Crashing all over the place

[DawnTreader]

Running this on windows 11.

Tried to use the portable button.

Could not create a group either.

[JohnLGalt]

I'm using it in portable mode one Windows 11 (currently 24H2, but 23H2 and previous before that).

You may have an overriding issue. First, see if there is a Taskbar Groups background app running in the system tray and then kill it. Next, see if there is something similar in task manager and also kill it.

Finally, log out and back in and see if it will start up without crashing. If it crashes again, see if your .NET runtimes need updating.

[DawnTreader]

Ok so I redownloaded and then checked the portable mode. That worked this time. Now when I create shortcuts and save it crashes. It is the same message as before.

[JohnLGalt]

Yeah, I think I had a similar problem once - I think either a reboot solved it, or something else. Let me look for the thread I reported it in.

[JohnLGalt]

#55

You have it installed versus using the .ZIP extracted (portable) package?

Try this:

1. Close all instances of TBG (use Task Manager).

2. In Windows Explorer, or using the Run dialog, open %localappdata% and see if there is a folder named Jack Schierbeck

3. If so, rename it

4. Try opening TBG again.

This may solve it - but may not. The link I posted was actually to delete all the other files inside of the portable (extracted) folder, because the TBG executable tries to create other files based upon the current version, but if it finds the files already there, it may get confused and not create the right versions, and thus the DLLs get wonky. I think, anyway. But you said installed, so that should have fixed it, especially if you uninstalled it and then downloaded it again and installed it. That's why I think renaming the Jack folder might help.

If it does work, delete the old folder that you renamed.

[DawnTreader]

Nope. Every time I open TaskbarGroup.exe it recreates the folder. Every time I try to save a change it crashes.

[JohnLGalt]

Let me go back and look, I definitely had that issue. ISTR that Pike put out a private build that fixed it?

BRB

[JohnLGalt]

OK, I know what the issue might be. I suspect you have version 2.2.0. from the releases, but that has been superseded a couple of times with ad-hoc patched versions. I'm actually using that last ad-hoc build, 0.2.2.1:

I used to have the exact post bookmarked, but I must have deleted it. Let me find it.

[JohnLGalt]

Here it is:

#31 (comment)

I just re-downloaded it, extracted it, and compared the hash to the one I have. It is a match.

I realize now that there is no real installation - my recommendation is to close all instances, deleted all existing files wherever you have them, and delete that Jack folder in %localappdata%. Then create a new location to store this new executable and run it form there, after all those program closings and file deletions.

This version will not play nicely with any pre-existing files like:

• Taskbar Groups Background.exe
• Taskbar Groups.exe (though, technically, if you were to extract the zip to the existing folder, it should overwrite it).

And, if you delete the old folder and start with a brand new folder, there should be nothing in that folder when you start, and then copying this ad-hoc build should let you start fresh.

Sorry it took me this long to remember that I'm not running the last listed release. It's been a while since I went through all this myself.

[SequaciousGAMES]

Having the exact same crashing issues on a fresh install using the 0.2.2.1 ad-hoc build.
I cannot toggle portable mode, nor can I save a group without having errors.

[JohnLGalt]

Did you try the one I linked to above?

[SequaciousGAMES]

I did yes, specifically downloaded that version after reading the thread.

[JohnLGalt]

Hmm. OK, the only times I got crashes were when I was using it and the versions conflicted (as in the originally used version 0.2.2.0 was still running in the background when I tried to run the linked 0.2.2.1, or vice versa). It does run at least one thread in the background in order to be able to works as it is supposed to, so check to see if there is a thread running in Task Manager (or a TM alt software of choice) and kill that.

If that still doesn't work, then take a loot at "%LocalAppData%\Jack Schierbeck" and see if there is a folder there named taskbar-groups - if there is, delete it (clean install, so it will recreate what it needs).

If that still causes an issue, then in an earlier post I also linked to another post that had some troubleshooting on a similar issue:

#64 (comment)

If you first downloaded the stable 0.2.2.0 build and then extracted the executable from the 0.2.2.1 build that I linked to, delete everything in that folder, then extract only the 0.2.2.1 into the folder - on first run it should recreate the necessary files there that it will need for runtime.

[iandiv]

Just wanna share my new project AppGroup.. feel free to check it out https://github.com/iandiv/AppGroup

[RomanBAH]

#64 (comment)
Bro this is awesome! tnx!

[dieg467]

Hi, while you're working on this, you can check out my Stacky-based menu app, which might be helpful. Visit https://github.com/dieg467/Stacky-Plus