[IMPORTANT] [226x1.4391] EP versions before 64.1 prevents explorer.exe from starting

[ddyer0]

With this morning's patch reboot, when I logged in my desktop came up completely black. I was able to use the task manager and control panel to uninstall explorerpatcher, and my screen sprung back to life.

[boldc]

Confirmed: Screen went black after restarting from Windows 11 update.

Version 23H2 OS Build 22631.4460

I was able to reboot in Safe Mode. I saw a dialong message that said Explorer Patcher had crashed 3 times in 10 seconds. I uninstalled Explorer Patcher and was able to restart normally.

[ddyer0]

Also, feeling brave, I downloaded and installed the latest version of explorerpatcher. All is well so far.

[pyrates999]

please see this on what to do when the screen is black: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/wiki/ExplorerPatcher's-taskbar-implementation#help-my-screen-is-black

[pyrates999]

@ddyer0 please post your windows version and build.

[ddyer0]

Windows 11, version 23H2 latest patch was 2024-11 Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8.1 for Windows 11, version 23H2 for x64 (KB5045935)

[ddyer0]

please see this on what to do when the screen is black: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/wiki/ExplorerPatcher's-taskbar-implementation#help-my-screen-is-black

Thanks. Of course, finding that advice when your screen is black is rather unlikely. I improvised into a solution, but it would be much better if the problem was avoided.

[Wildekard]

I was having the same issue, upgrading to the latest release of explorerpatcher seems to have fixed it.

[YannC31]

On my side, running ep_Setup.exe 22621.3880.67.1 does not work on my Windows 11 version 23H2 build 22631.4460. The desktop turns completely white and Explorer Patcher is no more active after reboot

When clicking on "Update" Desktop displays correctly but my Avira antivirus asks to reboot and desinstall Explorer Patcher as I have only excluded ep_Setup.exe in Avira.

Why running ep_Setup.exe has a different behaviour than clicking on Update?

I had to reinstall version 22621.3880.66.6 which works fine but keeps notifying me to updaye to 67.1.

[WellSomething]

please see this on what to do when the screen is black: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/wiki/ExplorerPatcher's-taskbar-implementation#help-my-screen-is-black

Thanks. Of course, finding that advice when your screen is black is rather unlikely. I improvised into a solution, but it would be much better if the problem was avoided.

What I did is once I started Task Manager, I ran/restarted explorer.exe 3 times until I get the Explorer Patcher popup saying it was disabled, and it gives you an option to update it, once I did all was fixed.

[richard-rhsr]

please see this on what to do when the screen is black: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/wiki/ExplorerPatcher's-taskbar-implementation#help-my-screen-is-black

Thanks. Of course, finding that advice when your screen is black is rather unlikely. I improvised into a solution, but it would be much better if the problem was avoided.

What I did is once I started Task Manager, I ran/restarted explorer.exe 3 times until I get the Explorer Patcher popup saying it was disabled, and it gives you an option to update it, once I did all was fixed.

This portion could make up to the FAQ section. I had the same behavior of it only getting disabled in the 3rd attempt.

[pyrates999]

It disabling itself on the third time of explorer.exe crashing is intentional.

[Amrsatrio]

Hi, really sorry that this happened. To help prevent this in the future, we'd like a cooperation with those affected to supply the explorer.exe crash dumps found in %LOCALAPPDATA%\CrashDumps and upload it in here. I will try my best to find the root cause and make a new release to fix it.

TLDR: Users who use EP and keep Windows updates active, please keep EP updated and do not take it lightly. Windows updates monthly so does EP to cope with new Windows updates.

Reports with crash dumps

First report

https://discord.com/channels/1155912047897350204/1306276067027456000 (Issue post in our Discord server) Windows & EP Version: 22631.4460, 62.2 (22 December 2023) Crash site: GetTaskbarTheme function pointer call in here Cause: Extremely outdated EP version My verdict: This was Valinet's old code which scans for GetTaskbarColor() and GetTaskbarTheme() to restore the acrylic background for the stock Windows 10 taskbar, unfortunately it broke in 22631.4460. I have revised the code in 64.1 by introducing reimplementations of the said functions, avoiding the need to pattern scan for them, so I have to say that it is the affected user's mistake for keeping EP on an old version from 2023. 62.2 was released on 22 December 2023 (almost 11 months ago), and 64.1 was released on 13 March 2024 (8 months ago).

