying to kill small Taskbar icons since they created Win 11.

If a work-around is found... the first post will be updated.

StanP50 · Aug 9, 2023

Interestingly enough, I have posted the same issues and have, at least for me, found a work around. Curranty running 23H2 22631.2129, and using Windows Hello as my login in security. TranslucentTB is set to run at startup, but from a cold boot, once logged onto the desktop the the taskbar is solid. If I sign out, and sign back in, the taskbar turns clear. I think that there is an issue with the interaction of the initial login routine and the integration of TTB with startup. Anyway...just my observations and my workaround till someone comes up with something better and more foolproof.

Wade_G · Aug 12, 2023

TranslucentTB is working out of the box now without any tweaks or other programs. Guess they finally fixed the issue. At least for me it is. When it broke with the windows update I just uninstalled it. Checked a few days ago and reviews said it was working again. I redownloaded it from the store and it just worked.

Vaio_11 · Aug 14, 2023

StanP50 said:
Interestingly enough, I have posted the same issues and have, at least for me, found a work around. Curranty running 23H2 22631.2129, and using Windows Hello as my login in security. TranslucentTB is set to run at startup, but from a cold boot, once logged onto the desktop the the taskbar is solid. If I sign out, and sign back in, the taskbar turns clear. I think that there is an issue with the interaction of the initial login routine and the integration of TTB with startup. Anyway...just my observations and my workaround till someone comes up with something better and more foolproof.

TTB is broken again with the latest MS update.
The app loads at boot but it does not honor the custom config transparency settings and it's kind of acrylic effect.
The only work around is when I click on the Start button, the transparency comes back.
Hope this helps someone more knowledgeable than me to provide a temporary fix until a new version of TTB hopefully fixes the issue.

Cheers,

Ghot · Aug 14, 2023

Vaio_11 said:
TTB is broken again with the latest MS update.
The app loads at boot but it does not honor the custom config transparency settings and it's kind of acrylic effect.
The only work around is when I click on the Start button, the transparency comes back.
Hope this helps someone more knowledgeable than me to provide a temporary fix until a new version of TTB hopefully fixes the issue.

Cheers,

Type: winver ...in the Taskbar search box, and tell me your OS Build number.

Vaio_11 · Aug 14, 2023

Ghot said:
Type: winver ...in the Taskbar search box, and tell me your OS Build number.

OS Build 22621.2134

Ghot · Aug 14, 2023

Vaio_11 said:
OS Build 22621.2134

Yeah... it should still be working. It's working on mine.

<-----

Uninstall it, and get it again from MS Store.
Then set it to "clear" and reboot. It should work.
After you reboot, it takes about 3-4 seconds to turn the Taskbar clear.

Vaio_11 · Aug 14, 2023

Ghot said:
Yeah... it should still be working. It's working on mine.

<-----

Uninstall it, and get it again from MS Store.
Then set it to "clear" and reboot. It should work.
After you reboot, it takes about 3-4 seconds to turn the Taskbar clear.

View attachment 67750

Already uninstalled and reinstalled, no joy. Just to make things clear, since the last MS update, I set it to "clear" but I always modified the transparency effect, to 0000007D or similar, when I do this now it does not work upon reboot, I do not want a full transparent taskbar, I always set it slightly darker. Hope you know what I mean...

. Now it's broken. Any ideas?? As I already mentioned, when I click on the "Start" button everything works again, but upon reboot same story... Same behavior on 2 laptops.

Ghot · Aug 14, 2023

Vaio_11 said:
Already uninstalled and reinstalled, no joy. Just to make things clear, since the last MS update, I set it to "clear" but I always modified the transparency effect, to 0000007D or similar, when I do this now it does not work upon reboot, I do not want a full transparent taskbar, I always set it slightly darker. Hope you know what I mean... . Now it's broken. Any ideas?? As I already mentioned, when I click on the "Start" button everything works again, but upon reboot same story... Same behavior on 2 laptops.

I have no idea how they coded TranslucentTB. It sounds like your tweak and the latest update... may have broken something.
Also... I'm not using StartAllBack, or OpenShell, or ExplorerPatcher.

The only tweakers I run are Winaero Tweaker and TranslucentTB.

Vaio_11 · Aug 14, 2023

Ghot said:
Also... I'm not using StartAllBack, or OpenShell, or ExplorerPatcher.

Same here, also no Winaero Tweaker.
Take a look at post #105, it describes some more or less similar, the difference with me is that I do not use Hello.
In my case, I open TTB Desktop accent color settings and slightly modify the values there, always done this for years. Now it's broken.... :-( which means that the settings work for the current session but are lost upon reboot.

Ghot · Aug 14, 2023

Vaio_11 said:
Same here, also no Winaero Tweaker.
Take a look at post #105, it describes some more or less similar, the difference with me is that I do not use Hello.
In my case, I open TTB Desktop accent color settings and slightly modify the values there, always done this for years. Now it's broken.... :-( which means that the settings work for the current session but are lost upon reboot.

