Unable to customise Notification Area icons

[ColinB]

After upgrading to 2.5.0.3, with xplorer2 as windows explorer replacement, I am unable to open the Control Panel item Notification Area Items to customise the icons, even if I tick Don't browse Control Panel Folders in the Settings Editor.

[Kilmatead]

Confirmed - definitely a bug there Nikos - only happens with the Lite version + Replacement (Pro and Ult are fine)... it seems to maintain a stranglehold on some (but not all) CLSID branches (virtually the whole of 'Personalisation' - Notification icons [even via the taskbar], etc) are unavailable via the Control Panel no matter how it's launched.

Only removing replacement mode solves it.

[nikos]

it works for me
probably the problem comes from running the 32 bit lite version on 64 bit windows
are you sure you are editing the advanced settings of the LITE version? see what does it say on the settings dialog titlebar, it shouldn't say xplorer2_UC

[nikos]

actually I didn't see a problem for 64 bit windows either
how do you access the faulty control panel item? (i right click in the task area background)
Does control panel work at all?

[ColinB]

Settings dialogue title bar says xplorer2 Settings Editor [xplorer2]. I am running 64-bit Win 7.

I can open Control Panel from the Start button - xplorer2 also starts if not already running. More items work than don't, I think, e.g. Programs & Features, Device Manager, Getting Started. Those that don't include Personalization, Troubleshooting, Notification Area Items, Windows Update.

[Kilmatead]

It's a problem with x86 on x64, not the "lite" version in particular, as the 32-bit versions of Pro/Ult suffer from the same condition if used on an x64 system in replacement mode. (I only tested the x64 versions before.) Strange that it's only partially disabled - methinks the classical favourite WOW64 redirection is your bugbear here.

[nikos]

for me it works, even in x64, no matter how you do it. If xplorer2 is set to "not open control panel" then all these items open in windows explorer, be it from the start menu or context menus (32 and 64 bit alike)

[Kilmatead]

Then your virtualisation software ain't up to the mark - on real x64 systems, the audience is in tears. (And I just tried it with a nuked registry - still happens, so it's not a settings conflict.)

[nikos]

can you tell me exactly what doesn't work, how you do it and what "doesn't work" actually means?

[Kilmatead]

Say you're in the Control Panel (via Start Menu rendered through explorer) and you randomly click on this one:



Nothing happens - or, more precisely, if x2 is not running, it'll open, but not to any CLSID... generally just the last used folder - it doesn't even seem like it's trying to open anything from the CP (no little "if you can't find what you want, please buy bog-roll" messages or anything).

As the OP mentions, some things from the CP work fine, but others (notably this "Notification" thing) just die a martyrs death with no sad damsels to weep for them. Also this particular entry cannot be invoked from the taskbar (next to the clock) as usual so it's the CLSID itself that's still being trapped, except it's redirected to nowheresville. Maybe your DDE kung-fu isn't what you thought it was?

[nikos]

my control panel looks different



no matter what I click, whether x2 lite is running or not, it works as expected

[nikos]

i think that you are somehow browsing "all control panel items" folder which is a bit different than control panel itself. Try the control panel as above and if you need to find anything in particular use the SEARCH box.

[Kilmatead]

Sometimes I wonder if you really know what you're doing, dude. You're in View by Category mode - in the upper right of the (Home) CP page, there should be a little "View By" button, click it and select one of the View by Icons options, which will take you back to your XP youth as far as the CP is concerned, then you can join the rest of us. (Or, hey, try clicking the "classic view" in the upper left of your screenshot - same thing - what are you using, Vista or something?)

It doesn't matter how you get there (use the bloody "up arrow" in the system tray and select "Customise" if you want to!) but the end result is that it doesn't work, and x2's the cause - all becomes well again if you simply "undo" replacement mode.

[nikos]

my x64 is vista so it doesn't have this "icon" mode
anyway, if you switch to "my" control panel view, do you still have the problem?

[Kilmatead]

Earth to Doris, Earth to Nikos - yes, as I said (over and over and over), the problem exists however you choose to get to one of the failing options (using the start menu to search for "notifications" and selecting it will accomplish the same thing!). You seem to be dead set on blaming this on something else, but that's not going to work. 32-bit Replacement mode on x64 systems essentially banjaxes half the control panel CLSID's whether they are accessed from the CP, the start menu, a shortcut on the desktop, or from the taskbar itself.

I can't be any clearer than that. There are no exceptions to this. Undo replacement and it's all fixed. Reinstall 32-bit x2 (to reactivate replacement mode) and everything breaks again. Remove it again, and it's fixed. Toggle "browse with" and you end up with x2 being its normal useless self as far as the CP items are concerned.

The only anomalous thing I can see is that if the x86 process is killed and you manually run the x64 version of x2 (with the replacement mode from the 32-bit still active) then accessing these items from the control panel (or however) works fine - they open up rendered via explorer and everything. But if x2 x64 is not running then the x86 version is invoked (automatically) and the CLSID's fail as before, with x2 not showing anything useful in the active pane.

That strange enough for ya?