Second report

@ddyer0 in this thread Windows & EP Version: 226x1.4391, 58.4 (25 September 2023) Same details as first report.

[Amrsatrio]

@YannC31 If 67.1 resulted in black screen, please make sure that you have configured the exclusions properly. If it is still happening, please send the crash dump so that we can fix it as early as we could. The earlier the update is pushed, the more users will update, and in turn less problems for users who got their Windows updated.

[ddyer0]

crash dumps attached explorer.exe(1).5032.dmp explorer.exe(1).9296.dmp explorer.exe(1).94624.dmp explorer.exe.5032.dmp explorer.exe.9296.dmp explorer.exe.94624.dmp

[Amrsatrio]

@ddyer0 You were running 58.1 which was released on 25 September 2023. Such an ancient version, and that explains your crash loop.

it would be much better if the problem was avoided

It was bound to happen. The code was manually disassembling related instructions around a color hex constant which in my opinion is very fragile and not portable at all. And I replaced the fragile code with a better implementation in March 2024 when the taskbar became transparent after that month's Windows update, and on newer versions from that point this error is avoidable.

The problem is you kept it on a very ancient version, so, that's the consequences 🤷. EP is not a software which you can just install-and-forget, the user must know the presence of the software and be responsible to treat it carefully by updating it as EP updates become available, or stop using it altogether. Much of the updates lately are just fixes to keep EP working as advertised.

I'll leave this issue open for people who're lost about this.

[Amrsatrio]

I'll add some more insights on people who want auto-updates on EP: it is dangerous due to risks of account hijacking. Proof with Audacity and what's now called Open-Shell, and that was manual, imagine if it were automatic. We would need to revise our build infrastructure to be on our possessions again instead of in GitHub Actions and also employ digital signing to verify the authenticity before installing an update. I'd rather cause a small-scale black screen meltdown caused by outdated EP on new Windows builds rather than a total malware meltdown in a worse scall than the problem OP was experiencing. So, again, it's up to the users of EP (or unknowing users of EP) if they want their computer(s) to run in good order.

To add salt to the wound, Microsoft's aggressive flagging through Defender and other antivirus vendors' flaggings has required users of prebuilt EP binaries to add exclusions to EP's files and directories so that EP can at least be active. So that's it. Sorry, not wanting to cause a major IT meltdown, better safe than sorry.

[ddyer0]

there ought to be some kind of notification that an important new version is available. My version was a year old, which doesn't seem that ancient to me.

[Amrsatrio]

Make sure of this:

And go to Notifications page in the Settings app, and make sure that notifications for Explorer are enabled. Windows 11 after some time suggests that you should turn off notifications from apps that you haven't been interacting with "for a while," and chances are you agreed with the suggestion therefore EP cannot notify you of more updates through the officially documented and supported toast notifications system.

I admit that a notice in the Properties GUI or something mentioning that notifications for Explorer are off should be added, so I'll keep that in mind for couple few next releases.

[dolikemedo]

Happened to aswell OS build: 22631.4460

Desktop appeared after I did the "Check User Shell Value" section. It was explorer.exe for me but I set it to "asd" then set is back to explorer.exe and my desktop appeard after restart. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRhAZid6zSE

I removed EP :''( regedit trick doesn't work. I retch when my taskbar doesn't appear when I hover to the top :'((

[richard-rhsr]

Here are the crash dumps, sorry for the delay.

StartMenuExperienceHost.exe.16360.dmp StartMenuExperienceHost.exe.17192.dmp

[Amrsatrio]

@richard-rhsr It's for the Start menu, not for explorer.exe.

@dolikemedo What?

[dolikemedo]

@richard-rhsr It's for the Start menu, not for explorer.exe.

@dolikemedo What?

@Amrsatrio

Sorry this happened to me aswell:

"With this morning's patch reboot, when I logged in my desktop came up completely black. I was able to use the task manager and control panel to uninstall explorerpatcher, and my screen sprung back to life."

I didn't delete EP. instead opened regedit: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon edited Shell explorer.exe to random value and back to explorer.exe again and next restart I got my desktop back with this message popping up:

Maybe unrelated I don't know thought I give my experience. :-)

[Amrsatrio]

@dolikemedo Install latest EP, it runs on the latest 22H2/23H2 build and is able to put the taskbar on the top, all hope is not lost don't worry.

The black screen was due to your version of EP was very old. Or just stop using it if you don't want this to happen again...