Windows 11: Start Menu cannot be activated with new Start button

[bonzibudd]

Describe the bug
Microsoft has replaced the Start button on Windows 11, and it cannot currently be detected by Open-Shell.

In order to activate the Open-Shell menu, you must either use the Windows key or enable a custom Start button in Open-Shell, which creates a new button on the left side of the screen. Open-Shell should integrate with the new button to fix the behavior.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:
Click Start button on Windows 11

Expected behavior
Open-Shell menu should open, not the Windows Start menu.

Screenshots
With Windows Start button:

With Open-Shell custom button or WinKey:

Version:

• Open-Shell: 4.4.168
• OS: Windows 11 Official Insider Preview build 22000.51

Additional context
@ge0rdi I have sent you a trace.etl file that should help with troubleshooting. I can provide more assistance if needed.

[medievil1]

as is currently if you have the start button on the left like normal, the replacement icon sits over top of it, but slightly offset so you can technically click on both

and it shows wrong version (should say Windows 11 pro)

[ge0rdi]

@ge0rdi I have sent you a trace.etl file that should help with troubleshooting. I can provide more assistance if needed.

I'm not sure if ETL will help in this case anyhow.
This will require debugging and figuring out what's going on there.

For now I have no plans to deal with Win11 (maybe somehow later).
So hopefully someone else could have a look at this.

[Aokromes]

as is currently if you have the start button on the left like normal, the replacement icon sits over top of it, but slightly offset so you can technically click on both

and it shows wrong version (should say Windows 11 pro)

windows 10 thing is microsoft issue, if you open cmd you will see "windows 10" not "windows 11".

[Aokromes]

btw duplicate of #763

[Diwax]

Thank you so much

…

________________________________ From: ge0rdi ***@***.***> Sent: Monday, June 28, 2021 11:04 PM To: Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu ***@***.***> Cc: Subscribed ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu] Windows 11: Start Menu cannot be activated with new Start button (#770) @ge0rdi<https://github.com/ge0rdi> I have sent you a trace.etl file that should help with troubleshooting. I can provide more assistance if needed. I'm not sure if ETL will help in this case anyhow. This will require debugging and figuring out what's going on there. For now I have no plans to deal with Win11 (maybe somehow later). So hopefully someone else could have a look at this. — You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#770 (comment)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AJLM4J5X3W56TBJCWNDOOH3TVFO63ANCNFSM47O3YFMA>.

[0E800]

I was able to work around the issues regarding Start Menu icon and incorrect version.

To remove the Windows 10 label goto Menu Settings and click on the Skin tab. Uncheck "Caption"

To fix the Menu icon issue. Goto https://png-pixel.com/ and generate a custom icon. It will vary depending on your screen resolution. You will have to play with the dimensions, as you can see from the samples below, they are not square but you can see in the screenshot that the Windows 11 Menu is completely covered, minus the few pixels on the top for me to still use the native menu.

Hope this helps.
(Edit: I am unable to use a 100% transparent image, it will not overlay the native menu. Make sure to use 0.1 opacity.)

Transparent 0 Opacity 77x180 - DONT USE WONT WORK.

Transparent 0.1 Opacity 77x180

Transparent 0.2 Opacity 77x180

[medievil1]

I was able to work around the issues regarding Start Menu icon and incorrect version.

To remove the Windows 10 label goto Menu Settings and click on the Skin tab. Uncheck "Caption"

To fix the Menu icon issue. Goto https://png-pixel.com/ and generate a custom icon. It will vary depending on your screen resolution. You will have to play with the dimensions, as you can see from the samples below, they are not square but you can see in the screenshot that the Windows 11 Menu is completely covered, minus the few pixels on the top for me to still use the native menu.

Hope this helps.
(Edit: I am unable to use a 100% transparent image, it will not overlay the native menu. Make sure to use 0.1 opacity.)

Transparent 0 Opacity 77x180 - DONT USE WONT WORK.

Transparent 0.1 Opacity 77x180

Transparent 0.2 Opacity 77x180

I was able to do it by trimmiing a row of pixels off my icon png.. (shifting them on the canvas) and unselecting align to corner

[Gaurav-Original-ClassicShellTester]

First read this topic if you wish to use Open Shell with the classic Taskbar: http://www.classicshell.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=8580 It applies to Open Shell also, in fact I strongly recommend Open Shell only over Classic Shell.

If you insist on using the new taskbar, for now, until Open Shell gets updated, you can use a square Start button to make the button work reliably such as the Windows 2000 logo Start button: http://www.classicshell.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=4400

You can also instead do a tweak using Winaero Tweaker for those not comfy with Registry editing: https://winaero.com/how-to-restore-classic-start-menu-in-windows-11-and-get-back-live-tiles/ or a Registry tweak to bring back old Taskbar for now. It works better with the classic Taskbar.

Or for advanced users, you can try an in-memory patch that only reverts to the classic Taskbar and brings back useful features from Windows 10: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher without the rest of the side effects of UndockingDisabled=1. I feel that currently, ExplorerPatcher is really is the best way to bring back classic Taskbar and make everything else work correctly, including Open Shell/Classic Shell and without breaking the new functionality of Windows 11.

Of course this is no real or permanent solution as it may be removed by Microsoft any time. And some tray icons are broken even with the "fix" but you can use 3rd party apps as shell tray icon replacements.

[Gaurav-Original-ClassicShellTester]

Also, you can just create a new user account after enabling the Classic Taskbar in HKLM. That enables the clock and most of the icons they broke/disabled in Windows 11 except for the Network icon.

You get back Date/Time, Action Center, old Volume icon, old Power icon (broken but can be fixed via Reg value), and Network icon (which remains broken but the Control Center (Cogwheel icon) is the replacement for it anyway.

Of course: Explorer shell:::{05d7b0f4-2121-4eff-bf6b-ed3f69b894d9}\SystemIcons works for existing account.

[Aokromes]

@ge0rdi duplicate of #763 :)

[bonzibudd]

@Aokromes in that case, I will close in favor of #763.