Open shell is a helpful solution that replaces some of the problems in the windows UI at least for the start menu.
It’s pretty easy to customize most elements for the style you prefer and no adverts.
In the support article Microsoft explains:
"After provisioning a PC with a Windows 11, version 24H2 monthly cumulative update released on or after July 2025 (KB5062553), various apps such as StartMenuExperiencehost, Search, SystemSettings, Taskbar or Explorer might experience difficulties.
lol
That’s quite a headline they’ve got there!
After provisioning a PC with a Windows 11, version 24H2 monthly cumulative update released on or after July 2025 [KB5062553], various apps such as StartMenuExperiencehost, Search, SystemSettings, Taskbar or Explorer might experience difficulties.
This will occur for the following: First time user logon after a cumulative update was applied. All user logons to a non-persistent OS installation such as a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) or equivalent as application packages must be installed each logon in such scenarios.
If you are wondering, provisioning essentially is the way admins configure devices as they automatically deploy various settings and policies on a client PC. So while the issue is in office PCs, considering a huge number of enterprise PCs are Windows, this is probably a very big problem.
Hey relax, take it easy now, don’t make crazy demands on Microsoft.
They’ve just recently released Windows 11, and I’m sure they will have it completed soon,
and have all core features broken.Microsoft says that it is working on a fix but, for now, has provided a couple of workarounds to deal with the issue. First, Microsoft says that restarting the Shell Infrastructure host (SIHost.exe) service will help restore the missing Immersive Shell packages. This can be done with the following commands:
Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.UI.Xaml.CBS_8wekyb3d8bbwe\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.Core_cw5n1h2txyewy\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentModeSecond, a PowerShell logon script has been shared that essentially blocks Explorer from launching prematurely until the required packages are fully provisioned. The batch script for that is given below:
@echo off REM Register MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode" REM Register Microsoft.UI.Xaml.CBS powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.UI.Xaml.CBS_8wekyb3d8bbwe\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode" REM Register MicrosoftWindows.Client.Core powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.Core_cw5n1h2txyewy\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode"I swear to god, if I hear “Windows just works” one more goddamn time…
But Linux is too difficult, someone might suggest you use the terminal.
And don’t get me started on the people who assume macOS does not have a command line.
“Windows just works”
When did Microsoft steal Apple’s marketing material?
What didn’t Microsoft steal?
Maybe I’ve just been lucky, but for several years and on several different machines I’ve found Linux just works, while Windows is an endless treadmill of frustration and brokenness.
Went from mint to cachyOS and besides some things being different it just works.
Well compated to others it did kind of just work. Plug&play, USB, most simple peripherics didn’t need a driver to be manually installed and configured.
Windows 98 I guess.
Windows 98 SE, maybe. We didn’t gain much traction there until about Win2k or XP.
Windows 98 in its original flavor didn’t even support USB mass storage devices out of the box without drivers. Hands up everyone who remembers having to carry around one of those tiny driver CDs that came in the box with every single Sandisk Cruzer for a couple of years? Yeah? How quickly we forget.
My recollection is that USB on windows was kind of a dumpster fire until XP. Or maybe that was just printers in general.
Hell I remember when USB on PCs was basically a set of pins on the motherboard and you had to buy the actual port assembly separately and hope there was somewhere reasonable on your case to mount it. Was going absolutely nowhere on PC until the iMac came and did away with all other ports and no peripherals built in.
It does, if you are talking about pre 11, and dont care about internet pre 10. But otherwise fuck Microsoft with a rusty shovel, theyve ruined anything good about windows and make it harder and harder not to switch to steamos, the only reason I don’t is because of the pain of reinstalling everything and not having the drive space to shuffle files to it.
My decision to switch to Linux feels better and better every day. Windows 11 sucks.
I wish all the companies using Windows 11 sued Microsoft for releasing a buggy product.
Individuals that were forced to upgrade automatically, too.
It sounds like you can just log out and back in to fix it? For a local system, the article says it only occurs for “First time user logon after a cumulative update was applied.”
‘Party pooper’ ;-)
