Windows 11 can suck a bag of...ducks...help!

[Carpet_pissr]

Short rant, then a request for help: I absolutely despise Windows 11. I "upgraded" for some reason, from 10, trying to get in on the free upgrade before it sunsetted, but I do regret that decision mightily. I've never had such a crashy, sluggish OS on my desktop before, and due to some recent tinkering with OneDrive (I THINK, not sure that was the problem), I have really cocked things up.

One of the more recent things is that my taskbar is completely broken, showing the wrong time, not letting me click on it, etc. Before all this happened, I noticed weird things on my desktop icons...corruption maybe?

Then I tried to do a system restore, and that actually made things worse.

Does this solution to the taskbar (which is my biggest current problem) seem legit or recommended for anyone that knows?

https://www.makeuseof.com/windows-11-ta ... g-loading/

I really hate to reinstall (it's been so long since I've had to do this that I have no clue how to even proceed at this point), but will if that is the best path forward.

It also looks like windows files were dumped into my Onedrive folder - documents, games, etc. Stuff that was definitely not there before.

I also can't drap anything onto my desktop anymore (like to create shortcuts). It almost feels like there is a shell on top of the REAL desktop and taskbar, and I am just seeing/using a veneer, if that makes any damn sense.

HALP!!!

Is there maybe some kind of reset option that might be less...aggressive that I could try first? I am not seeing ANY restore points now (after I did it recently, which I think may have caused these problems).

Any input/pointing in right direction, obviously appreciated.

[gilraen]

I'm not familiar with the issue you are describing (I have Win 11 but my computer came with it, I didn't upgrade). Still, just from looking at the article, I would probably start with step 1 - then 2 - then 6, if the other two didn't work.

If you literally just upgraded to Win 11, you wouldn't have any Windows updates to uninstall (if anything, you're probably missing a bunch of them).

Enabling XAML seems like overkill. Same with looking for conflicting services.

The stuff you are seeing on desktop icons is probably an indicator that the source has been backed up to OneDrive (yes, Win 11 wants to dump EVERYTHING into OneDrive, it drives me crazy).

[Anonymous Bosch]

Short rant, then a request for help: I absolutely despise Windows 11. I "upgraded" for some reason, from 10, trying to get in on the free upgrade before it sunsetted, but I do regret that decision mightily. I've never had such a crashy, sluggish OS on my desktop before, and due to some recent tinkering with OneDrive (I THINK, not sure that was the problem), I have really cocked things up.

One of the more recent things is that my taskbar is completely broken, showing the wrong time, not letting me click on it, etc. Before all this happened, I noticed weird things on my desktop icons...corruption maybe?

Then I tried to do a system restore, and that actually made things worse.

Does this solution to the taskbar (which is my biggest current problem) seem legit or recommended for anyone that knows?

https://www.makeuseof.com/windows-11-ta ... g-loading/

I really hate to reinstall (it's been so long since I've had to do this that I have no clue how to even proceed at this point), but will if that is the best path forward.

It also looks like windows files were dumped into my Onedrive folder - documents, games, etc. Stuff that was definitely not there before.

I also can't drap anything onto my desktop anymore (like to create shortcuts). It almost feels like there is a shell on top of the REAL desktop and taskbar, and I am just seeing/using a veneer, if that makes any damn sense.

HALP!!!

Is there maybe some kind of reset option that might be less...aggressive that I could try first? I am not seeing ANY restore points now (after I did it recently, which I think may have caused these problems).

Any input/pointing in right direction, obviously appreciated.

I'd suggest you do a repair install of Windows by performing an in-place upgrade. Because this will reinstall your OS without losing anything. The following ElevenForum.com tutorial walks you through the process:

Repair Install Windows 11 with an In-place Upgrade

Assuming all goes well after reinstalling, I would also highly recommend using Chris Titus Tech's Windows Utility to adjust your Windows Update settings to install security updates-only and delay feature updates, i.e. the 'Security (Recommended) Settings' found within the Updates section, as shown here:

[Carpet_pissr]

Thanks guys, will try.

I usually only ask here if I can’t find joy by Googling. I didn’t see anyone experiencing the same weirdness wrt the desktop that I’m seeing.

Does Win 11 consider the desktop folder under OneDrive to be THE desktop (as in, the icons I see on..the desktop). It just seems there is now (and has been for a while after upgrading) more than one ‘desktop’ folder when I’m looking through Windows Explorer.

At this point I would pay pretty decent money if I could genie blink back to Windows 10.

[gilraen]

Does Win 11 consider the desktop folder under OneDrive to be THE desktop (as in, the icons I see on..the desktop). It just seems there is now (and has been for a while after upgrading) more than one ‘desktop’ folder when I’m looking through Windows Explorer.

Yeah, it combines Desktop from OneDrive with local Desktop. I have half my icons in one and half in the other, and they all show up on the actual desktop seamlessly (so you can't tell just by looking at it which icon lives in which folder).

[Punisher]

I used to prank people at work by screenshoting their desktop, hiding everything on it, then using the SS as a wallpaper that looked exactly like their old desktop.
This sounds like what you are describing. I'm wonderif their is a virus or something that does something similar.

