Start11 v2 News

1/27/2025

Version

• UI: 2.51
  
• Stat11Config.exe: 2.5.1.3
  

Platforms

• Stardock and Steam
  

Changes

• Limited vertical taskbar to half screen width maximum
  
• Resolved issue with turning on secondary screen taskbar when using a vertical taskbar, especially a right aligned one on the secondary.
  
• Resolved issues with DisplayFusion when replacing the OS taskbar on the secondary displays on Win11 with enhanced taskbar enabled.
  
• Linked to the above, resolved issues with multiple monitors when having no taskbar on the display and using apps which alter the work area
  
• Added a registry key S11_UseNewFolderBrowser which when set to "1" will tell Start11 to use newer style Folder picker windows.  This goes in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Stardock\Start8\Start8.ini\Start8 and is type string.
  
• Resolved the root cause of the non responsive secondary taskbar rather than the workaround that was in use
  
• Added in registry key "S11_OnlyShowReboot" to only show reboot option rather than any other options (business users)
  
• Ensured larger start buttons resize correctly when used on a vertical taskbar
  
• Resolved a positioning issue for certain custom start buttons when used on a vertical taskbar
  
• Tweaks to how work area sizes are calculated to handle slower applications such as ObjectDock (switching from autohide to non autohide sometimes caused the wrong amount of space to be allocated)
  
• System tray icons made slightly less spaced on vertical taskbars
  
• Resolved issue with run as admin for some other apps
  
• Further work area tweaks for mixed dpi setups
  
• Fixed black icons in universal apps menu when using Win7 style and apply colour to taskbar/start in the OS
  
• Disables more submenu and uninstalling option for web links
  
• Fixes run as admin and open file location links for some pinned items
  
• Fixes issue with start button positioning when you have no pinned items or running tasks
  
• Hide start button on vertical taskbars is not supported
  
• Fix for OS search being in search field mode with a top taskbar not working.  It is normal for the search box to disappear when in search in this mode
  
• NOTE: Hide start button on vertical taskbars is not supported 
  
• Hopefully the issue with Explorer windows popping up on Win11 with ExplorerPatcher and potentially could happen on Win10 too.
  
• Resolved some issues with work areas with WinStep when using enhanced taskbar and Winstep reserving screen space.
  
• Resolved issue with running as admin for some pinned shortcuts in Win10/11/etc menus
  
• Resolved issue with non-functional taskbar buttons on the secondary screen when the focus is set to the taskbar or desktop sometimes
  
• Fix for workspace calculation when the taskbar is at the top of the screen in some situations
  
• Removed excess line in Win10 all apps list at the top.
  
• Tweak for apps which setup workspace areas that start at bootup
  
• Added two registry keys which go here HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Stardock\Start8\Start8.ini\Start8
  
  These apply to horizontal enhanced mode taskbars only.
  
  
• S11_PrimaryTBOverrideOffset = how far to offset the taskbar from the left screen edge in pixels.  Default is -1 which means auto
  
• S11_PrimaryTBOverrideWidth = How wide the taskbar should be in pixels.  If the above value isn't set then it centres the bar.
  
• These are primarily intended for use when a user has a very wide screen and is using tools like DisplayFusion and wants to limit where the taskbar is positioned.  They can also be used to make it look a bit more like a dock (non expanding for width) if you turn on rounded corners and use the overrideWidth value only.
  

Start11 2.5 has been released

Version

UI: 2.5

Start11Config.exe: 2.5.0.0

Platforms

Stardock and Steam

Changes

• NEW Adds experimental vertical taskbar support Windows 11 (23H2+ only)
  
• NEW Centred taskbar buttons mode in Win11 now works on > 2 monitor setups
  
• Fixed issue with dragging taskbar buttons to the left of the taskbar when centered
  
• Fix for DisplayFusion issue
  
• Tweaks for changing the size of taskbar icons etc
  
• Fixed an issue with Microsoft Loop and a resource leak
  
• Fix for position of jumplist on mixed vertical and nonvertical setups
  
• Fix for config having a nonfunctional indicator on the left causing an odd blank box
  
• Fixed 1 en-us localization issue
  
• Detection of 23H2 as we were detecting beta channel only
  
• Added UI options for icon size, button width, and height to advanced taskbar settings.  Only properly apply when not using OS autohide
  
• Fixed issue with Win+X menu going away when you mouseover a vertical taskbar
  
• Resolved issue with touch long press to get a right click not working on vertical taskbars for items
  
• Resolved flicker on custom start button when mouseover on a vertical taskbar
  
• Removed excess slider on advanced taskbar settings
  
• Fixed issue with Win+X menu appearing in the wrong location when taskbar is on the right depending on the screen scaling factor
  
• Resolved issue with on-top secondary taskbars causing a hang issue.
  
• Fixes for Directory Opus taskbar docked bars
  
• Added a registry key to make S11 on Win10 using center mode delay before updating : S11_DelayCentreUpdateWin10
  
• value in ms
  
• Registry location for values:
  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Stardock\Start8\Start8.ini\Start8
  
• Removed excess All apps item on Win10 all apps list
  
• Tweaked color of the taskbar when using color on the taskbar and also resolved accent color choice being wrong sometimes on the taskbar.
  
• Fixed Win10 style on vertical taskbars not correctly painting buttons for > 1 window open when in combine mode.
  
• Fixes issue with top aligned taskbar getting misaligned horizontally
  
• Fixes issue with combined mode taskbar buttons not performing correct action on click when having a monitor in negative coordinates and also not working for vertical taskbars on the left
  
• Fix for having a monitor with negative coordinates stopping combine mode window switch popup always showing when clicking on the taskbar.  Note that newer insider versions of Windows no longer support this and will switch between windows on click rather than show the popup.  This may be a bug in insiders and fix itself in the future
  
• Fix for juddering jumplist when on top and using a rounded taskbar.
  
• Fix for win+X menu when using on top and autohide having the submenu misaligned when not reserving one pixel for the taskbar.
  
• Fixed overflow taskbar system tray icons not showing correctly when not using enhanced taskbar but with a top of screen taskbar.
  
• Fix for top taskbar thumbs on insider
  
• Rounded taskbar settings no longer impact taskbar items on vertical taskbars
  
• Fix for thumbs on Windows Insider with autohide left aligned taskbar
  
• Fix for blank taskbar after rebooting or log off \ on
  
• Further login tweaks for vertical taskbars
  
• Fix for >2 monitor taskbar center mode
  
• Clock text on the vertical taskbars is made less small when wider
  
• Fixes some secondary monitor issues with autohide, vertical and screen workspace
  
• Fixes a case of no settings showing in search
  
• Removes - File explorer from taskbar buttons
  
• Resolved issue with clicking on pinned taskbar items in combined mode causing a new instance of the app to launch sometimes
  
• Resolved an issue found when fixing that to do with clicking doing nothing on newer OS builds sometimes if the thumbs window was open.
  
• Resolved thumbs placement issue with beta channel update
  
• Resolved jumplist not showing when taskbar is on top on secondary displays and now with enhanced taskbar off on primary too
  
• Removed hyphen from ‘Task Manager’ in the supported languages.
  

Today we released Start11 v2.5 with new features, a couple of enhancements and bug fixes as well. The update is rolling out now and you can check for an update by opening the configuration panel, clicking About, and searching for the update.

New with version 2.5 is the ability to use a vertical taskbar on Windows 11. The vertical taskbar can be placed on the left or right side of the display and functions just as you remember from previous versions of Windows where this configuration was supported. To enable the new taskbar experience, open the configuration panel, click Taskbar, scroll to the Taskbar position option and select you desired configuration.



Along with the new vertical taskbar support, centered taskbar buttons with a left aligned Start icon is now supported on more than two monitors (previously only two screens were supported). While support for two monitors covered the majority of our users, we wanted to make sure power-users who have many displays can utilize this layout as well.

In addition to the new functionality, several bugs are being squashed with this update. We have improved compatibility with the latest Insider builds of Windows 11 that we expect to be released in the coming months and with this release, Start11 v2 will be ready for those updates.



Vertical taskbars have been highly requested by our community and we are happy to finally check this feature off the backlog. If you have any requests for upcoming features or find any bugs that we missed in our testing, make sure to join our community here.

Start11 v2.11 has been released today.

For a complete changelog, and to provide feedback, please visit:

https://forums.stardock.com/530476/start11-211-release-feedback-thread


As always, thanks for your feedback, time, and support.

Start11 v2 is the best way to not only customize your Windows 10 and 11 desktop, it also makes it easy to manage Start menus at scale across your entire company. And with the release of version 2.1 today, we are bringing ARM support and more to every user.

With native ARM support for Start11 v2, this means that you can use the latest Windows 11 devices, powered by Qualcomm Elite chips, with Start11 v2 to make these new devices a more personalized and productive desktop.

Along with ARM support, there are several other updates in this release including enhanced search for legacy Control Panel items – more legacy Control Panel items will now show up when searching. In addition, there are also updates for how folder paths are stored to be more resilient with deployments and Networx is also supported when enhanced taskbar is turned on.

As with every release, there are also bug fixes as well that help iron out a few edge cases that have been reported. And like all of our products, updates are driven by the feedback from our community; if you have an idea that we should implement or hitting a bug that hasn’t been resolved, make sure to let us know.