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Taskbar texture not displaying properly #2474
Description
Describe the bug
After updating ExplorerPatcher to its latest version, Open-shell is no longer properly texturing the taskbar. The only sections that the texture I have applied will apply to are the Start button and the time/date (i;e the beginning/end of the bar). The middle of the bar just displays the base color of the taskbar I have set.
Area of issue
Taskbar
To reproduce
- Turn on Windows 11 computer
- Update ExplorerPatcher
- Look at taskbar (after a texture is applied)
Expected behavior
The taskbar texture should stretch out across the entire bar, which it seemingly is not doing.
Open-Shell version
4.4.198
Windows version
Windows 11 25H2
Additional context
I have attached an image of my settings as well as what the taskbar looks like in its current incorrect state.
Reacted by Kermamrek and riko
Reacted by Ibuprophen
Activity
Subby-Spaced commentedon Jun 1, 2026
I'd like to add that reverting to the previous version of ExplorerPatcher (26100.4946.69.6) "fixed" this issue, so something is up with ExplorerPatcher's newest release (26100.8457.70.1) and the taskbar texture feature.
Kermamrek commentedon Jun 2, 2026
Additionally I have found that restarting my computer with both ExplorerPatcher and open shell installed takes much, much longer to boot explorer since updating them to the latest version. Not sure if this is even an open shell issue, or maybe it is just coincidence. Either way it seems the new ExplorerPatcher version is kind of buggy
Objectivite commentedon Jun 10, 2026
Is Explorer Patcher really needed nowadays ?
We used to use it extensively, then from 24H2 Windows 11 started making registry options (found on MajorGeeks) and UI settings available which weren't there before 24H2 and we were then able to phase out Explorer Patcher completely, getting rid of all conflicts between Explorer Patcher and Open-Shell.
M.
Subby-Spaced commentedon Jun 10, 2026
I'll try out running Open-Shell without ExplorerPatcher, you may be right about that.
EDIT: I can't seem to uninstall ExplorerPatcher without it removing the taskbar and seemingly file explorer with it. If someone else knows how to uninstall ExplorerPatcher without it completely removing my taskbar then I'd love to know how I can actually do that so I can test this theory.
Objectivite commentedon Jun 11, 2026
Not sure what you mean by "completely removing my taskbar" but when not using Explorer Patcher, you have to make some modifications in the Windows 11 UI in addition to using OpenShell. The section you need is Personalisation / Taskbar - see screenshots below -
Subby-Spaced commentedon Jun 12, 2026
Gotcha, I'll try this out if I can uninstall ExplorerPatcher.
What I mean by "completely removing my taskbar" is that the taskbar will just literally disappear when ExplorerPatcher is uninstalled, and the only way I've gotten it to return is by reinstalling ExplorerPatcher. It will just leave a large black bar at the bottom of the screen that does nothing, and also will stop displaying anything on my second monitor for some reason. Attempting to run regular file explorer from there pulls up an error that no such thing exists? I was only able to reinstall ExplorerPatcher by having my web browser open and opening the file from there.
ri-kooo commentedon Jun 13, 2026
Didn't 25H2 just nuke all the Windows 10 taskbar files though? ExplorerPatcher reimplements it, so fixing this bug would allow current OpenShell users to keep the Win10 taskbar skinned. (very useful in my case, since i use a vertical taskbar)
This bug seems to have happened last year: #2094
Perhaps a similar fix could get pushed?
Objectivite commentedon Jun 14, 2026
Correct, but skinning the Taskbar is now supported in the Windows 11 UI itself.
I run OpenShell - this is my Taskbar skinned through the Win11 UI -
Options here -
In our case we stopped using Explorer Patcher as soon as the above became available in the Win11 UI because we had too many instances of a buggy Explorer Patcher update resulting in an end-user's PC failing to boot properly.
M.
ri-kooo commentedon Jun 15, 2026
The Win10 taskbar still allowed for some flexibility like having it vertically placed (which is my use case scenario)
You could technically add a Windhawk mod to have the Win11 taskbar do it, but it is still a less flexible solution compared to the Win10 taskbar, which some people still prefer to have as an option.
For example, i could not replicate my current setup without ExplorerPatcher and the Win10 taskbar reimplemented.
Also skinning through OpenShell allows textures, making it possible to have gradients or other effects, opening up the customization options infinitely.
dimmskii commentedon Jun 24, 2026
Guys, this has been boggling my mind for a while now. I once installed exact same version of EP and OpenShell on the exact same Win 10 Editions/build. One of them has the messed up glassed over texture, but the other doesn't to this day; this is despite updating EP to latest version.
