Multiple issues after upgrading to Windows 11

[DaveJ61]

Before reporting your issue

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

Repro ExplorerPatcher versions

Hi,
I have just upgraded to windows 11 pro from 10 pro. My PC is X64 with 32Gb and an i5-7500 processor.
I used Rufus to bypass a couple of windows 11 minimum requirements, notably my processor. Everything seemed to go well except now I notice that my quicklaunch bar has gone.

Repro Windows Versions

Windows 11 Pro but the version number states 10.0.26200 build 26200.

3rd party tweak software installed

None

Describe the bug

I have tried to add another but when right clicking the taskbar, there is no option in the popup context menu to add another toolbar.
I have also noticed that the explorerpatcher check for updates and update and restart fileexplorer options in explorerpatcher do not work as a notification displays that I am Unable to check for updates as I am not connected to the internet, but I am.
It is very strange but when I go into system information, it states that I have Windows 11 Pro but the version number is 10.0.26200 build 26200.
I have no idea what is going on here but it looks like m pc is stuck "in limbo".

Expected outcome

I would expect to see a popup menu so that I can create a new toolbar for my quicklaunch toolbar.

Actual outcome

There is no option in the menu for me to create a new toolbar.

Additional info

No response

Crash Dumps

No response

Media

No response

[DaveJ61]

I have discovered that an Intel network driver was causing an issue as it was incompatible, so I have uninstalled it. Very strangely this has cured my toolbar issue, and I now have my taskbar back. However, I still have the issue whereby explorerpatcher thinks I am offline, when I am clearly not. A popup appears stating that I am now connected to the internet every time I click to check for updates etc.

[pyrates999]

missing network icon is already known about here: #4859

please close this.

---

Open up EP Properties application, go to taskbar, and set taskbar style to Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher), not Windows 10. We no longer offer support on the stock Windows 10 taskbar.

https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/wiki/Frequently-asked-questions#i-just-installed-explorerpatcher-but-my-taskbar-stays-the-stock-windows-11-taskbar-how-to-change-it-to-the-windows-10-one

please see this for more info: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/wiki/ExplorerPatcher's-taskbar-implementation

if you do not see Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher), you need to uninstall and install the latest version of EP from here: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/releases

you upgraded to windows 11 24h2/25h2 from 23h2/24h2 without uninstalling EP first before doing the upgrade

---

As for quick launch: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4624-add-remove-quick-launch-toolbar-windows-10-a.html

[DaveJ61]

I haven't mentioned anything about a missing network icon. I said that EP thinks I am not connected to the internet when I try to update. When I click to check for updates, it responds with a pop-out notification stating that I am not connected to the internet.

[DaveJ61]

My taskbar style is already set to Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher).
I had already managed to sort the quick launch.
All that remains is that EP doesn't think that I am connected to the internet. I have attached a small video of when I click "check for updates". This also occurs when I click "Update program and restart File Explorer".

Recording.2026-03-30.003310.mp4

[pyrates999]

Check that you are connected to the internet then. Check if you are using a proxy server to connect to the internet.

Open up a command prompt/powershell and run this:

nslookup github.com

Copy and paste the results here.

[DaveJ61]

I am connected!! It's how I am sending this!! I am not using any proxy either. I've been in the IT industry for 40 years, so I think I know what I am doing.

Output of nslookup:-

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> nslookup github.com
Server: UnKnown
Address: fe80::e2d3:62ff:fe6a:92eb

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: github.com
Addresses: 64:ff9b::141a:9cd7
20.26.156.215

As my router is not a real DNS server it has no name, hence nslookup reporting the "Server Unknown". So I have told it to use a google's dns server for the lookup, however it is not really necessry to do this.

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> nslookup github.com 8.8.8.8
Server: dns.google
Address: 8.8.8.8

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: github.com
Address: 20.26.156.215

[pyrates999]

I would check windows firewall to see if it has blocked anything recently.

Let's check the url that EP is using to check for updates. Open up EP Properties application and click on Updates. Please post a screen shot of that here.