Something else to try though.
Open task manager then look for explorer then end it.
Then once its done, use thr run option in task manager and type explorer.exe.
Th8s has fixed wonky icons and such for me in older versions of windows so ot might help with 11.

[malchior]

So there is a NASTY BUG in Windows 11 2023 H2. Just got off the phone with Microsoft support. Out of nowhere it threw a "Hardware has changed" activation error. Weird. No hardware changes since I changed the CPU earlier this year.

I tried to re-activate and it was immediately failing so I sensed something was broken. I got in touch with them and they told me there is an issue due with Windows 10 licenses that were upgraded for free to Windows 11. Sometimes the activation check breaks. Their "fix"? I need to "downgrade" to Windows 10 (meaning a Clean install!), reactivate and re-"upgrade" to Windows 11. Sure. Great. Just what I needed to spend time on. I asked can this happen again and the answer was yes. I think I'll stick with 10 for the time being.

[Kraken]

Win 10 works fine. We don't want or need 11. 'Course, I'd roll back to 7 if I could.

[Blackhawk]

7? I still think Windows peaked with XP.

I'd be so much happier if they would go back to the Windows XP design philosophy, before they decided to start treating Windows as a storefront and a tracking tool, before they tried to force you to give them complete control, and before Windows became a 'service.' Before they decided that every PC belonged to Microsoft, to do with as they choose.

And no, typical internet responders, I don't want to switch to Linux.

[Carpet_pissr]

So there is a NASTY BUG in Windows 11 2023 H2. Just got off the phone with Microsoft support. Out of nowhere it threw a "Hardware has changed" activation error. Weird. No hardware changes since I changed the CPU earlier this year.

I tried to re-activate and it was immediately failing so I sensed something was broken. I got in touch with them and they told me there is an issue due with Windows 10 licenses that were upgraded for free to Windows 11. Sometimes the activation check breaks. Their "fix"? I need to "downgrade" to Windows 10 (meaning a Clean install!), reactivate and re-"upgrade" to Windows 11. Sure. Great. Just what I needed to spend time on. I asked can this happen again and the answer was yes. I think I'll stick with 10 for the time being.

LOL, if I end up doing a clean install (looking more and more likely), I will sure as shit not being going back to 11 until I am forced to.

Do you have an existing license for 10? I would do this in a heartbeat, but not sure if I can anymore (no idea where my Win 10 license came from, nor how to find it, etc) I'm very sure I never bought it...probably was an in-place upgrade, or maybe a free upgrade from 7?

And yeah, XP was an amazing OS IMO. I bitched initially about 7, but it eventually became an amazing OS as well (from a "above casual" user perspective). I liked 10 less than 7, but it never really gave me any problems, very unlike the accursed 11.

[malchior]

Oh it gets worse. I clean installed back to 10 and the license won't apply. Why? The people I'm talking to today say because it was upgraded to a Windows 11 license. So...why was I told to reinstall Windows 10. *Crickets*. Cool! They are telling me that I need to upgrade back into 11 and then apply the license.

My solution? I said fuck that and bought a sketchy product key (8 euros. Yeah euros!). It activated. Good enough. I don't think I'll be trusting their digital purchases on OS licenses in the future.

[Carpet_pissr]

Oh it gets worse. I clean installed back to 10 and the license won't apply. Why? The people I'm talking to today say because it was upgraded to a Windows 11 license. So...why was I told to reinstall Windows 10. *Crickets*. Cool! They are telling me that I need to upgrade back into 11 and then apply the license.

My solution? I said fuck that and bought a sketchy product key (8 euros. Yeah euros!). It activated. Good enough. I don't think I'll be trusting their digital purchases on OS licenses in the future.

Glad you reported back w/that - that is horrible.

I will do the same, just buy a Win 10 key from somewhere (I assume a place like Eneba has thousands for cheap) and move on. I would attempt to fix the current 11 problems, but I also hate how much slower it is in general than 10 was.

[Carpet_pissr]

Found this:

To downgrade to Windows 10 after 10 days, download the Windows 10 media creation tool from this Microsoft website. After the download is complete, click on it and follow the on-screen steps. On a standard PC, this should approximately take 1 hour 30 minutes.

However, just some important points to note:

1. This method will cost you a factory reset. To prevent that, back-up your important files in a storage space such as OneDrive or Dropbox.

2. Your PC manufacturers' pre-installed applications won't be available via this method. Though some manufacturers such as HP provide an option to restore those pre-installed applications.

3. There is a high chance you will again be automatically upgraded to Windows 11 via the Windows Update after you downgrade to Windows 10 through the media creation tool. To prevent that, disable automatic updates by Windows Update.

My question is, if I try to use my current WIndows 11 license key (which was converted from a Win 10 license), will it convert it automatically to 11 (even if I installed 10?) I suspect that my current key = "Windows 11" in MS's eyes, as it were, even if it was originally Win 10. Or does it not work like that?

Edit: more reading on Tom's indicates that there is no real downside to simply not activating your license, so I won't even go through the risk of buying one online. Download from MS and just not activate it.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ge ... ,5717.html

[malchior]

Yeah the downsides are minor. Not worth $139 at the least. Heck I bought a micro PC a couple of months ago for $169 and it came with Pro which costs more on its own than the device itself. Microsoft has sort of build out an opaque American health care like system where they have a published price that absolutely no one pays.