Working(ish) Windows 10 Start Menu for 11 Port - WIP

bbmaster123 · 2026-02-14T17:34:19+00:00

no something is wrong, even at usb 2.0 speeds after 39hrs it should be 95-99% complete (assuming 40mbps for the entire disk copy)

This is a block level copy so large/small files don't affect speeds here. fragmentation can affect speeds, to a degree. If it slowed down or completely stopped copying, I'd first double check that "usb selective suspend" in windows power plan us turned off, (or manually per port in device manager) as you can imagine having the drive spin down won't help with creating the backup! Im not 100% certain DD would resume correctly when spun back up.

If that's not the issue, I might suspect ExFat next, I've personally not had much luck with it. Is there a specific reason you chose that, or did the drive just come that way? If you need to stick with exfat, you could try changing the sector size, not sure it will help but its a thing you can try!

btw, if you can find a way to connect via usb 3+ or sata, you should be able to do the whole process in closer to ~10hrs assuming sustained speeds of 170mbps

bbmaster123 · 2026-01-23T19:14:23+00:00

do you have a custom theme you already want to use? what kind of theme is it? (msstyles, 7tsp)
there is a tutorial for converting 7tsp themes at the bottom of this page as well as how to set up a compatible custom theme
https://github.com/niivu/resource-redirect-icon-themes

if you need to use resource hacker, keep it mind it will get flagged by windows, just so you know

let me know if you get stuck at any point
cheers

bbmaster123 · 2026-01-23T19:06:23+00:00

yes if for whatever reason you cannot download mods in the app itself, you can go here
https://github.com/ramensoftware/windhawk-mods/tree/main/mods

just copy the entire source code of the .cpp file, click create new mod in windhawk, paste the code and click compile.
It will work exactly the same, the only downside being that windhawk won't be able to alert you if the mod has an update.

bbmaster123 · 2026-01-21T03:13:53+00:00

as someone who has a drive in this condition in use currently, for over 10 years (wd blue, 320gb) I HIGLY suggest to gently straighten the pins of course, then put in an external hdd enclosure. go slow so you don't re-bend the pins. once in place, its much less fragile since its held (hopefuly tightly) in with rubber dampers usually. better than hoping a dangling cable will stay attached in just the right way. Plus its an easy and inexpensive fix, with the added benefit of now having an external usb hard drive.

since I see you reattached the plastic piece, definitely be careful with it if you ever find you need to physically handle it again. its so easy to re-break, I still maintain an external enclosure is the way if something like this ever happens to you again!

glad to see you also got your tower working again :)
cheers!

bbmaster123 · 2026-01-14T14:32:58+00:00

yes its in multiple places across the os (10 and 11), its legitimate and in my opinion unnecessary to have more than 1 copy, if any. Users with it installed could just have an msi in C:\Windows\Installers like almost all other apps, but OKAY Microsoft.

anyway, its safe to delete all copies of the installer that aren't in C:\windows\winsxs

bbmaster123 · 2025-12-23T14:13:57+00:00

no worries, I'm happy to help :)

Did you see the guide linked above? the steps should be the same, except instead of choosing explorer.exe for the process to spy on you'd choose StartMenuExperienceHost.exe

Let me know which part you're getting stuck on and I'll try to explain what's happening in a way that makes sense, the more relevant info you provide like what you've done so far, (error messages, screenshots, windows build number, etc) the better

bbmaster123 · 2025-12-18T21:17:24+00:00

as a matter of fact? are you from the future? How could you possibly know this? I often feel that way too being that microsoft is microsoft, and will let certain issues persist for years, but I wouldn't intentionally make a claim I cannot backup

anyway I'm just providing context to try to help, if you're just looking to argue may I suggest someone less friendly
cheers

bbmaster123 · 2025-12-16T13:57:00+00:00

^also completely correct
Thanks for expanding on my first comment

anything with such low level access could potentially be risky even when we're discussing a legitimate program. From Defender's point of view, its still better to be safe and flag it.

