Taskbar being managed by something else

from Stardock Forums

Hi, 

I go into Stardock Start11 Config and for the Taskbar I'm told:

"You already have something else managing your taskbar buttons so this cannot be enabled until that is disabled"

I read the other post (it came up when I Googled the entire error message) and from the reply I recognized that, yes, I am using ExplorerPatcher because I cannot stand the fact that Win11 Pro keeps sorting and grouping the items in the Downloads folder and subfolders and that was what was suggested on the Microsoft Answers Forum.  That feature has fixed the sorting & grouping issue.  According to the explanation I was given there I was told that there is no option to turn off the automatic defaulting to sorting and grouping items and EP was the only answer.

I am quite willing to uninstall EP if that is the only answer to be able to fix this error message.  I would like a little bit more information on what items are affected/controlled by the Start11 software that are not able to be controlled with EP installed.  I want to see if there is any overlap that makes my losing my ability to control the sorting & grouping in Windows Explorer by uninstalling the EP app/program the correct decision for me.

Does Start11 have the ability to give me control over the defaulting to sorting and grouping in Windows Explorer?   Without EP there's no option available to switch the sorting and grouping to "NONE" and it keeps sorting and grouping it by date which is driving me nuts.

 

Thank you......

Sincerely,

WonderWoman77

stardock software
3,779 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Just curious, does EP allow you to set Sorting to NONE and hence allow random placement in the Explorer folder?

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Yes it does.  I investigated this annoying issue because when I would go into my Downloads folder it would constantly come up "Grouped" and it would do the Group Sorting by date making it impossible for me to navigate or locate anything.  Before installing EP there was no option on the Group>Sort menu for "NONE", now with EP installed there is an option at the bottom for "NONE".

Once I go into the folder and set the Group>Sort to "NONE" and it holds that setting.

What I would really and truly love is the ability to permanently turn off the Grouping option in Windows Explorer globally, for the entire system.  No one has come up with that fix yet.

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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Windows 11 will allow NONE on Group by, but not on Sort by.

You can also use Folder Options to set a folder to always open in a certain state.

Open the folder you want to set, and then click the 3 dots in the header and select Options.

Once open, select the View tab and click Reset Folders and OK. Now open the folder and set it up the way you want it, and now it will always open the way you have it set.

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Thank you for that.  It is really strange, because I created a thread on Microsoft Answers Forum about it and couldn't get any method to do what you just showed me and have it apply globally and actually not have to be reset every single time I accessed the folder, it also would do the grouping and date sorting in file opening and saving dialogue boxes.  I just now uninstalled EP to test and although it is holding the "NONE" setting still, I just went to DL something and the save box was doing the grouping and date sorting again......I re-read my original post on the MA Forum and the post that someone gave me a link to about the same issue that educated me about EP and discovered there is also another fix which is called WinSetView available as an alternative to EP.  I have downloaded it but not used it yet.