Explorer context menu BC Icon missing

[iconizer]

I registered with the Forum in order to be able to download the reg files for fixing installation problems related to windows explorer context menus. But in contrast to other members that complained about lacking shell integration mine has been working in all user accounts – admin as well as standard. What I am missing are the BC icons in the explorer context menus of my two standard user accounts. The icons are present in the Admin account and in all of my accounts in Safe Mode.

I had hoped that the reg file offered by http://www.scootersoftware.com/vbulletin/member.php?u=3 would bring me back the BC explorer icons in all of my user accounts but this has not happened.

I should mention that I uninstalled BC and re-installed it using version 3.3.8.16340 as downloaded from your site. I also unsuccesfully tried to export the Admin's BC settings and to import them in the standard accounts. What else can I do?


@moderators
I submitted the same post in http://www.scootersoftware.com/vbull...ead.php?t=3634 some twelve hours ago. It has obviously been blocked there, so I assume that the thread has been closed or my posting was considered misplaced there. So if you accept this new thread here you should be sure to stop the posting (3 attempts) there in case it is still in the pipeline.

[Aaron]

Hello,

Your first forum post requires a manual moderation/approval before it becomes visible to the public. We had to implement this hoop to help prevent forum spam.

Please email us at [email protected] and I can email you a full Remove/Add reg patch. In the email, please include a link back to this forum thread for our reference, and which Windows version you are running, and if it is 64bit. I assume your signature indicates Win7 64bit?

[iconizer]

Explorer context menu BC Icon missing

Am i supposed to carry on this thread by a new posting? I have thought you would react on my E-Mail by making this thread visible to the public and incorporating any thoughts from our E-Mail correspondence you deem appropriate here in a new posting?

How shall we proceed? What can i do now?

[Zoë]

I haven't seen the support emails myself, but my first hunch is that it's some sort of interaction with "Ivo Beltchev's Classic Shell" that you mention in your signature. Can you try disabling that?

[Aaron]

Hello,

I found the email thread and it looks like it was sent to an alternate account of yours. We can continue here or via email, whichever is preferable for you.

The next troubleshooting step would be to try Craig's test and disabling the Classic Shell.

After that, we would need to try and disable other applications and extensions until we can find the one that is conflicting with the context menu. Once found, we should then be able to try and troubleshoot why it is occurring.

Another test would be to try ShellExView, and disabling all other non-default shell extensions besides Beyond Compare, to see if one of them is conflicting with ours. If disabling them all causes BC3's to then show up after a reboot, we can then enable them back a few at a time until we find the conflict.

[iconizer]

Explorer context menu BC Icon missing

Thank you both, Craig and Aaron.

Before i dabble in ShellExView I would like to cite here the essence of my last E-Mail, relate it to your postings and state my preference for pursuing the matter here in this thread rather than via E-Mail.

After applying your regfiles I still cannot see the BC icons in the Windows Explorer context menus for files and folders when logged on as one of my standard users. As already stated in my first forum contribution I do see the icons in my Administrator account. In Safe Mode I see them in all accounts! This has not changed.

The normal behaviour in Safe Mode led me to try the diagnostic startup. I thought that autorun programs like WinPatrol or SuRun might interfere with BC leading to a suppression of the BC icons in Win7 explorer context menus. The result remained the same: no icons for standard user accounts.

I do not believe that MSE or the Win7 firewall would need an exception for BC?

What else could I try?

I would think that Craig's proposal (disabling Classic Shell) remained unsuccessful after the diagnostic startup mentioned above. Or does "disabling Classic Shell" imply the deinstallation of this software? It should not, because the BC explorer context menu icons are present in my administrator account in spite of Classic Shell running there.

[Aaron]

Hello,

I attempted to setup Classic Shell, but it didn't seem to auto-start. With the configuration I was using, I wasn't able to reproduce your issue, so Classic Shell might not be the issue. "Disabling" implied preventing an auto-start, and giving your system a closer to default state. One of your current customizations is probably causing a conflict with BC3's menu (as a Standard user), but it is difficult to figure out which one. The recommended workflow would be to disable as much as you can to see if that gets the shell extension working, and then (assuming it then works), re-enable each item until we can find the conflict.

And to confirm, you did run the "Add.reg" patch to manually add the shell extension, then restart, correct?

[iconizer]

Explorer context menu BC Icon missing

Hello,

here is how i went about applying your regfiles (unsuccessfully):

1. Uninstalled BC 3.3.8
2. applied "Remove CirrusShellEx.reg" as sent to me by your E-Mail
3. rebooted
4. installed BC 3.3.8 in admin account
5. rebooted
6. applied Add CirrusShellEx (64-bit).reg as sent to me by your E-Mail

I also tried to elevate my standard user account to an administrator account – to no avail.

