If i use Start11v2 Solo everything works! But all the Skins there seems just to run on a Windows with 2021. There are no Updates from the content creater to Windows 11 24H2!

WB skins do not need updating for Windows updates.  A skin from 2021 should work just fine.

Even a decade old skin should work.

Please provide the requested information I mentioned above. So we can help to identify your issue and perhaps suggest steps to resolved it. 

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

I am sorry but I think you will experience issues with your plan.

Combining all those tools is going to cause you problems because there is liable to be overlap in the features or in how they work.

WindowBlinds is designed to work on an unmodified version of Windows and is a full OS skinning solution.  You can't just turn certain bits on and off.

WindowBlinds should work just fine with Start11 and we don't have reports of issues with them but throwing in tools which rely on OS debug symbols (windhawk for example) is liable to cause problems simply due to how those tools work.

Did you try the taskbar textures without these extra tools running?

WB can skin the taskbar and Start11 has an option to add a texture to the background if you didn't want a WB skin.  Likewise WB can apply a texture to an existing skin if you want to add extra texture rather than editing a skin in SkinStudio using the modify skin option.

SKS and the WB UI both allow the importing of PNG files so they can be saved in the correct TGA format.  Some tools are unable to write suitable TGA files which is why it is far easier to just use the import options for a PNG and let us convert it.  Why does WB use TGA rather than PNG?  Because PNG files are slower to load and it would have added significant overhead to WB especially in the past when WB loaded the skins in each process.

It would be easier if you explained things with pictures and it is very important that you tell us about other utilities in use.

I am also a little confused as to what Start11 is providing you in all this given your other tools in use?

The only 2 programs you will find that do NOT create issues for each other are Stardock's Windowblinds and Start 11.  Anything else used will conflict negatively to one degree or another.

Potentially Stardock's software can be adjusted so as not to totally brick a system that has competitors' programs interfering with the functioning,  but that's not carte blanche to use those other software [such as StartAllBack] at the same time as Stardock's options.

Running conflicting software WILL 'conflict' by definition.

Stardock's software naturally does not conflict with its fellow software.

Using Windowblinds along with Start 11 will give reliable results.

Just to clarify: You were referring to WindowBlinds, which does not include an option to disable skinning for the Start menu or taskbar. So even if you turn off the taskbar enhancement feature in Start11, WindowBlinds will still apply its skin to the taskbar and taskbar buttons. Unfortunately, WindowBlinds does not allow selective skinning—you can't choose which elements to skin or exclude. It's an all-or-nothing approach.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Hello Basj,

Thank you for your previous reply. I would like to clarify two points, as there seems to be a discrepancy between Stardock’s documentation and my experience.

First, regarding WindowBlinds and Start11: Stardock states that “Start menu skinning requires Start11.” I understand this in two ways:

• Interpretation A: With Start11, it should be possible to disable WindowBlinds’ effects on the Taskbar and Start Menu, allowing selective skinning.

• Interpretation B: Without Start11, WindowBlinds cannot skin the Taskbar and Start Menu at all, meaning these elements would simply not be affected.

From my experience, neither interpretation seems to be fully supported: even with Start11, WindowBlinds still forces skinning on these elements. Could you please confirm whether selective control over the Taskbar and Start Menu is technically possible?

Second, regarding Curtains: Is it possible to use Curtains for Windows 11 only for window frames, including transparency effects, without affecting the Taskbar or Start Menu, and without additional tools? I want to ensure that I can style the windows independently without unintended interference.

Thank you very much for your clarification.

Neither interpretation is correct.

On a stock unmodified Windows 11, WB will skin the taskbar background but not the start menu as there is no Windows 7 style start menu for it to skin.  Technically WB may set the OS accent colour which might impact the colour of the menu depending on OS settings, but thats all.

With Start11 installed as well, WB will skin the taskbar buttons in addition to the background when enhanced taskbar is enabled, otherwise just the background and will skin the Win7/Modern style menus Start11 provides and optionally the Win10/win11 styles Start11 provides IF the skin includes support which is a minority of skins.

Should you have WB running, Start11 will defer to WB for the skinning of those elements by default though the menu style for Win7/Modern can be overridden from Start11 settings under configuration on the Start Menu page.

Now should you use a tool which causes the OS to ask for taskbar theme elements, WB will provide them, but they would need to use them like Win10 did.  The same is true of start menu elements where the Win7 menu elements exist ready for something to use them, but the caller would need to be call compatible with Windows 7 and often third party implementations are not (unlike Start11)

With regards to Curtains.  That does not work on Windows 11.  It is for Windows 10 only.  On Windows 10 it does have the option to not apply skins to the taskbar and likewise Start11 skins so would have been a better match for you but due to OS changes this does not work on Windows 11 unlike WB.

Unfortunately your requirement can not be meet by Windowblinds/Start11. As explained before. You can not pick and choose which part Windowblinds get to skin and which part not.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant