darryl11

Join Date 08/2013

Start11 taskbar/badge problem specifically for Neutron Player program icon, since upgrading to 24H2

I have a music player app named Neutron Player, available for Windows from the MS Store. I've been using it for years first through Win10 and also on my Android phone, where it is available from the Google Play Store. I also now use it on my Win11 system which until recently was operating under 23H2, and now has been upgraded to 24H2.

This thread doesn't concern the Start Button/Menu functionality of Start11. It specifically concerns Taskbar functionality of Start11 and how it presents "badge" overlays on icons, and particularly how it presents "badge" associated with the Neutron Player and its functionality. It appears that now with Win11's upgrade to 24H2 Start11 is seemingly "broken" as far as "badge" functionality for Neutron Player is concerned.

With 24H2 MS has imposed very strict new rules clamping down on 3rd-party products that can manipulate the Windows taskbar and notification area. Certainly Start11 appears to be negatively impacted, in particular as to how it facilitates the "badge" features implemented by the Neutron Player app and its taskbar icon.

==> Start11 and its management of the taskbar buttons used to work perfectly for Neutron Player on 23H2. But now with 24H2 it no longer works correctly.

For example, when the Neutron Player program is inactive (i.e. it is not even launched), the taskbar icon icon for it is supposed to show a player status badge of "PAUSE", which it did do with 23H2:

But operating under 24H2 this same badge now appears as an exclamation mark (as if the data expected to populate the badge has not been correctly passed, or retained from the last active instance of the program, or whatever):

Furthermore, when the Neutron Player is active, it can either be in a "PAUSE" state or a "PLAY" state. Operating under 23H2 the correct badge indicating the player state is properly presented by Start11:

(a) PLAY'ing state:

( PAUSE'd state:

In contrast, under 24H2 there is NO BADGE AT ALL presented by Start11. For example, here is PAUSE state, with no badge presented:

How can I submit a "bug" ticket on this recent Start11 breakage?

I can't figure out how to do this? The Stardock web site seemingly provides no way to get support at all for Start11 by any means, phone or email. Seems to be an unsupported product which is sold but for which no customer feedback or request for support or reporting a defect is possible.

I don't think any users here can "fix" or really help. The problem comes from what Microsoft did in 24H2 that "now locks down taskbar and notification area modification by 3rd-party software entities". And whatever MS did seems to have a significant and negative effect on the "badge" processing specifically associated with the Neutron Player app. It may or may not affect other apps and Start11, but it certainly affects Neutron Player and its badge functionality.

Can anybody help, or provide suggestions? Any more information or pictures needed?

Worst case, how do I report this defect to Stardock development?

Note that I have tried both Windows 10 and Windows 11 taskbar styles, and it doesn't matter. No effect.

I've also tried single-height taskbar, and double-height taskbar, and it doesn't matter. No effect.

Definitely seems to be directly tied to whatever MS did in 24H2 in locking down taskbar control now possible by 3rd-party apps. Certainly killed Explorer Patcher (EP) (from Github) which is not even allowed to be installed in order to upgrade to 24H2. It must actually be uninstalled first, although it can then be re-installed after the upgrade to 24H2 completes. Now EP is technically "compatible with 24H2", but in fact a good portion of what it used to be able to do up through 23H2 is no longer functional at 24H2.

I suspect a similar 24H2 negative impact on Start11 and its own customization and control of the taskbar. And the Neutron Player icon is at least one specific example of this negative impact.

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Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. Reporting your issue in the forum is the way to get your issue look into. As a start we need to know your full Windows 11 24H2 OS Build number. You can Winver.exe to get these number.

Thank you,
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

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Here is a full description, showing behavior of that Neutron Player taskbar icon and its "state-dependent badge" as it operates in the 24H2 environment both (a) with Start11 controlling the taskbar (which is defective), and then ( Start11 taskbar control disabled so native Win11 behavior (which is perfect).

(1) Win11 24H2 system information ABOUT:

NOTE: the laptop is an older Lenovo Thinkpad P70, vintage 2016. It has a 6th-generation Intel CPU and TPM of only 1.2. Both of these theoretically disqualify Win11 from being installed on the machine.

As has been commonly done I used RUFUS to build a modified USB Win11 24H2 install media where these two default MS hardware requirements are ignored.

Otherwise, it is the result of using standard full MS Win11 retail installer ISO for 24H2.

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(2) First, I will show how the Neutron "badge" behavior operates correctly when Start11 taskbar control is NOT ENABLED. In other words, this is pure native Win11 24H2 taskbar/icon/badge behavior when the Neutron Player is both inactive and then active (in both PAUSE and PLAY state).

Note that standard Win11 24H2 taskbar presentation is only single-high, with no option available to change the taskbar height as used to be available in Win10. Start11 taskbar control facilitates this MS-imposed lost ability to lock/unlock/resize the taskbar. I have tried Start11 + 24H2 with taskbar height of both single-high (like native Win11 shows) and double-high (facilitated by Start11), and it doesn't matter. The defects regarding "badge" functionality under 24H2 persist with the taskbar at either height.

(a) Here is the Win11 24H2 taskbar (at standard default single-high size, with ... overflow button to show additional icons previously shown in Win10 on a second row in a double-high taskbar size). Note that the Neutron icon correctly shows the PAUSE badge, as the program itself is currently inactive and not yet launched.

(b.) Here is how the Neutron icon taskbar icon looks when the program get launched, and now is in an ACTIVE-PAUSE'd state

(c) Here is how the Neutron icon taskbar icon looks when the Neutron player is in play mode, and thus is in ACTIVE-PLAY'ing state

Bottom line: when Start11 taskbar control is DISABLED and native Win11 24H2 taskbar functionality is operating, the Neutron "badge" appearance and behavior is perfect. This is exactly as the program code was designed to produce.

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(3) Now here is the equivalent taskbar presentation when Start11 is controlling the taskbar. As I stated earlier, it doesn't matter if the taskbar height is single or double. The malfunctioning "badge" is the same.

(a) Here is the Win11 24H2 taskbar at double-height, as controlled by Start11 when Neutron is inactive. Note that the Neutron icon badge is not the PAUSE as expected, but instead is an "exclamation mark". It's not clear if this is (a) inserted by Start11 because it somehow and for some reason failed to obtain the correct "badge" data from Neutron and its Windows API technique, or (b.) inserted by Win11 24H2 because Start11 provided invalid data through the API.

(b.) Here is how the Neutron icon taskbar icon looks on the Start11-controlled taskbar when the program get launched, and now is in an ACTIVE-PAUSE'd state, right after the program gets launched. Note that there is NO BADGE AT ALL!!

(c) The identical symptom of NO BADGE occurs when Neutron is in a state of ACTIVE-PLAY'ing. No need to show this, as it looks the same as the above.

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Hello,

I can reproduce your issue on my system. Refer screenshot below. Its happen when you turn on Start11 Enhance taskbar. I have forwarded your problem/question to Stardock Support Team for their assistance. Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates. We appreciate your feedback and patience.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

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Excellent news!!

Thank you for your assistance. I will await learning of any response from the developers.

Again, the symptom is twofold:

(1) Neutron state INACTIVE (i.e. unlaunched) produces exclamation mark badge.

(2) Neutron state ACTIVE-PAUSE'd or ACTIVE-PLAY'ing produces NO BADGE AT ALL.

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