And are you using any third party antivirus? If so, which one?

[DaveJ61]

I have checked and Windows firewall has not blocked anything apart from an inbound request from Curseforge, which was quite a while ago. I cannot believe how many hoops you have to jump through to enable firewall logging for Windows 11. Ridiculous.
I am not using anything else, just Windows Defender.

Here's what pops up when I click "check for upates". This is all that happens, nothing else. I already posted a short video of this above.

[pyrates999]

can you post the custom changes you made with Rufus that allowed you to install windows 11? And you didn't post the build number and EP version you installed.

Please post windows version and build. You can find this by running winver. Please include if you are running x86-64 or Arm. And what language your windows is in.
Please post explorer patcher version, by running EP properties application and click on About on the left side.

[DaveJ61]

Ooops. Sorry, that would help. I did uninstall and reinstall EP after the initial problems I was having nd it cured those.

Windows 11 Pro 25H2 (OS Build 26200.8037)

Explorer Patcher 26100.4946.69.6

I am running X86-64 and the language is British English

Rufus options:-

Hope this helps.

[pyrates999]

Check what happens when using the console in explorer patcher. Open up the properties application for explorer patcher, go to advanced, and click on enable console. Copy and paste the results here.

It should include what it does when trying to check for updates.

[DaveJ61]

Here you go:-

A load of these lines keeps getting added too "CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372" after the update check. At the last count there were around 4700 lines of them. Initially there were similar lines with different numbers

[Updates] Configured update policy on this system: "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them".
[Updates] Path to module: C:\WINDOWS\dxgi.dll
[Updates] Using hardcoded hash.
[Updates] Checking against hash "26100.4946.69.6.4c0cd564d448ea65"
[Updates] Update URL: github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/releases/latest/download/ep_setup.exe
[Updates] Unable to check for updates because the remote server is unavailable.
[Updates] Configured update policy on this system: "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them".
[Updates] Path to module: C:\WINDOWS\dxgi.dll
[Updates] Using hardcoded hash.
[Updates] Checking against hash "26100.4946.69.6.4c0cd564d448ea65"
[Updates] Update URL: github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/releases/latest/download/ep_setup.exe
[Updates] Unable to check for updates because the remote server is unavailable.
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372

[pyrates999]

Here is what mine has:

[Updates] Starting daemon.
[Updates] Configured update policy on this system: "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them".
[Updates] Path to module: C:\WINDOWS\dxgi.dll
[Updates] Using hardcoded hash.
[Updates] Checking against hash "26100.4946.69.6.4c0cd564d448ea65"
[Updates] Update URL: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/releases/latest/download/ep_setup.exe
[Updates] Hash of remote file is "26100.4946.69.6.4c0cd564d448ea65" (valid).
[Updates] Local version obtained from hash is 26100.4946.69.6.
[Updates] No updates are available.

So open up EP Properties application, go to updates and set match this:

Under Update Servers, Releases should have this as it's value: github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/releases/latest

Make sure there's no extra space at the beginning of it.

[DaveJ61]

Now mine had the exactly the properties as yours above. However, I noticed that in your console output, you had:-

[Updates] Update URL: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/releases/latest/download/ep_setup.exe

So, as an experiment, I prepended the Release URL in my settings with https:// and bingo! It worked.

This is from the console:-

[Updates] Configured update policy on this system: "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them".
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372
[Updates] Path to module: C:\WINDOWS\dxgi.dll
[Updates] Using hardcoded hash.
[Updates] Checking against hash "26100.4946.69.6.4c0cd564d448ea65"
[Updates] Update URL: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/releases/latest/download/ep_setup.exe
[Updates] Hash of remote file is "26100.4946.69.6.4c0cd564d448ea65" (valid).
[Updates] Local version obtained from hash is 26100.4946.69.6.
[Updates] No updates are available.
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372
CTaskGroup_DoesWindowMatchHook called for hwnd 0x0000000000020372

So now my settings are:-

[pyrates999]

good to hear. Not sure why it's not prepending https:// when checking for a release.