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ExplorerPatcher's taskbar implementation

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Amr Satrio edited this page Sep 10, 2024 · 18 revisions

ExplorerPatcher offers a custom implementation of the Windows 10 taskbar mostly based on the code present in Windows 11 22H2, making the full Windows 10 taskbar on Windows 11 experience available in 25921+ (Windows 11 24H2) along with other perks.

Perks

  • Snap Groups (respects your settings)
  • Virtual Desktop Switcher (always on when the taskbar is docked to the bottom)
  • Windows 11 Start, Search, and Task View animated icons (change Start button style to Windows 11)
  • Windows 11 21H2-early 22H2 style for the tray overflow
  • End Task

Supported Windows versions

  • Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2 Release, Release Preview, and Beta (22621, 22631, 22635)
  • Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2 Dev (Pre-reboot 25115-25309 and post-reboot 23403+)
    • We don't offer DLLs for the pre-reboot builds.
  • Windows 11 24H2/Canary (25314+)
    • We only offer DLLs for 25921+.

Confirmed compatible tweak software

Incompatible tweak software

Languages

English (United States), Chinese (Traditional), Japanese, Russian, Spanish (Mexico)

⚠️ Warning - Read thoroughly before using

  • Please DO NOT use the reimplemented taskbar on WORK machines. Also DO NOT use on machines with mission-critical purposes.
    • This is only intended for PERSONAL machines where program errors are tolerable. If you are using this on a non-PERSONAL machine, you are doing so at your own risk.
    • We will NOT be responsible for any damages caused.
  • Being a reimplementation, this does not cover all features of the original taskbar. Some missing features are:
    • Languages other than those mentioned above
    • Assigned Access
  • Due to tight integration with explorer.exe, a Windows update can break the reimplemented taskbar until a fix is released.
  • Some features may not work as expected or behave differently from the original taskbar. This can be due to human errors that might have happened during the process of reimplementing.
  • Crashes can happen at any time, in any moment, and under any condition. Please be prepared for this.
  • Other taskbar tweaking software other than the ones listed above are not guaranteed to work.
  • In rare cases, explorer.exe might run at a higher CPU usage than usual, therefore increasing device temperatures and shortening battery life.
  • If any of the problems become an annoyance, we suggest to immediately switch back to the default taskbar implementation until a fix is released.

If you encounter any issues especially behavioral differences from the original taskbar, Issue reports in here would be appreciated.

  • When doing so, please let us know your Windows version in winver (e.g. 22621.1992) and reproduction steps.
  • Please make sure that the issue does not happen with the original taskbar.

We thank you for your understanding.

FAQ

Help! My screen is black!

We are sorry that our taskbar or ExplorerPatcher is malfunctioning on your Windows installation. To recover your system back to a working state, please follow these steps:

  • Open Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc.
  • Select "Run new task" at the top bar (on the new Task Manager) or "File" > "Run new task" (on the old Task Manager).
  • Enter explorer.exe.
  • While holding Ctrl+Alt+Shift, press Enter and keep holding Ctrl+Alt+Shift until you see the taskbar.

This will start explorer.exe without ExplorerPatcher doing its job, allowing you to take necessary actions such as reverting the Taskbar style to the default one or uninstalling ExplorerPatcher.

If possible, please report your issue with complete details (OS version, tweak software installed, etc.) in the Issues section and we will get back to you when we have the chance.

Why is 7+ Taskbar Tweaker not compatible with this?

7+ Taskbar Tweaker taps directly into the memory and code of the Windows 10 taskbar that resides in explorer.exe, not in any other place. To get 7+ Taskbar Tweaker features to work on ExplorerPatcher's taskbar, the only way is for us to incorporate its code directly in ExplorerPatcher's taskbar code.

We have plans to do this, but for now we cannot give an ETA.

Where can I find the source code for this?

Due to legal reasons, unfortunately we cannot put the source code for ExplorerPatcher's taskbar implementation available for everyone to use.

Any .pdb files for ExplorerPatcher's taskbar DLLs?

Not at the moment, but we plan to release .pdb files without types for the taskbar DLLs in here.

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