Flashy Windows 7 bits protected by elaborate scheme, workaround

committed to database on November 2, 2008 at 6:24 pm Eastern Standard Time digg this

During PDC ‘08, I was passed a note indicating that I should dig deeper into the bits to discover the snazzy new Taskbar. Upon cursory analysis, I found no evidence of such and dismissed the idea as completely bogus.

I got home and starting doing some research on a potentially new feature called Aero Shake when I stumbled upon an elaborate set of checks tied to various shell-related components, including the new Taskbar.

Update: Although a newer-looking Taskbar is present, it’s not exactly what you saw at PDC ‘08. For example, the Quicklaunch toolbar still exists, Aero Peek doesn’t work properly, and Jumplists are stale. This is likely why it wasn’t enabled, out of the box, so set your expectations accordingly.

To use these, what I call “protected features”, you must meet the following criteria:

  1. Must be a member of an allowed domain
    • wingroup.windeploy.ntdev.microsoft.com
    • ntdev.corp.microsoft.com
    • redmond.corp.microsoft.com
  2. Must not be an employee with a disallowed username prefix
    • a- (temporary employees)
    • v- (contractors/vendors)

 

Protected Feature Flowchart (click for full)

As checking against this criteria is potentially expensive, in terms of CPU cycles, the result of the check is cached for the duration of Explorer’s lifetime (per protected feature). The cached value is stored within a variable, space of which is allocated in the image’s initialized data section (.data).

Explorer does not initialize these variables at start and checks for a cached result for before performing any checks. I exploited this behavior by setting the initialized value in the image itself to 1 vice 0 to bypass all twelve checks.

Why not use a hook to intercept GetComputerNameExW / GetUserNameW?

I thought about building a hook to inject into the Explorer process upon start, but I grew concerned that legitimate code in Explorer that uses those functions to perform various legitimate tasks would malfunction. And I was lazy.

Can I has too? Plz?

Update: Blue Badge replaces this legacy patch.

Simply download a copy of a tool I whipped up for either x86 or x64 (, drop it into your Windows\ directory and execute the following commands as an Administrator in a command prompt window:

  • takeown /f %windir%\explorer.exe
  • cacls %windir%\explorer.exe /E /G %username%:F (enclose the username in quotes if username contains spaces)
  • taskkill /im explorer.exe /f
  • cd %windir%
  • start unlockProtectedFeatures.exe

After changing the protected feature lock state, you can re-launch the shell by clicking the Launch button.


Screenshot of PDC ‘08 build with new Taskbar

Why did Microsoft do this?

I’m not sure why these features went into the main (winmain) builds wrapped with such protection. What are your thoughts?

  1. Bryant November 2, 2008 at 6:41 pm

    They were probably wrapped in there so that the team wouldn’t have to compile two separate builds (which simplifies lots of things).

    Builds are no longer branched.

  2. Superbar ENABLED In Windows 7 Build 6801 at Chris123NT’s Blog November 2, 2008 at 6:41 pm

    [...] easy.  Anyway to read the full set of instructions, head over to Raf’s blog. View: Rafael’s Blog Post  Print This Post « Superbar in [...]

  3. skierjosh November 2, 2008 at 6:42 pm

    Thanks for posting this, but I ran into some issues. The last step isn’t working for me, it’s saying explorer.exe is not a valid win32 application and I can’t get explorer back up. There was an error running the unlock application.

  4. skierjosh November 2, 2008 at 6:50 pm

    Ignore that last comment, I got it working :)

  5. Kevin November 2, 2008 at 6:51 pm

    How’d you get it fixed? I’m having the same problem.

  6. xxdesmus November 2, 2008 at 6:54 pm

    Too buggy/slow for general consumption yet? Great work :)

  7. Dan November 2, 2008 at 7:03 pm

    How how the application texts are showing up on my taskbar when using this? Can’t seem to hide them like from the screenshots :\

  8. Sebastian. November 2, 2008 at 7:03 pm

    I get the following error whenever I try to enable “unlockProtectedFeatures.exe”:
    “Program too big to fit in memory”

    I’m running 7 on a virtual machine with 1GB virtual ram.

  9. skierjosh November 2, 2008 at 7:06 pm

    If you get the .net error, make sure your in the c:\Windows directory, not the system32 directory when executing the commands.

