21H1 update

errors

from Stardock.net Forums

I have installed the 21H1 update on several PCs with no issues, except for the PC that has Stardock Fences, CursorFX, and Multiplicity.

On that PC there are issues with these items being distorted or missing: Action Center missing, Notification area gets ghost images of taskbar items when the upward carot is pressed - these ghost images disappear when the mouse hovers over them but come back each time the upwards carot is accessed. Also, the Start menu disappears on occasion.  

Upon rebooting, all items come back to normal for ten minutes or so, then the issues start again.

Stardock is my only app that alters the desktop so it is my prime suspect at this time. All the apps are the current version.

Anyone else have similar issues?

If I remove the 21H1 update on this PC, the PC returns to normal.

Next I will installing these Stardock apps on the other 21H1 PCs and see if this issue is reproducible on those PCs.

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Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

21H1 screwed up my main PC too, have rec3eived 15 or more BSOD's with since I installed it, saying "DPC WATCHDOG VIOLATION".  Dump file says it's something to do with my nVidia drivers, so I uninstalled them and rebooted/reinstalled. Trying everything to resolve this issue. :-(

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top


I have installed the 21H1 update on several PCs with no issues, except for the PC that has Stardock Fences, CursorFX, and Multiplicity.

On that PC there are issues with these items being distorted or missing: Action Center missing, Notification area gets ghost images of taskbar items when the upward carot is pressed - these ghost images disappear when the mouse hovers over them but come back each time the upwards carot is accessed. Also, the Start menu disappears on occasion.  

Upon rebooting, all items come back to normal for ten minutes or so, then the issues start again.

Stardock is my only app that alters the desktop so it is my prime suspect at this time. All the apps are the current version.

Anyone else have similar issues?

If I remove the 21H1 update on this PC, the PC returns to normal.

Next I will installing these Stardock apps on the other 21H1 PCs and see if this issue is reproducible on those PCs.

This is a known defect in that version of the OS.  In particular the preview patch which you probably installed at the same time.

There are a few triggers one of which seems to be having Fences installed but it can happen without any Stardock software as well.

The workaround (for now) is to keep the news and interests item enabled on the taskbar.  There are a few news sites reporting this (without Fences) now.

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Groupy 2 - Organize multiple applications into grouped tabs on your Windows desktop
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Weird.  For once, I seem to be at the other end of the problems spectrum.

I have 21H1 installed, and have had no real issues with it.    I'm using Fences (3.0.9.11), Curtains (1.18), and Groupy (1.48), and while I have Soundpackager, WindowFX, and WIndowblinds installed, I don't have them currently enabled.

I do NOT however have Start 10 installed, and am using StartIsBack (v2.9.13) for my menu/taskbar functionality... I wonder if that has anything to do with my  not having issues, (ie; windows not being left to inherently handle the job).

Neil, anything you can think of for me to test that might help out?

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting GAIAStevef, reply 3

Weird.  For once, I seem to be at the other end of the problems spectrum.

I have 21H1 installed, and have had no real issues with it.    I'm using Fences (3.0.9.11), Curtains (1.18), and Groupy (1.48), and while I have Soundpackager, WindowFX, and WIndowblinds installed, I don't have them currently enabled.

I do NOT however have Start 10 installed, and am using StartIsBack (v2.9.13) for my menu/taskbar functionality... I wonder if that has anything to do with my  not having issues, (ie; windows not being left to inherently handle the job).

Neil, anything you can think of for me to test that might help out?

If you run at 100% scaling you will not see the issue.

Reply #5 from Stardock.net Forums Top

With the latest updates to 21H1, it appears that the "News and interests" issue has been fixed. I can now disable "News and interests" and it causes no issues with the Action Center or Notification area, even on reboots.

I now have 21H1 on 6 very different PCs and laptops - all with no issues.

The Display adapters are: NVIDIA Quadro P2200, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660, AMD Radeon HD 7600M, Intel Iris Xe, Intel HD Graphics 530, Intel HD Graphics 3000.

