Start Menu not happearing with task bar on the left

[SimoneAvogadro]

Before reporting your issue

• [x] I have confirmed that this issue does not happen when ExplorerPatcher is not installed
• [x] I do not have "register as shell extension" enabled
• [x] I have tried my best to check existing issues

Repro ExplorerPatcher versions

ExplorerPatcher 26100.4946.69.6

Repro Windows Versions

Microsoft Windows [Versione 10.0.26200.6899]

3rd party tweak software installed

none

Describe the bug

Minor: bug: The task bar appears but there's not icons, it takes various seconds (ca 10 secs) before showing the icons BUG: the start menu does NOT appear

this started happening 2 weeks ago and uninstall/reinstall of ExplorerPatcher does not seem to help

Expected outcome

when pressing Windows key or clicking the "start menu" icon I would expect the start menu to appear!

Actual outcome

• Pressing the windows key does not bring up the start menu
• Pressing the "start menu" button with the mouse does not have any effect

Additional info

I've configured ExplorerPatcher to:

• I have two monitors
  • the external monitor is configured to be the primary
  • the issue
• have the taskbar on the left side of the screen (ultrawide monitor)
• use Windows 11 native start menu (but the issue happens also with Windows 10 style start menu)

Crash Dumps

No response

Media

No response

[pyrates999]

Are you using a third party antivirus? If so, you must add the exclusions to it that you previously had to add to windows defender. Include the download directory that you would download EP to. You can get those exclusions from here: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/releases

And let us know what third party antivirus you are running.

[SimoneAvogadro]

I'm using SentinelOne Agent from the company and they say they've added the exclusion: I had the issue at the very first installation but managed to get the exclusion. BTW: I was giving for granted that the exclusion is still in place since I can install ExplorerPatcher and it will move the taskbar to the left successfully, plus I get the RMB option to access EP settings. Is is possible that these features are working but the Antivirus is still blocking the start menu only?

[pyrates999]

SentinelOne is blocking the files needed for the windows 10 start menu to work. They may not even be installed. See this comment on how to manually remove EP: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/issues/4628#issuecomment-3473287533

You will need to add the exclusions to it that you were told to add to windows defender previously here: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/releases

Your username needs to be a member of the local administrators group though for the exclusions to work as well.

[joelvmalibu]

Your username needs to be a member of the local administrators group though for the exclusions to work as well.

Hi Pyrates,

I'm experiencing this issue as well with S1. I have no problem creating the exclusions required, but I wanted to clarify this comment. Are you saying that, if I'm not a local administrator on my computer, it will never work with the start button on the left side? Will it work if I move the start button back to the center even if I'm not as admin? Is it the suggestion of the EP developers to avoid running this entirely if my account is not local admin even if it's installed with a user that is an admin?

[pyrates999]

SentinelOne exclusions don't appear to work if your username is not a member of the local administrators group.

And in order to even install EP, your username needs to be a member of the local administrators group.