I have other things like WindHawk mods and OpenGlass installed on the second machine. Going to play around some more with those guys to see if they could be the culprits.
When I researched this issue here earlier (both EP and OpenShell GitHubs), I was lead to believe that this shouldn't be possible in the first place.
And then just now, after I updated to latest EP and clean rebooted:
On another machine with a freshly installed same version of Windows with the same EP+OS versions, I got the issue as shown in the earlier screenshots.
dimmskii commentedon Jun 26, 2026
Second machine still broken the same way despite seemingly identical configuration. For safety, I uninstalled OpenGlass entirely and even disabled that acrylic transparency thing in settings. Still no cake.
Explain to me this David Copperfield phenomenon, please...
Amrsatrio commentedon Jul 6, 2026
Hi, ep_taskbar's developer here. With EP 70.1 I renamed the naming scheme as follows, because I needed to make a new variant for Iron/FE/20348 and it is between 0 and 1.
Since in this project there are hardcoded references to ep_taskbar.5.dll (ge) with a fallback to ep_taskbar.2.dll (ni), those need to be updated to support EP 70.1 and newer.
Open-Shell-Menu/Src/StartMenu/StartMenuDLL/StartMenuDLL.cpp
Lines 2982 to 2984 in 9518c3b
Thanks!
cc: @ge0rdi
Amrsatrio commentedon Jul 7, 2026
@dimmskii
I see that both of your machines run Windows 10, which on EP 70.1 and newer, uses
ep_taskbar.rs2.dll(previouslyep_taskbar.0.dll) as the DLL name.On the first machine, which taskbar style are you using? I assume stock Windows 10, hence working taskbar texture.
On the second machine, I assume it's using EP's reimplemented taskbar, hence non-working taskbar texture because Open-Shell's code (as I've shown a snippet of above) does not try to look for it.
Amrsatrio commentedon Jul 7, 2026
@Subby-Spaced That shouldn't happen. To be fair, when making new EP versions, I don't validate them with Open-Shell. I've tested that uninstalling EP on 8655 without having Open-Shell installed would correctly shut down explorer.exe hosting the desktop and taskbar, removing files, shows "Uninstall completed. Thank you for using ExplorerPatcher," and once OK is clicked, explorer.exe is started again.
I will test this scenario and report back in here.
ri-kooo commentedon Jul 7, 2026
Awesome, is there a way to get a drag and drop solution? At least up until OpenShell supports this fix out of the box.
Thanks!
TroyWolbrink commentedon Jul 11, 2026
If I'm following all of this, we simply need to wait for Open-Shell's next version to support these ep_taskbar*dll renames?
Or can I manually make a copy of "ep_taskbar.5.dll" on my machine and rename this copy to "ep_taskbar.ge.dll" (or vice versa) as a temporary workaround?
Amrsatrio commentedon Jul 11, 2026
TroyWolbrink commentedon Jul 11, 2026
Open-Shell-Menu hasn't had a commit since May 30, and their last official release was May 12. So it looks like they're taking the summer off!
So, I'm going to have to hunker down on EP 69.6 for the time being. I'll have to be selective in my Windows Updates, because one of them was forcing me to have to update EP to avoid a crash in Windows Explorer. Darn catch-22 I'm in right now!
Amrsatrio commentedon Jul 11, 2026
Or I allow looking for the old names in 70.5. Or bake Open-Shell's hook into ep_taskbar directly.
TroyWolbrink commentedon Jul 11, 2026
That would be amazing, and a great example of the open source community pulling together! Thanks for even thinking of this possibility.
ge0rdi commentedon Jul 14, 2026
@Amrsatrio
Thank you for letting us know about the EP naming change.
So, should we look for (first) module that starts with
ep_taskbarand then patch this one?Or do we need to do this only for certain versions? (I'd prefer as simple logic as possible)
Amrsatrio commentedon Jul 14, 2026
Yes. No dot. Assume one day I'll combine all those variants into one.
ge0rdi commentedon Jul 14, 2026
Can anyone check with this build?
It should fix EP taskbar compatibility.
TroyWolbrink commentedon Jul 14, 2026
I just tested that build on my Windows 11 25H2 box. Now I can upgrade to EP 70.4, and it fixes the problem. This is great news to me! Thanks!
ri-kooo commentedon Jul 14, 2026
Works like a charm.
Thanks!
[ExplorerPatcher] Improved EP taskbar detection (Open-Shell#2493)