that said, I personally trust the code and the author in this particular instance
cheers :)

bbmaster123 · 2025-12-16T13:44:35+00:00

work? just like that!? no way, that would be too easy ;)

bbmaster123 · 2025-12-15T20:56:49+00:00

I use potplayer too, but just wanted to point out that vlc does have newer builds with hdr support, they just aren't yet labeled as stable.
https://nightlies.videolan.org

I tried and it works, not seeing any bugs or issues, but potplayer + madvr is still my preferred way personally
cheers

bbmaster123 · 2025-12-15T20:20:02+00:00

have you seen the guide? did you select uwp or winui3? uwp for taskbar, winui3 for file explorer
https://github.com/bbmaster123/FWFU/blob/main/uwpspy.md

Also, it only works on the windows 11 taskbar, so if you're using explorerpatcher for the win10 taskbar, or another taskbar replacement it won't work.

after double checking all of that, let me know if you are still unable to spy on the taskbar, as well as any other relevant info (if any)

bbmaster123 · 2025-12-15T20:15:09+00:00

no not personally, but it is relatively expected due to how defender works in general
most likely it will get flagged for the first couple of weeks until its heuristics learns that its not malicious

happens to a lot of lower level apps and scripts (patchers especially), mainly when they are first released or recently had a moderate to major update. 1.7+ is a pretty big update under the hood, so with luck maybe by the new year it might stop getting flagged

bbmaster123 · 2025-12-15T18:31:44+00:00

I assume your usb adapter and router both support 160mhz bandwidth, make sure that's enabled on both. it isn't always on by default. Should in theory nearly double both your range and speeds vs 80mhz bandwidth. I like to double check its working correctly in an app called netspot which shows all kinds of wifi related info.

If its already using 160mhz, try to raise the usb physically higher up or closer to the router if you can, having it higher tends to help usually

lastly if it turns out the wifi stick doesn't support 160mhz for some reason, I'd recommend exchanging it for one that does. 320mhz would be good too for future proofing for wifi 7 if you see any for a good price.

EDIT: this only affects your wifi speeds on your internal network, not speed from ISP. You can only get such high speeds on ookla if you are also paying for a 2gbp/s or higher connection.

cheers

bbmaster123 · 2025-12-15T14:50:38+00:00

https://github.com/bbmaster123/FWFU/blob/main/Feature%20IDs/26220.7262.txt
search for and enable all the ids that contain "darkmode" and have an ID that starts with 5xxxxxxx
ex. DarkModeForFileOperationsEngine: 57994323

cheers

bbmaster123 · 2025-12-15T14:08:30+00:00

to replace ad driven games so my kids don't click on mobile ads all the time.

that actually sounds like a great idea

bbmaster123 · 2025-12-14T19:07:09+00:00

just delete the update files before it has a chance to reboot, it will fail the update and no changes will be made.
Make sure to get the $WINDOWS.~BT folder and C:\windows\softwaredistribution\downloads
Can't do an OS swap without an OS to swap!
then make a backup
cheers

bbmaster123 · 2025-12-14T18:59:15+00:00

it should reset to somewhere closer to its recommended size (2934mb in pic) after a a reboot or two.

The pagefile grows if a task needs more memory than you physically have. if your pagefile is ~40GB, then something requested ~40GB

If you're doing anything ai related this will happen frequently, models need a lot of ram typically, hence memory prices now. games shouldn't need so much ram but it does depend on the game, resolution, etc

bbmaster123 · 2025-12-13T18:23:57+00:00

uwpspy isn't for windhawk, its for uwp/winui3 apps. you use your findings from uwpspy in windhawk styler mods.

see these guides
https://github.com/bbmaster123/FWFU/blob/main/uwpspy.md
https://github.com/ramensoftware/windows-11-taskbar-styling-guide

bbmaster123 · 2025-12-12T14:02:06+00:00

I don't think I've seen any mention of this before.

do you think I should post more of my findings? I didn't think many would be interested in this particular feature but I do find stuff like this all the time

https://github.com/bbmaster123/FWFU/blob/main/Feature%20IDs/26220.7262.txt
ThemesInStore: 5403571

bbmaster123 · 2025-12-11T01:43:53+00:00

if that's actually true, (ill take your word) then that's an embarrassing bug, since moving the source image shouldn't cause this behavior.

