Partial Taskbar Style

WindowBlinds 11 in Windows 11 only showing part of any style in the taskbar.

Tuesday, March 26, 2024 by Dazzer01 | Discussion: WindowBlinds

Hi folks. This is the problem I'm getting with the taskbar. Anyone know how to fix it? Cheers.

3java3
Reply #1 Tuesday, March 26, 2024 11:31 AM

You may want to try to reboot your pc, sometimes that fixes things like that. Or as an alternative, go back to the default win 11 theme, then try again the theme or skin that you want. Try one, or both solutions, and let's see if that fixes the issue!  

Dazzer01
Reply #2 Tuesday, March 26, 2024 12:26 PM

Thanks 3java3. I'd already reverted to the default W11 theme before applying this style, so it's not that unfortunately. Also I tried restarting my PC as you suggested, which does fix many problems I agree, but it remains the same as my screenshot.

I had this problem with Curtains, but that was simply because Curtains isn't compatible with W11. Obviously WB11 is though so hopefully it's just a setting that needs changing.

 

Jan Oscar
Reply #3 Tuesday, March 26, 2024 12:38 PM

For starters, need to know your full Windows version number (use winver.exe). If you''re on an Insider build of Windows that might be the cause. Are you using any other third party software to customize your Windows GUI?

Dazzer01
Reply #4 Tuesday, March 26, 2024 12:56 PM

Thanks Jan. It's Windows 11 Home version 22H2 (OS Build 22621.3296), it's not an insider build and no I'm just using Object Desktop. I'm currently just using Fences 5 and either Curtains OR WindowBlinds 11 (not both at the same time).

 

Jan Oscar
Reply #5 Tuesday, March 26, 2024 1:35 PM

Usually, from what i have seen, this happens when OpenShell, Classic Shell or another similar app is running and taking control of the taskbar. Are you sure that's not the case here?

LightStar
Reply #6 Tuesday, March 26, 2024 1:40 PM

I see that is my Curvity skin Dazzer01, did you at any time try to modify the skin in SkinStudio or has the skin not been modified at all?

It could be also that you are using Curtains and it is not compatible with Windows 11, it could be causing problems with Windowblinds. I might suggest uninstalling Curtains and then run a good registry cleaner. Then reboot and see if the problem is fixed.

Dazzer01
Reply #7 Tuesday, March 26, 2024 4:51 PM

Thanks Jan. I'd not heard of OpenShell or Classic Shell, but I'm not sure if Windows PowerShell is doing anything to my taskbar. I've not long installed W11 over W10 and everything else seems to work fine.

Thanks LightStar. Curvity is very nice work of yours. The skin definitely hasn't been modified at all. I tried uninstalling Curtains, running CCleaner's registry cleaner (which has always worked well for me) and restarting Windows, but this is what I got again:

As you can see I've hidden my desktop icons with Fences 5 again, but I've still got the same problem with the taskbar. I even tried uninstalling WB11 as well, running CCleaner's registry cleaner, restarting Windows and making sure the default W11 theme was active in the personalisation settings, before restarting again and reinstalling WB11, etc. Alas I still have the same problem, many restarts later.

Oh and by the way, I also deleted Curvity and redownloaded it, but I still didn't get the desktop background with it.

Thanks for your help guys and sorry about this.

 

Jan Oscar
Reply #8 Tuesday, March 26, 2024 5:39 PM

You have nothing to be sorry about. We're here to help. What is that you have running in your upper right corner? That looks like something that could possibly interfere with the taskbar settings.

Dazzer01
Reply #9 Tuesday, March 26, 2024 7:25 PM

Thanks Jan. It's called Open Hardware Monitor and it monitors the temperature of my CPU and GPU. I tend to like to know if they're running too hot and like to make sure that the idling temperatures are suitably low, but it's not essential I suppose. I disabled it and this is what I still get after another restart (native UHD screenshot this time):

As you can see not only is the taskbar still wrong but even the background solid colour has reverted to the default black that I set in Windows personalisation settings. I had set WB11 to make the background copy the accent colour, but this setting keeps turning itself back off again after any restart. Not only that but Object Desktop itself refuses to startup with Windows and it keeps removing itself from the list of startup programs.

I did say that apart from all this I have no other problems with W11, but to be honest sometimes when I double-click on a program icon, the first time of asking it doesn't actually do anything, but if I simply try again it always seems to work fine, which is a bit weird I know. It hasn't been much of a problem, but maybe that's why Object Desktop for example isn't starting up with Windows, until I manually start it afterwards.

The best advice may well be to basically wipe my SSD and start all over again with a fresh installation of W11 and then Object Desktop, etc. but to be honest I've got so much installed on my PC, the vast majority of which runs very well, that I'm not sure I'm willing to do that yet. I don't regret upgrading to W11, because my PC seems to run cooler and faster than before somehow, but when it comes to Object Desktop it is actually not as good.