  10. Dan November 2, 2008 at 7:08 pm

    Nm, got it. Had to change option to “Always group”.

  11. James November 2, 2008 at 7:11 pm

    Hey, can anyone get peek to work?
    Thanks

  12. Kevin November 2, 2008 at 7:12 pm

    Everything is fixed. Make sure your first command is “cd /Windows/”

  13. James November 2, 2008 at 7:13 pm

    Can anyone get peek to work?
    Thanks

  14. James November 2, 2008 at 7:14 pm

    Whoops, double post

  15. Stephan van Stekelenburg November 2, 2008 at 7:15 pm

    Hey this is great! Thanks!

  16. xxdesmus November 2, 2008 at 7:22 pm

    @Dan to group the items and to get rid of the text:

    1. right click on the taskbar –>properties
    2. taskbar grouping: always
    3. use small icons: yes or no depending on your preference

  17. xxdesmus November 2, 2008 at 7:24 pm

    just an FYI (in case it’s helpful). for this step “start unlockProtectedFeatures.exe ” I had to do a “cd ..” to get up 1 directory (into the Windows dir).

  18. Garrett November 2, 2008 at 7:31 pm

    Works great !!!

    thanks dude

  19. {4486F58E-79D2-47a0-82F0-FD59025981F3} November 2, 2008 at 7:36 pm

    Maybe I’m missing something, but isn’t it easier to just set the registry keys Explorer checks right after it fails the machine name check?

  20. Rafael November 2, 2008 at 7:50 pm

    After the machine name/username checks fail, Explorer falls back to standard behavior immediately. I’m not seeing this “check” you’re referring to. Maybe you’re on a newer build?

  21. Panda X November 2, 2008 at 7:53 pm

    What Bryant said makes sense.

    Or maybe they were offering a job to the first person who cracked it. lol.

    Thanks for this Rafael. :)

  22. Enable The SuperBar in Windows 7 Pre-Beta! - Robert McLaws: Windows Vista Edition November 2, 2008 at 8:05 pm

    [...] a cached result. Raph figured out how to cache the result, and whamo! SuperBar goodness for all. Hit this link for a semi-technical explanation, and the [...]

  23. Josh November 2, 2008 at 8:39 pm

    Wow sweet, Thanks :)

  24. Enable the Awesome Bar in Windows 7 M3 - SuperSite Blog November 2, 2008 at 8:41 pm

    [...] Rivera has figured out how to enable the “Awesome Bar” (sorry, “new enhanced taskbar”) in Windows 7 [...]

  25. AskWoody.com » Got Windows 7? Enable the SuperBar November 2, 2008 at 9:04 pm

    [...] Rivera, the Windows user interface guy who runs the Within Windows site, has posted a rather convoluted sequence of steps that you can use to unlock the SuperBar. Assuming you have [...]

  26. ricktendo64 November 2, 2008 at 9:11 pm

    Rafael I gotta visit this site more often, found lots of gems here

  27. kyosan1988 November 2, 2008 at 10:20 pm

    Thank you so much. I love you ^^

  28. templar November 2, 2008 at 10:38 pm

    havent gotten it to work, i cant seem to get the first two steps to work, and then the last step is says the program has encountered an error :? anyone care to shed light?

  29. Silverskull November 2, 2008 at 10:42 pm

    The only problem with this is that it seems to disable UAC. For most people, that’s not a problem, but it just disabled my Live Mesh. x.x

    Is there any way around this?

  30. How to enable the Super Task Bar in Windows 7 build 6801. - Windows Vista Help Forum November 2, 2008 at 10:44 pm

    [...] were disapointed when they didnt get to see the new super task bar which they saw at PDC 2008. withinwindows.com, has uncovered how to bring this breakthrough feature and is available to anyone who has Windows 7 [...]

  31. HappyAndyK November 2, 2008 at 10:47 pm

    Wonderful :) Thank you !

  32. andrew November 2, 2008 at 10:50 pm

    so you can install Windows 7 beta on Microsoft Virtual PC software, right? I don’t wanna have to clear my harddrive to install the beta.

  33. Superbar is available in Windows 7 Build 6801 at GeekSmack News November 2, 2008 at 11:06 pm

    [...] Rafael and Chris123NT « Windows Mobile 6.5, Ad to Your Road [...]