As concerns your customization issue: I had already tried before to export the (properly working) administrator settings and import them in the standard user account – again without success.
I must add here that I was completely at a loss as to whether the exported settings would replace the existing standard user settings or whether they would be added or merged somehow.

If there is a "restore default settings" function or if the export – import functions enable the exact restoration of my present settings, please tell me, so I could play about with the settings without worries.

If the export – import thing was inappropriate, and there was no "restore default settings" function so that i had to change settings manually one by one, which of the umpteen checkboxes would be relevant at all and where should I start? Would it be expedient to start with the first two menu items ("Start" and "Allgemein") in the below screenshot?

[Zoë]

Sorry, I should have stepped in earlier on this one: No amount of fiddling with BC's registry settings will affect this. They only control whether the shell extension is loaded and which file types it's associated with. The issue must either be some weird permissions problem with your install directory or, more likely, an incompatibility with another application or extension that you have installed.

You should try Aaron's previous suggestion: download ShellExView and start disabling things until it works. At the very least, try running it under both accounts to see if something is being loaded in one and not the other.

[iconizer]

Explorer context menu BC Icon missing

Hello Craig,

I have tried the past few days to get familiarized with SchellExView but I am still unsure as to the correct use.

I downloaded http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview-x64.zip, which contains two exe files: shexview.exe and shexview-x64.exe. Which one do I have to use under what circumstances? They yield different results (I assume that is normal?):

http://www.scootersoftware.com/vbull...1&d=1391737082

As a first try I used shexview.exe in both my administrator and my main standard user account. The results differed in one item only, which was additional in the user account but had already been disabled long ago. So I see no preference as to items to be disabled first.

Reflecting on your guess as to the most probable cause for my icon problem (permission prob and incompatibility with other apps or extensions) I tend to favour the latter and could even think of a third category of causes i.e. tweaking progs, which I used rather carelessly way back in time and which may have left a lot of harmful traces. The user account is far more affected by this than the administrator account where I have been more vigilant. The progs in question are:

• Registry System Wizard
• X-Setup Pro
• RegSeeker
• TweakMe
• SafeXP

It would be difficult to roll back all of the customizations effected by them (some of them that I could easily remember I did undo already e.g. RegSeeker's "Copy to ..." and "Move to ..."). Now I would first try to pursue Aaron's suggestion, which you supported too. I am waiting for your advice as to whether proceeding with shexview.exe or shexview-x64.exe and which items to disable first.

[Aaron]

Hello,

The ShellExView program itself can do more than view the installed extensions, it can temporarily disable the shell extensions. Instead of fully uninstalling programs, you can just use ShellExView to disable everything (except core Windows functions) and Beyond Compare. Then Reboot. Hopefully, with just the core Windows functions and Beyond Compare enabled, the BC3 shell extension will then appear and work. You can then go through and re-enable your shell extensions, a few at a time, to determine which is colliding with BC3.

[iconizer]

Explorer context menu BC Icon missing

Hello,

I have been aware of the described procedure and will gladly follow your proposed path disregarding another method outlined on Ramesh's site i.e.
"to bisect the list of context menu handlers into two groups, disabling half of the entries at a stretch, rebooting and testing the behavior again".

In order to finally get started now I will apply shexview.exe although I would have pursued this with more confidence if you had commented on the text in bold letters in my last posting concerning the different application cases of shexview.exe and shexview-x64.exe. Your comment on this matter in another posting would be highly welcome. It would still be useful even if I had succesfully applied shexview.exe in the meantime.

[Zoë]

Use the shexview-64. That will control which extensions are loaded in 64-bit processes like Explorer.

[iconizer]

Explorer context menu BC Icon missing

Hello,

out of my 238 ShellExView Items I selected and disabled 38 comprising all non-MS items except CirrusShellEx plus those MS items that have "N / A" as "File Created Time". There was no changed behaviour of the BC context menu item as compared to what I have already reported.



Since I do not know which items are "core Windows functions" as Aaron put it and since there is a warning popping up every time I try to disable MS items, I would like to ask for further advice as to which items to disable safely.



As a newbie I imagine that it might be possible to choose a sort key which would put me in a position to disable a major contiguous block of MS items (perhaps all of the type "context menu"?) without endangering the boot process.

For my further efforts I will use shellex-x64.exe. Thank you Craig.

[Aaron]

Before we start disabling any shell extensions with warnings, did you reboot after disabling the 38 extensions?

And you will want to try both shellex and 64bit at the same time (to disable all non-MS) that you can.