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting gruch_s, reply 5

With the latest updates to 21H1, it appears that the "News and interests" issue has been fixed. I can now disable "News and interests" and it causes no issues with the Action Center or Notification area, even on reboots.

I now have 21H1 on 6 very different PCs and laptops - all with no issues.

The Display adapters are: NVIDIA Quadro P2200, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660, AMD Radeon HD 7600M, Intel Iris Xe, Intel HD Graphics 530, Intel HD Graphics 3000.

Testing here suggests the issue remains unfortunately with the latest patches including the optional updates.

Remember to trigger it you need a few things, the first being to hide the news and interests, but you also need to be running at >100% scaling and you need an app running that can expose the issue.  Stardock Groupy, WindowFX or Fences (not for everyone) can do so, as can I believe Spy++, Ultramon and Display Fusion and I saw a report of Microsoft Outlook!

Simply resizing your taskbar up and down a few times should show the issue.

Reply #7 from Stardock.net Forums Top

Hi Neil, Following your suggestion, I resize the task bar several times, and changed resolution from 100% (1920 x 1080) to 800 x 600, then back again, turned "News and interests" on then off again, but still no issues. Yes, I have Fences (v.3.09) installed and running, plus Cursor FX, and Multiplicity. I do have Fences View setting at 20% Opacity, but do not think that is a factor. If I set one of the Fences back to 100% Opacity, everything is still fine.

There must be something else that can trigger it. One thing I did do is repair some corrupt files (StepRecorder) with SFC and DISM after the upgrade to 21H1. Maybe or maybe not that had some effect. In event, the issue is gone on my PCs.

One other thing, the issue was also present on one of my laptops which did not have Fences on it. But that issue also went away after the recent updates.

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting gruch_s, reply 7

Hi Neil, Following your suggestion, I resize the task bar several times, and changed resolution from 100% (1920 x 1080) to 800 x 600, then back again, turned "News and interests" on then off again, but still no issues. Yes, I have Fences (v.3.09) installed and running, plus Cursor FX, and Multiplicity. I do have Fences View setting at 20% Opacity, but do not think that is a factor. If I set one of the Fences back to 100% Opacity, everything is still fine.

There must be something else that can trigger it. One thing I did do is repair some corrupt files (StepRecorder) with SFC and DISM after the upgrade to 21H1. Maybe or maybe not that had some effect. In event, the issue is gone on my PCs.

One other thing, the issue was also present on one of my laptops which did not have Fences on it. But that issue also went away after the recent updates.

The issue is not resolution but scaling factor.  It sounds like you changed res there not scaling factor as res remains the same with a higher scaling factor.

 

Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Hi Neil,

Following your suggestion I changed the "Scaling and layout" Display setting "Change the size of text, apps, and other items" from 100% to 125% and rebooted. Next, changed from 125% to 100% and rebooted. Then I tried 150% and 175% then back to 100%. Still no issues on my PC with "Fences" installed and "News and interests" OFF. I even toggled "News and interest" on again, then off again.

The issue also disappeared on one of my laptops without Stardock apps after the Microsoft Updates. The other 3 PCs never had the issue.

With so much variety of hardware and software on PCs, it seems like some have this issue and some do not and it is difficult to pin down. My issues were resolved with the recent Microsoft Updates.

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting gruch_s, reply 9

Hi Neil,

Following your suggestion I changed the "Scaling and layout" Display setting "Change the size of text, apps, and other items" from 100% to 125% and rebooted. Next, changed from 125% to 100% and rebooted. Then I tried 150% and 175% then back to 100%. Still no issues on my PC with "Fences" installed and "News and interests" OFF. I even toggled "News and interest" on again, then off again.

The issue also disappeared on one of my laptops without Stardock apps after the Microsoft Updates. The other 3 PCs never had the issue.

With so much variety of hardware and software on PCs, it seems like some have this issue and some do not and it is difficult to pin down. My issues were resolved with the recent Microsoft Updates.

I am unsure why you didn't have the issues on the 19th, but Microsoft released a patch on the 21st June which seems to have resolved the problem in explorer finally.  Perhaps they show it in advance to some users?

It is KB5003690 which is currently an optional update.