  34. Silverskull November 2, 2008 at 11:06 pm

    Oh yeah, I should probably mention… it appears that the Mesh client actually is running in the background, as I can still access my Mesh folders and connect to the PC remotely. (By the way, Mesh remote desktop is actually a lot faster with this new taskbar enabled. Microsoft has a winner!)

  35. Shake up your Windows 7 with Aero Shake - istartedsomething November 2, 2008 at 11:13 pm

    [...] 2008 is called “Aero Shake” - the same feature that led Rafael on an epic journey to unravel the secrets of build 6801 superbar. What Aero Shake does is allows you to shake your application windows furiously, to quickly [...]

  36. How to Enable Superbar in Windows 7 Build 6801 -:- Purple Indigo (PI) November 2, 2008 at 11:24 pm

    [...] Source: Rafael’s Blog [...]

  37. Bloggliv November 2, 2008 at 11:26 pm

    I tried that with the exact same buildversion - an no unlockProtectedFeatures.exe to use. I’m in the correct folder, C:\Windows, and all other steps worked perfectly. But still the last command will not work since the .exe is not there.

  38. Adam Maras November 2, 2008 at 11:33 pm

    Bloggliv, that’s the piece you have to download from this site. RTFM ;)

  39. jeremy November 2, 2008 at 11:45 pm

    i have the same problem with the unlockprotectedfetures.exe. i cant run it from the cmd window with admin rights. i go in to c:/windows and click on it and it will do it thing then the taskbar will go away and wont come back i have to use taskmang but that bing up the vista taskbar. and the cacls line of code say it failed

  40. Francisco Espinoza November 2, 2008 at 11:50 pm

    Wonderful! Thanks . . . why microsoft do this? its funny . . . but come on is microsoft! :-P

  41. Tom November 3, 2008 at 12:17 am

    They probably protected these features to a) prevent them from being leaked, and b) prevent the problems if the features had to be cut for whatever reason. Remember, Sinofsky said that they are looking to be “feature complete” by beta, so that all that has to be done is the polish, and usual bug fixes.

  42. 如何开启 Windows 7 中新特性 - 任务栏 | LiveSino - LiveSide 中文版 November 3, 2008 at 12:18 am

    [...] WithinWindows: Flashy Windows 7 bits protected by elaborate scheme, workaround [...]

  43. Silverskull November 3, 2008 at 12:28 am

    You know what? I feel real stupid right now. Ignore my previous comments.

  44. Get the new taskbar. - Windows 7 Forums November 3, 2008 at 12:33 am

    [...] to look like, run through this little execise. It is not so daunting as it looks. It worked for me. Flashy Windows 7 bits protected by elaborate scheme, workaround - Within Windows Attached [...]

  45. Samblg November 3, 2008 at 12:37 am

    Great!!!!!!!!!!

  46. Superbar ENABLED In Windows 7 Build 6801 | NewsBeta November 3, 2008 at 12:46 am

    [...] View: Rafael’s Blog Post [...]

  47. Parekr November 3, 2008 at 12:46 am

    OK i’m having trouble and don’t know what to do ? can someone help me please email me at depawka@live.com or respond back here

  48. war59312 November 3, 2008 at 1:07 am

    Hi,

    Here is the easy way. Simply copy below to a batch file and copy both the batch file and the exe to your desktop.

    Then simply right click on the batch file and click run as admin. Done! It does all the work for you. :)

    Enjoy,

    Will

    See image in case this does not come out right here on the blog:

    http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/9350/w7scriptzs2.png

    @echo off

    copy /Y %userprofile%\Desktop\unlockProtectedFeatures.exe %windir%

    cmd.exe /c takeown /f “%windir%\explorer.exe” && cacls %windir%\explorer.exe /E /G %USERNAME%:F

    cmd.exe /c takeown /f “%windir%\unlockProtectedFeatures.exe” && cacls %windir%\unlockProtectedFeatures.exe /E /G %USERNAME%:F

    taskkill /im explorer.exe /f

    cd %windir%

    start /w %windir%\unlockProtectedFeatures.exe

    start explorer

    pause

    exit

  49. Parekr November 3, 2008 at 1:28 am

    Hey to above i ran your thing like you say but i get this error
    http://i38.tinypic.com/4g0tv4.png
    [IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/4g0tv4.png[/IMG]