Hang on a second... lemme check something...

If you haven't already done so... go to the 1st post in this topic and do: Part B
Most of us that use TranslucentTB, did Part B a few months ago.
If you haven't done it... that may be why yours is not working right. It won't hurt anything to try it.

Vaio_11 · Aug 14, 2023

Ghot said:
Hang on a second... lemme check something...

If you haven't already done so... go to the 1st post in this topic and do: Part B
Most of us that use TranslucentTB, did Part B a few months ago.
If you haven't done it... that may be why yours is not working right. It won't hurt anything to try it.

I've already done part B but 2-3 months ago, do I need to do it again??
Please advice.

Thank you.

Ghot · Aug 14, 2023

Vaio_11 said:
I've already done part B but 2-3 months ago, do I need to do it again??
Please advice.

Thank you.

You shouldn't need to do it again.

On a side note, with my color settings, set like this, and without TranslucentTB... my Taskbar is transparent with a slight acrylic grey tint.

I've never messed with the Desktop > Accent color in TTB. For all I know... they didn't fix that.
They may have just fixed the "clear". Maybe undo the Accent changes you made and see if the Taskbar is... clear?

If the Taskbar is fully clear... then we'll know the Accent color thing hasn't been fixed yet.

Vaio_11 · Aug 14, 2023

Ghot said:
You shouldn't need to do it again.

On a side note, with my color settings, set like this, and without TranslucentTB... my Taskbar is transparent with a slight acrylic grey tint.

View attachment 67752

I've never messed with the Desktop > Accent color in TTB. For all I know... they didn't fix that.
They may have just fixed the "clear". Maybe undo the Accent changes you made and see if the Taskbar is... clear?

If the Taskbar is fully clear... then we'll know the Accent color thing hasn't been fixed yet.

So now it's either all 100% clear TTB effect or nothing at all right?? Sad..
Just restored an image on one laptop without the latest MS CU and TTB is working fine again so we know the culprit..
Just a question, how do you explain the fact that when I click on the "Start" button once the TTB works ok as expected with my settings??

Ghot · Aug 14, 2023

Vaio_11 said:
So now it's either all 100% clear TTB effect or nothing at all right?? Sad..
Just restored an image on one laptop without the latest MS CU and TTB is working fine again so we know the culprit..

The August CU also broke the Taskbar size tweak. We can't get the "small" Taskbar any more. :/

Vaio_11 · Aug 14, 2023

Ghot said:
The August CU also broke the Taskbar size tweak. We can't get the "small" Taskbar any more. :/

Just a question, how do you explain the fact that when I click on the "Start" button once the TTB works ok as expected with my settings?? (and

22621.2134).

Ghot · Aug 14, 2023

Vaio_11 said:
Just a question, how do you explain the fact that when I click on the "Start" button once the TTB works ok as expected with my settings?? (and

22621.2134).

No idea. No one on here works for MS.
MS is trying to convince everyone, that Windows as a subscription service is a good thing.
It's to their advantage to make things as convoluted as possible, then we'll beg them to run Windows for us.
And... pay a yearly fee, like Office 365 for example.

Because of this, simple questions like why does clicking the Start button affect it? Become impossible to answer or even figure out.

They've literally destroyed the Windows GUI. It's such a ridiculous mess, that it's "almost" not worth the effort.
The Windows GUI is like three different color spaghetti piles, all tossed into a big bowl and mixed together.
The different colors, help us to untangle things just enough, that we don't totally give up.
Then... as soon as we get some of it untangled... they release a CU that stirs it all back together again.

They sit around their offices, saying: Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

Well... I'm off to bed. Good luck.

Vaio_11 · Aug 17, 2023

Vaio_11 said:
Just a question, how do you explain the fact that when I click on the "Start" button once the TTB works ok as expected with my settings?? (and

22621.2134).

Looks like there are other users who have the same problem with the one I described above:

[Bug]: When computer startup firstly, it shows wrong color transparency until open the "start" menu. · Issue #913 · TranslucentTB/TranslucentTB

Please check for a duplicate first I have checked the issue tracker if my bug has already been fixed or answered in another (possibly closed) issue. Steps to reproduce the issue Just open computer....

github.com

Hope this will be fixed...

johnlgalt · Aug 17, 2023

I used to have your issue a lot more before, and sometimes it was on all monitors, but sometimes it was on a single monitor.

It happened less frequently when coming out of sleep, but almost every boot.

I would just go to Context menu --> Advanced --> Reset dynamic state and it would be fine, no need to exit the program.

But after the time it was broken and we had to use ViveTool and the portable version, when the other issues got fixed and I reinstalled from the Store just last week or whenever it was, I've had almost 0 issues. And particularly, every boot I'm getting my clear taskbar.