Windows 10 window switcher shows Windows NT window switcher

[valinet]

Discussed in #547

^{Originally posted by chip33 December 11, 2021}
Using 22000.348.40.7 and Win 11 22000.348
Selecting Window switcher style Windows 10 ( and restarting File Explorer from EP Properties GUI) shows Windows NT window switcher.
Selecting SWS, Windows NT or Windows 11 style work okay.
I have not uninstalled or even restarted PC to try to fix it, just reporting it here in case it is easily replicated.

Edit: It is caused by restarting File Explorer from EP Properties GUI when switching from Windows 11 style to Windows 10 style.
If I switch from 11 to 10 style but do not restart File Explorer it works.
But the * implies that File Explorer needs to be restarted when changing any Window Switcher style.

[valinet]

* is correct. A restart is necessary when switching from one of the following styles:

• Windows 11
• Windows 10

To one of the following:

• Windows NT
• Simple Window Switcher

Or vice versa.

Restarting is not the problem. Explorer checks AltTabSettings and only if it finds out that is 0, it uses the code path to create its own window switcher. The Windows 10 window switcher is activated based on that code path being in use, by just changing what some function returns. So, for the Windows 10 window switcher to be usable, explorer needs to see a 0 for AltTabSettings when the registry entry is set in reality to:

• 0 for Windows 11 switcher
• 3 for Windows 10 switcher

In that registry entry, 1 is used for the Windows NT switcher, as envisioned originally for this schema, and 2 is used for enabling Simple Window Switcher.

So, the fix is to hook the place where explorer reads AltTabSettings and provide a 0 when it reads a 3. I already hook that, so adding is not a big problem. I don't know how this slipped though, but yeah, I will fix this in a bit and push an update.

Thanks for the report.