Classic Shell: Forum

I have been installing Classic Shell 4.3.0 on new installs of Windows 10 Anniversary from the CD. New machines, new OS install. The Classic Shell start button won't stay fixed to allow entry into the Classic Shell start menu every time. The Start Button is toggling through the windows start button screen and the Classic Shell start button screen. It won't return to the Classic Shell start button unless I click on the Task Bar and even then only about half the time. Also, if I right click on the menu, half the time it shows the Classic Shell list entries and the rest of the time it shows the Windows 10 list entries (NO Classic Shell setting entry).

Thanks for looking into this...

Is it possible you have installed another software that replaces the start menu or tweaks the taskbar?

I may have installed Classic Shell 4.2.5 first and then 4.3.0 over it. Would this be a problem upgrading to the latest version? If so, how do I scrub this machine of Classic Shell and just install 4.3.0

No, that should not cause problems.

Just took a new machine with a fresh install of Windows 10 Anniversary off the CD I just bought from NewEgg. Windows 10 Home - version 10.1.14393 Build 14393, installed Classic Shell 4.3.0 and it shows the same behavior. It seems the real time event manager is processing both the classic shell start button and the windows 10 start button select click before it releases the classic shell button. Not sure, but it looks like the classic shell button is not replacing the windows 10 start button.

Something I notice that was different installing classic shell on windows 7, 8, and older 10 is that after the install Classic Shell must be initialized with the start menu - programs - classic menu shortcut and select change startup button to even see if it was installed. If you press the default window 10 start button before you initialize classic shell, you get the windows 10 start menu.

After the clam shell icon shows up after initializing it, when you click it once, it will toggle through the classic shell startup menu to the windows 10 startup menu with a second click, but not toggle back to the classic shell menu. I had to click a few times on the task bar or main screen to get the clam shell icon back. During that time the classic shell menu, both left and right click, are missing in action.

I know how hard it is to debug intermittent bugs. I wrote the first talking computer software in 1980 for the blind with Ray Kurtzweil's team in pure machine language, no compiler, just typing in binary code on a running system. Basic, LISP, C, C++, and JAVA are a lot easier to work with.

Stated programming in 1965 at 14 with my dad at Stanford on punch tape. I have been using DOS and debugged the first version of MASM for Microsoft in 1982, debugged the first version of JAVA for Bill Joy and Gibbons in the Sun Bench Mark center to remove array bugs and embed MATHC. Worked with Ellenby at GRiD Systems when he released the first clam shell laptop-the Compass, the first tablet GRIDPad, and the first Motorola base smart phone before 1990. I wrote the first commercially available software for a tablet computer for Jeff Hawkins. He went on to form Palm. Since then I have worked building device drivers for a variety of products.

Now, in my old age I just do some system integration, network design, and fly fish.

Download the Classic Shell Utility from here: http://www.classicshell.net/downloads
Run it, save a system log and send it to me

It is working on windows 10, but you won't like the fix I found. I went to a Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit laptop that had Classic Shell 4.3.0 running perfectly and created two backup files. I loaded the main backup into the windows 10 anniversary classic shell 4.3.0. It didn't work at all. The settings file from the Window 7 machine did not create the same settings on the windows 10 machine. On windows 7 the left click opened the classic shell menu and on windows 10 it was set to open the windows start menu.

The original install of Classic Shell on windows 10 anniversary had both start buttons active. With the upload of the windows 7 menu file into windows 10, only the Classic Shell button is active. It seems the windows 10 64 bit install is different than the windows 7 64 bit install and the backup files do not align.

It is working perfectly on the Windows 10 machine now.

Stopped working again. Any time I select a icon on the task bar the start menu button changes from the AERO clam shell to the Win 10 button. Won't toggle, won't change back unless I can get my mouse pointer to touch the tiny ring of the classic shell button that is larger than the win 10 button.

This new update of Win 10 1607 Nov. 9 caused other issues, too.
Shut off my Sound Blaster driver on my Gigabyte Z170x Gaming 7 mother board. Had to reinstall it.
Failed to install device drivers for disabled network adapters. Had to enable them, run windows update again, and they installed.
Failed to install an Atheros AR9271 Wireless Network Adapter. I tried reinstalling it and it worked. Thing is, I don't have one installed in my desktop.
Won't save some other settings changes. After a reboot, they are back to the original.

Makes me want to move to Linux.

I don't see anything weird in your log file. Everything checks out.
Try uninstalling Classic Shell, then reboot and see if everything in Windows works OK. Then try installing again.
BTW, the files installed on Windows 7 and Windows 10 are exactly the same. copying from one to the other should not make any difference.

Just as I thought, there was another start menu software interfering with Classic Shell. It was part of the Gigabyte software update.