Menu does not show up

[CoolHandDevil505]

Hi,

I’m using W11, the icon in the taskbar is present, but right clicking on desktop brings the default win menu…
Shift + right click does not close CustomMenu.

Maybe a software incompatibility? How to tell?

Thank you.

[BazzaCuda]

Hi, that's very odd.
Which build of Windows11 are you running, please? (System Settings / System / About / Windows specifications / OS build)
Are you up to date with Win11 updates?

I have CustomMenu running in a Win11 VM (downloaded from Microsoft), build 22621.1702, so it should work in any later build.

[CoolHandDevil505]

Hi,

Windows 11 22H2 build 22621.2215, up to date.

I guess it is something related to my system… I may try to uninstall conflicting software, but I don't know where to start…
Do you know a way to diagnose the problem?

[BazzaCuda]

I'm a bit stuck at the moment trying to second-guess what could be different about your Win11.
I've released a small tweak to the software (v1.0.4) to simplify how it determines if a Ctrl key is down when you right-click the desktop. If it thought (either rightly or wrongly) that a Ctrl key was down, it definitely wouldn't do anything, and would therefore exhibit the behavior that you describe.
Having said that, I can't replicate your problem on my own Win11 VM; it works fine.

In the release I've asked others to report if they have the same issue as you do. But until we have more info, it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Do you have other Windows computers you can run CustomMenu on to see if you can spot any possible variations between those and your Win11 machine?

Edit: p.s. I've just updated my VM to the exact same build as yours; still no problems.

[CoolHandDevil505]

More or less, it is the same software on both, yes… It is my old prod machine, so it is pretty much the same. I did not use any migration software, it is a brand new w11 on my new pc, but I must have some kind of troublemaker for CustomMenu. I'm so sorry, I wish I could be more helpful…

[BazzaCuda]

More numbers.
CustomMenu.zip

If you run this you should get a "Mouse Test" message in the debug window.
Make a note of the hDesktop number.
Then left-click and right-click on the desktop several times.
Every time you click on the desktop with either mouse button, a debug message will tell you the window number that received the mouse click.
This should correspond to the hDesktop number that it first reported.

[CoolHandDevil505]

mouseWnd (65772) does not match hDesktop (65776) when left or right clicking on desktop.

[BazzaCuda]

Well, that's the issue then. The question is, why don't they match?
Why isn't Windows reporting the correct window handle?

Can you send me a screenshot of the first lot of debug messages that it reported please, starting with "Mouse Test".

[BazzaCuda]

Last attempt for today.
CustomMenu.zip

At least I now know what the problem is.
If this version doesn't fix it, I have some more ideas we can try tomorrow.
I'm determined to get to the bottom of this for you.

[CoolHandDevil505]

Well, that's the issue then. The question is, why don't they match? Why isn't Windows reporting the correct window handle?

Can you send me a screenshot of the first lot of debug messages that it reported please, starting with "Mouse Test".

[CoolHandDevil505]

Last attempt for today. CustomMenu.zip

At least I now know what the problem is. If this version doesn't fix it, I have some more ideas we can try tomorrow. I'm determined to get to the bottom of this for you.

[BazzaCuda]

Good morning!
Today is the day, I reckon :D

Ok. Two steps. On your Windows11 machine.

Step One.
Fire-up a new instance of CustomMenu, click the desktop a few times and then send me a screenshot of the first few messages from the debug window.

Step two.
Run this program:
WinDowse.zip
This will tell us the actual numbers Windows should be reporting to us.

Go to the Options tab.

Check that a) Integer Format is set to Decimal, and b) the start/stop hotkey is set to CAPSLOCK. You can change this to any key you prefer, but allow for that change when reading the following instructions.

Go to the Window tab

Notice the "Dowse" button. When you press the CAPSLOCK key, this will change to "Stop". Press CAPSLOCK again and this will revert to "Dowse"

1. Press the CAPSLOCK key so that the button says "Stop".
2. Move your mouse so that the pointer is over a completely empty part of your desktop and leave it there.
3. The "Text" box should change to something like "FolderView".
4. Leave the mouse where it is and press CAPSLOCK again so that the button says "Dowse".
5. Click the "Save" button and save all the Windowse info to a text file (e.g. on your desktop).
6. Drag and drop the text file into a reply to me here.

Please don't reboot at any time or you'll have to do this all again as all the numbers will change.
Also, I might send you a special version of CustomMenu which is set to only use your numbers.

Thanks in advance.

[CoolHandDevil505]

Step one

Step two
WinDowse.txt

[BazzaCuda]

Try this one.
CustomMenu.zip

[CoolHandDevil505]

It is working! How did you do it?

[BazzaCuda]

YAY!!!

Under certain circumstances, Windows creates completely different invisible windows for the desktop than it normally does.
One of those circumstances, for example, is if people set Windows to periodically change the desktop wallpaper.
I'm sure, like in your case, there must be others.

When that happens, Windows creates invisible "WorkerW" windows - you can see them in the text file you sent me.
That's ok, but Windows also changes which window gets all the mouse movement/click messages. Thanks, Microsoft! :P
For years (since Windows95 ?), it's been the desktop window that you can see which gets the mouse messages; a window called "FolderView".
Under these other circumstances, it's a window called SHELLDLL_DefView which is the invisible parent of your desktop but is now owned by one(!) of the WorkerW windows.
Utterly ridiculous!

I've simply changed CustomMenu so that when it detects mouse messages it knows that if they're being created for either the actual desktop window or for this other DefView window, to treat them as being desktop mouse messages.

Thank you very much for your help and for your patience. I couldn't have done this without you as neither my Windows10 nor my Windows 11 VM create those "WorkerW" windows. I knew nothing about them until yesterday.

I will create an official release which fixes the problem but doesn't have all the debug messages in it.
If you shutdown BazDebugWindow.exe and delete the BazDebugWindow.exe file, or if you rename it to something invalid like BazDebugWindow.ex_, the messages that CustomMenu is currently sending won't go anywhere and it will just operate as normal, although possibly a little slower.

If you have any other issues, please let me know immediately. I'm not 100% sure yet whether my fix currently works in all circumstances where those WorkerW windows are concerned. I will have to investigate them further.

Did you also try it out on your Windows10 machine?

Kind regards,
Baz.

[CoolHandDevil505]

Yes I did try on W10, and it works too. And yes on both of them, I have random wallpapers 😏
So it wasn't me 😁
I was happy to help, and will be in the future…
That was one nasty behavior to find as I understand, but debugging is always fun, hey?
Cheers.