 

Jan Oscar
Reply #10 Tuesday, March 26, 2024 8:15 PM

Dazzer01

but to be honest sometimes when I double-click on a program icon, the first time of asking it doesn't actually do anything, but if I simply try again it always seems to work fine, which is a bit weird I know. It hasn't been much of a problem, but maybe that's why Object Desktop for example isn't starting up with Windows, until I manually start it afterwards.
That may very well be related with the issue you experience with Windowblinds. Something is definitely not working as it should on your computer.

Could you just as a test exit all apps you have running and temporarily disable Bitdefender (I assume that's what I see running in your system tray). Then open task manager and locate Windows Explorer and right click it and choose restart.

A screenshot of the apps under the startup tab in taskmanager would also be very helpful in trying to locate the issues you have.

Dazzer01
Reply #11 Wednesday, March 27, 2024 4:45 AM

Thanks Jan. I did what you suggested and here's the screenshot:

In the meantime I'll ask on Microsoft Answers forum about why my PC is not always running programs at the first time of asking, but almost always the second time (when I double-click on a program icon).

 

Dazzer01
Reply #12 Thursday, March 28, 2024 12:47 PM

I hate to say it but it must've been Fences 5 that was causing my PC to not respond properly rather than anything else I've got installed, because I uninstalled everything Stardock and now it works fine.

It's hopefully because I had Object Desktop and several other Stardock programs installed when I was using Windows 10 and they didn't migrate to Windows 11 quite properly. Therefore I intend to redownload and reinstall Object Desktop, etc. this time from Windows 11 and see if that's any better. I won't be doing it just yet though as I'm a bit fed up of tampering with my OS.

 

basj
Reply #13 Thursday, March 28, 2024 9:05 PM

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. As a tip for installing ObjectDesktop programs. Try download directly from download account. https://store.stardock.com/myaccount/products. Install only latest version. For example, if you see there are Start11v1 and Start11v2, please install Start11v2 only. Some application not compatible with Windows 11, please do not install those. Here a list for compatible application list: https://forums.stardock.com/505717/stardock-app-compatibility for reference. Also, important, to install one software at a time, reboot immediately after installation is important. Retest that one software, once there is no issue, move on to another software. Test and repeat.

Thank you.
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

Dazzer01
Reply #14 Friday, March 29, 2024 6:47 AM

Thanks basj. Although I said I didn't want to try again yet, I have. I first checked your second link about which apps are compatible with W11 and then I used your first link to download Object Desktop again, which has been updated since I downloaded it last time I noticed. Then I installed Object Desktop, did my settings and restarted Windows. That seems to be fine now, as it actually starts with Windows like it's supposed to. Then I used Object Desktop to download and install WB11, did my settings for it and restarted Windows again. I then used WB11 to delete, redownload and reinstall the Curvity style and you can probably guess what happened when I applied it:

I still get exactly the same problem with the taskbar. Also, I'd set WB11 to copy the accent colour to the desktop background solid colour, but after a restart this setting reverts back to being off, so I have to keep changing it manually or use Windows personalisation settings to keep it beige in this case rather than black, which is what I originally had set as the default solid colour.

So those two problems remain the same unfortunately. I just don't have the problem of my computer not responding properly to opening some programs, because Fences 5 isn't installed anymore. I'm tempted to try Fences 4 instead by the way, because I'm aware that's also compatible with W11, but maybe not until this taskbar problem is solved (if possible).

 

basj
Reply #15 Friday, March 29, 2024 7:51 AM

Since you have Start11v2. Why not install that and see if the taskbar get skin properly this time.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

LightStar
Reply #16 Friday, March 29, 2024 8:46 AM

I just retested Curvity on Windows 10 and on Windows 11, no issues at all Dazzer01. Do all other Windowblinds work fine on your system?

Dazzer01
Reply #17 Friday, March 29, 2024 10:53 AM

Thanks basj. It seems to have worked. All I had to do was enable the setting for Start11v2 to enhance the taskbar and this is the result:

That was a good idea to suggest that and it's much appreciated.

Thanks LightStar. It wasn't just happening with Curvity. I was just hoping to get Curvity to display properly as it's a really nice style.

The problem I had before of my computer not responding to me trying to open a program for the first time, but responding the second time, has unfortunately returned though. It's definitely something Stardock that's doing it but it's more of a minor problem than it sounds and for another thread.

Cheers guys.

 

Dazzer01
Reply #18 Friday, May 24, 2024 5:49 AM

Dazzer01


The problem I had before of my computer not responding to me trying to open a program for the first time, but responding the second time, has unfortunately returned though. It's definitely something Stardock that's doing it but it's more of a minor problem than it sounds and for another thread.

Sorry this is a bit late but I just want to confirm that the problem I described was actually a Windows 11 fault that's since been fixed in an update. Apologies for the previous misinformation.

 

basj
Reply #19 Friday, May 24, 2024 7:28 AM

Great, glad to hear it was resolved.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

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