  50. More of the same with Windows 7 « Torontogeek’s Blog November 3, 2008 at 1:48 am

    [...] Windows 7 does have some redeeming qualities though, driver support and overall stability are great, very good in fact, as is Vista now after the plethora of updates thrown it’s way. Windows 7 is even snappier than Windows Vista, even when compared to Vista SP2 which was recently released to beta testers 7 is noticably faster. The new system tray and notification area is great, you can customise more options than ever before to silence annoying tray dwellers, and tray icons gain a small spotlight underneath them when you mouse over. The addition of a 15×40 “Show Desktop” button to the right of the clock in the tray is an unwelcome one, with no way I’ve found yet of turning it off. This occurs with the default 6801 taskbar (Vista’s one) and the hidden 6801 version demonstrated at PDC that you can unlock using Rafael Rivera’s workaround. [...]

  51. war59312 November 3, 2008 at 1:56 am

    Parekr, that’s very odd.

    How about if you just double click on the batch file without running as admin first?

    Worked for me on one of my PCs. Guess it’s because I’m not running with default settings.

    Take Care,

    Will

  52. Parekr November 3, 2008 at 2:01 am

    still get same error mabie upload the bat file u used to rs or mediafire for me please and thanks

  53. W.Meints November 3, 2008 at 2:07 am

    It probably wasn’t enabled because of the facts you mentioned. On the other hand, I think it’s a good idea to enable this stuff even if it’s not complete. User feedback early on can be quite handy when you are still working on a particular feature.

  54. Nero November 3, 2008 at 2:18 am

    Hello Parekr,

    You should run this in C:\Windows folder not C:\Windows\system32

  55. Parekr November 3, 2008 at 2:23 am

    as in ?

  56. Tore Lervik November 3, 2008 at 2:25 am

    Nice find! :)
    I can see why they hide the taskbar pretty well. The 6801 taskbar does’t show the same well designed superbar that they showed at the pdc. It has the not-so-good extra button on the side of each window instead of the right click menu.

  57. Nero November 3, 2008 at 2:30 am

    hey does anyone know how enable the jumblists on the start menu?

  58. Parekr November 3, 2008 at 2:31 am

    I got it working i followed what they said on site then walla :) done

  59. Nero November 3, 2008 at 2:33 am

    Parekr did you copy the file to the correct directory?

  60. Nero November 3, 2008 at 2:34 am

    ok then Parekr :)

  61. Ozl November 3, 2008 at 3:11 am

    You are the man!
    Gracias!

  62. Enabling Superbar in Windows 7 Build 6801 November 3, 2008 at 3:14 am

    [...] Full Article [...]

  63. Taskbar - Enable New Windows 7 Taskbar - Windows 7 Forums November 3, 2008 at 3:42 am

    [...] This was discovered by Rafael at Flashy Windows 7 bits protected by elaborate scheme, workaround - Within Windows [...]

  64. Shake up your Windows 7 with Aero Shake | MS Windows Articles, Reviews and Videos November 3, 2008 at 4:17 am

    [...] 2008 is called “Aero Shake” - the same feature that led Rafael on an epic journey to unravel the secrets of build 6801 superbar. What Aero Shake does is allows you to shake your application windows furiously, to quickly [...]

  65. Misaki November 3, 2008 at 4:20 am

    it doesn’t work for me :( i maked all this steps and explorer.exe doesn’t start :( after LogOff/Restart, the taskbar is the same :( what should i do, i have Build 6801 - do i need that domainname?

  66. Dragutin November 3, 2008 at 4:42 am

    This is an old version of the new taskbar, there was a session about how they were designing it to take that side button out. they probably couldn’t fit the newest taskbar into this revision, which is why they hid it. so all the fancy features like jumplists and those snazzy thumbnail switching options aren’t there.

  67. Misaki November 3, 2008 at 4:46 am

    it says - unlockProtectedFeatures has stopped working

  68. Floppy54.com » Blog Archive » Windows 7 New Task Bar Unlocked!! November 3, 2008 at 4:58 am

    [...] Via [WithinWindows.com] [...]

  69. Colour November 3, 2008 at 5:11 am

    How do i change the colour, it’s grey now?