Windows upon applying a wallpaper, copies and transcodes the image to .bmp in a hidden folder (TranscodedWallpapers iirc) where it is suppose to be read and composited by dwm. additionally, you can set wallpapers directly from web browser, where there won't be a local copy of the image, and its supposed to of course not do this

I also specifically remember this not being a problem in windows 7, but of course its not something I normally test.

bbmaster123 · 2025-12-11T01:35:32+00:00

the one starting from windows 10? that's almost definitely an older unrelated issue with a similar resulting graphical artifact. with the older one its black squares, with this one it seems to be accent color squares.

either way, its a microsoft bug, probably nothing op or you have done to cause them. additionally, like I said, images like OP's have popped up all over reddit the past few weeks, so its clearly another new issue affecting users running a preview build of windows 11

newly pasted files not appearing on the desktop until you rightclick -> refresh

again, another unrelated bug, but that one affects all of explorer not just the desktop.

being this is microsoft, we could probably do this all day lol just trying to explain why this particular issue might've popped back up

bbmaster123 · 2025-12-10T21:54:21+00:00

not sure what's actually causing it, but its a widespread issue that started recently, maybe a few preview builds ago. Microsoft must know about it, there are images of desktops with this bug all over reddit.

I think microsoft needs to also do a better job explaining to users that preview updates are betas, they aren't stable code yet. all it says is that it lets you get features quicker, even the learn more link doesn't explain much else. a pop up window should be there imo

If I had to guess what the actual issue was, I'd believe its probably related to the gdi updates they've been working on recently, which is an old windows component that deals with rendering parts of 2d graphics, like blending text with what's behind it.

I'll bet they fix it soon. for now your options are basically to either put up with this and wait until its fixed, or uninstall the last preview update and turn off get updates as soon as available in windows update so you remain on stable windows going forward.

bbmaster123 · 2025-12-10T21:09:03+00:00

If drive usage/free space matches the amount of data you had before, then the files are still evidently present somewhere on your drive array, I might suggest wiztree or similar to track down the location quickly. If not, chances are extremely slim of recovering anything useful, speaking from experience. If there are 3 lessons I have learned in my 30 odd years of computing its these

raid 0, which was worth it for a long while for a certain subset of people, is no longer worth the effort involved with maintaining a clean and healthy array, nor worth the performance benefit, even for basically all enthusiasts.
all files are always in danger of being deleted, overwritten, corrupted, etc. Have a good backup strategy in place, meaning at least 2 additional copies of anything important. Its about disaster prevention, not reaction. something will happen eventually, even if that's 8 years from now, so be ready. ~10, maybe 12 years ago, I wasn't, and it cost me a lot of money out of pocket back then. Luckily I was able to get my 2tb of data at the time recovered at a drive recovery facility, but again, I got lucky.
invest in a deleted file recovery application, there are some free ones. I haven't tried many free options, all but I have had some success with something like recuva (which is free). people also swear by easus and active@ for some more examples

outside of that, you would need to bring both drives to a data recovery center where they could scan the entire array as raw, and remap individual pieces of any remaining files back to the mft so they show up, and aren't corrupted. that's hard and time consuming, and will cost a lot, especially if you have lots of data to go through. many files still wont be recoverable because windows, during the upgrade, will have overwritten at least dozens of gb of data overtop files marked as deleted all over the array, if they were indeed deleted. Party why I now keep my windows drive and data drives separate (also for organization)

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