It appears the latest Windows 10 Insider build may have a bug which could cause Explorer to crash in a loop if a WB skin is applied.
We are investigating but for now we must recommend you disable WindowBlinds before updating your Insider builds and do not enable WB until we have addressed this.
EDIT: This was addressed some time ago and as long as you are on WB 10.57 or above you should be fine.
It didn't crash on mine. Since I have it enabled and set to default W10 theme.
@Neil Banfield
I don't know if this helps but, when I got the 'black' screen of the Explorer crash loop, as soon as I pressed Ctrl/Alt/Delete, "Preparing Security Options" appeared on the screen for a fraction of a second!
I think 'permissions' in Build 15025 have gone through the roof!
That's nothing to do with permissions actually.
However you can see why we warned you to disable it until we release an update!
Man, I sure learned this the hard way. I didn't know why the latest Insider build broke Windows at first. When it happens, you get a black screen - you can ctrl+alt-del and get to Task Manager, but if you try to do a File...Run... to do something like try to run explorer.exe, the whole thing just disappears. A Repair on Windows didn't help, I had to do a full reset, which means you lose all your applications. I was slowly putting stuff back onto my computer, and as I installed my beloved Windowblinds - the black screen re-appeared, so then I knew it was the combination of the two things. Please fix this, Stardock. Microsoft won't fix it because they don't care.
As a general reminder to everyone 'playing' with Windows 10....
It 'can' be fixed but again it MUST BE STRESSED - if you use an insider build of Windows 10 you MUST expect system failures.
You are being used BY Microsoft....FOR Microsoft.
Nothing about the 'undertaking' in any way benefits YOU.
WHEN your system breaks there is only one person at fault...
At the same time, it offers developers a sneak peek into the changes that occur in new Windows builds, giving them opportunities to engineer out incompatibilities.
I have noticed quite a few VirtualBox releases that appear to be due to breakage from new Windows Insider builds conflicting with their process hardening.
I'm guessing in the case of WindowBlinds, there are internal UI changes being made that while they seem benign enough to the average end user break programs like WindowBlinds which hook deeply into the UI stack.
I did sign up for the Insider Program, but I'm sure glad I never went ahead and installed any of the previews. It's bad enough as it is with so-called 'stable' builds. Even those can be buggy on some machines, especially when enforced updates screw up essential drivers that the machine depends upon to operate as intended.
Frankly, I see the Insider Program as participants doing Microsoft's job for it.... as unpaid testers whose benefits from participating in the program are little to none.
Like I said, so glad I erred on the side of caution and ventured not beyond the sign-up page.
I have been on the Insider Program for Windows 10, enjoying the free OS, since they first offered it - jeez, 2 years ago, 3? and have never had a single solitary problem with anything, until this clash with WindowBlinds.
Probably time to mention this again:
To prevent Windowblinds from loading at boot, hold the [Ctrl] key while pressing [Enter] on the Login screen.
You must be one of the lucky ones.... perhaps even the only lucky one. Everybody I know [or read about] have had multiple and endless issues with Insider builds.
Nope, it's not something I would entertain.
Hi There.
I have also had this problem with the latest Fast version of 15031. After spending a day and nearly two with Antivirus programs etc. I decided this morning (without looking at this forum) that it might be WindowBlinds 10 causing the problem, as it was the last thing I used before the screen going black. I also decided to reset Windows 10, but the last time this happened - about a couple of weeks ago - I did this and spent nearly a week getting everything back on: so I was a bit loath to go down this route again.
However after 5 minutes this morning I found that stopping the WindowBlinds service in Task Manager by using [Ctl][Alt][Del] - either Stop or End Task - I could again use [Ctl][Alt][Del] and Sign Out. If I signed in straight away my Desktop can back again. At this point I could I could again use [Ctl][Alt][Del] (Left click from Start) and remove WindowBlinds 10. After a Restart all was well - apart from WindowBlinds 10 not running.
Note! Downloading and trying to install either the latest version or the beta version of WindowBlinds 10 crashed the Desktop. I will also look at this forum first if anything like this happens again! Deskscapes 8 seems to work ok but Object Desktop Manager seems to crash whilst trying to install WindowBlinds 10.
I have been using WindowsBlinds 10 on all versions of Windows 10 Insider Previews but It is only recently that I have had this problem.
I hope this helps any other Insider Previewers!!!
Thanks for that valuable info. I hope it will help the next poor schmuck this happens to. I didn't try in exactly the order you specified, and so didn't get the same results. I killed the service then just tried File...Run from the Task Manager, hoping to run explorer.exe. I didn't think of logging out and back in at that stage.
This also doesn't work on Insider Build 15055. Just causes it to freeze up with black screen. That why it is important to create a system restore before installing anything related to themes.
As long as you are updated to the current WB beta you would be fine.
Just installed the latest beta of Windowblinds on build 15055, a bit rough around the edges but it works.
Other than the known issue of Edge and Calc not having titlebars correctly, what other issues are you encountering?
shouldn't this be a sticky
ScpToolkit Notifications (https://github.com/nefarius/ScpToolkit) crashes when applying a WindowBlinds skin.
Alt+Tab window either reverts to the classic Windows 95 style or entirely disappears.
On older skins such as https://www.wincustomize.com/explore/windowblinds/2776 TortoiseMerge is completely messed up.
Taskbar seems to be missing a bit of height when small icons are enabled.
This bug has been around for a while but the skin "Olympics OS" (https://www.wincustomize.com/explore/windowblinds/2363/) is missing checkboxes and radio buttons.
And how does this relate to this post. Those are xp skins and all of them have issues. They will never work correctly today unless they are totally redone and updated.
I hope you don't expect a fix with Windowblinds for this kind of stuff. A lot of them were good skins for those times but not now. Maybe what you are totally missing is there are many parts in those skins not used anymore and also many parts that have to be added.
I could reproduce ScpToolkit crashing, however I am not totally convinced it is us vs a bug in them which gets exposed due to the theme changed messages. Will need to look further. I did see a problem with the custom titlebars the installer uses and will make some mods so those paint in a nicer way.
The alt tab window looks as expected in Win10 to me. Would need a screenshot of the problem.
What exactly is messed up with TortoiseMerge? Pictures would be needed here as we would need to know what we were looking for (it looked ok at first glance)
The taskbar in small icons mode does look a little less tall than ideal, though this may be due to skin settings. Will have to check.
Olympics OS has no checkbox or radio buttons because it doesn't actually define the modern checkbox and radio button sections. It does have the extremely old images under the buttons section, but these were deprecated long ago (probably over a decade!) and are no longer in use. The skin is however just over 15 years old now...
This is a Windowblind change in SKS. I have found nothing in Windowblinds to change this.
Windows 7 using small icons. To make the taskbar look fine using small icons you need to open the skin in Skinstudio. Go to Edit startmenu and taskbar and open it. Go to Edit horizontal taskbars. Go down to Taskbar buttons and click on "buttons". Change the "Top" number to say 10 and click apply. Note the number may not be 10. It may be 8 or 12 or whatever. Just click apply after you change the number and look at the taskbar.
On Windows 10, I see no change and looks fine here.
You must be one of the lucky ones.... perhaps even the only lucky one. Everybody I know [or read about] have had multiple and endless issues with Insider builds. Nope, it's not something I would entertain.
I can testify to that, Starkers. Build 1607 destroyed my Intel video driver which made the system unrecoverable. There were no warnings at all when I originally checked the Dell web site so no way to know there could be a problem. Only after the mess, did I see a warning that my computer might not run correctly in Windows 10. My son's Dell computer is older than mine and has run Windows 10 with no problem. Microsoft wanted to install Insider Builds on my new machine (XPS8910) but that is not happening. The only way to get away from them is to create a new Microsoft Account which I did. I then deleted my original account and changed it to the new one. It was a bit awkward but not difficult. Now I am no longer being bugged by Microsoft. My old account is set to be deleted but they make you wait 60 days for that. It was nothing like that when I beta tested Windows 7. Other than a few minor glitches all went well. I did have an odd thing happen with this month's Microsoft update though. For some reason, the Universal Applications folder is empty in Start 10 and I have tried several things to fix it but no luck so far. All of the apps are there. They just aren't in that particular folder and I got a black screen after the update but then all was okay.
Based on Neil's post, I will stop using Window Blinds until there is a fix in place although I am still in version 1607, Build 14393.953. I suspect the odd issue with the Universal apps folder is a sign of things to come.
I can testify to that, Starkers. Build 1607 destroyed my Intel video driver which made the system unrecoverable. There were no warnings at all when I originally checked the Dell web site so no way to know there could be a problem. Only after the mess, did I see a warning that my computer might not run correctly in Windows 10. My son's Dell computer is older than mine and has run Windows 10 with no problem. Microsoft wanted to install Insider Builds on my new machine (XPS8910) but that is not happening. The only way to get away from them is to create a new Microsoft Account which I did. I then deleted my original account and changed it to the new one. It was a bit awkward but not difficult. Now I am no longer being bugged by Microsoft. My old account is set to be deleted but they make you wait 60 days for that. It was nothing like that when I beta tested Windows 7. Other than a few minor glitches all went well. I did have an odd thing happen with this month's Microsoft update though. For some reason, the Universal Applications folder is empty in Start 10 and I have tried several things to fix it but no luck so far. All of the apps are there. They just aren't in that particular folder and I got a black screen after the update but then all was okay.Based on Neil's post, I will stop using Window Blinds until there is a fix in place although I am still in version 1607, Build 14393.953. I suspect the odd issue with the Universal apps folder is a sign of things to come.
There is a fix in place for the insider builds. WB 10.58 beta (or even earlier ones) will work fine.
As you are on the last stable Win10 you can stick with the last stable WB build until we update it to be the 10.6 build which will support the Win10 update that's currently in beta.
The latest with Windows 10. As some of you know, a regular Windows 10 update (NOT an insider update) destroyed my old computer. It seems I am far from alone. Here is an article from Ars Technica. Like many other users I complained many times that they needed to check compatibility before downloading updates to the kernel. Now there is a class action suit against Microsoft for that issue and others. If your computer is more than three years old, I would be careful before upgrading to Windows 10 but that is based only on my own experience. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/03/unhappy-windows-10-upgraders-take-microsoft-to-court-for-lost-data-damaged-pc
This is a Windowblind change in SKS. I have found nothing in Windowblinds to change this.Windows 7 using small icons. To make the taskbar look fine using small icons you need to open the skin in Skinstudio. Go to Edit startmenu and taskbar and open it. Go to Edit horizontal taskbars. Go down to Taskbar buttons and click on "buttons". Change the "Top" number to say 10 and click apply. Note the number may not be 10. It may be 8 or 12 or whatever. Just click apply after you change the number and look at the taskbar.On Windows 10, I see no change and looks fine here.
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