  70. Misaki November 3, 2008 at 5:17 am

    i need some help please :( can anyone give me some help via Team Viewer? pls

  71. Nero November 3, 2008 at 7:04 am

    Misaki, Did you copy the “unlockProtectedFeatures.exe” into C:\windows\ & run the command promt from there as well?

  72. Nadav Peretz November 3, 2008 at 7:10 am

    Thanks a bunch mate! working like a charm!

  73. Primer vistazo a Windows 7 | Incognitosis November 3, 2008 at 7:10 am

    [...] que se han aplicado en las versiones mostradas en el PDC no están aún activas están activas tocando alguna que otra cosita, así que habrá que esperar a una compilación posterior a la 6801 que tengo entre manos. Aún [...]

  74. SLi November 3, 2008 at 7:21 am

    Ive followed the steps perfectly, it tells me that the program is not compatible with this version of windows… bla bla bla
    what do i do now?

  75. Activa la nueva barra de tareas en Windows 7 M3 November 3, 2008 at 7:23 am

    [...] Sinofsky y compañía por los poblados salones del PDC. Pues bien, en el blog de Rafael Rivera podemos leer cómo conseguir que se muestre la “Awesome Bar” y disfrutar de uno de los “eye [...]

  76. jeremy November 3, 2008 at 7:51 am

    unhandled exception has occurred in your application…..im on 32bit win7

  77. Misaki November 3, 2008 at 8:04 am

    Nero, no because i don’t know how to do that, i doned like this tutorial said and gives me: unlockProtectedFeatures has stopped working

  78. Tab7 November 3, 2008 at 8:14 am

    getting the same prob as Misaki. All the steps work until the last, then I get unlockProtectedFeatures has stopped working. Then does the whole error reporting thing.

    I just figured it was MS finding this and issuing a cease and desist or something. If there is a solution, would be glad to find out!

  79. All about Microsoft mobile edition November 3, 2008 at 8:26 am

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  80. Enable New Windows 7 Taskbar In Windows 7 M3 Build 6801 | Windows 7 News November 3, 2008 at 8:35 am

    [...] Rafael Rivera did analyze the Windows 7 version that was handed out to the attendees of the Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles and discovered that it contained features that were locked in the build by Microsoft. You might remember that Microsoft did a presentation of the desktop elements of Windows 7 at the conference and that part of the presentation was the new taskbar of Windows 7. The build that the attendees of the conference received was apparently a different one from the one that was used for presentation as it did not include the new features of the taskbar. [...]

  81. Naceron November 3, 2008 at 9:37 am

    Thx a lot for this great hacking, It’s work for me very well, but how to hide the window title in the new taskbar to look exactly as PDC demo?

  82. SnowDog November 3, 2008 at 10:04 am

    yeah, same problem as Tab7… tells me the program has stopped working

  83. noel86 November 3, 2008 at 10:20 am

    Resize open windows in win 7.6801 by dragging (Drag n shake) right,left or on top
    Preview : http://www.jcxp.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=31178

  84. SuperBar PDC Build Exposed : November 3, 2008 at 10:20 am

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  86. Misaki November 3, 2008 at 10:43 am

    i reinstalled windows and now works :D thank you Rafael for sharing this with us :D

  87. son November 3, 2008 at 11:05 am

    unlockProtectedFeatures has stopped working

  88. Unlock the new Taskbar in Windows 7 November 3, 2008 at 11:12 am

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  89. tazd November 3, 2008 at 11:36 am

    Thanks got it working here now

  90. frog November 3, 2008 at 11:47 am

    Cool, got it working after a lot of access denied folders. Went into safemode, copied the file to c:windows, restarted and worked like a dream!!! Great job gentleman!

  91. How to Unlock & Enable New Aero Shake Taskbar in Windows 7 (Taskbar Unlock tool) November 3, 2008 at 12:20 pm

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  92. Zapněte si Superbar a další fičury ve Windows 7 - Internet & Webdesign & SEO November 3, 2008 at 12:28 pm

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  93. anonymous November 3, 2008 at 12:32 pm

    What I did to get it working was disconnect from the internet, then you run the file and viola! Also I disabled user account control as a precaution. Thanks, now im looking forward to the next build.

  94. /zinger November 3, 2008 at 12:56 pm

    hallo.
    program stop respodning. if I dont close the explorer program is runig normalny but nothing hapend!

  95. CrunchGear » Archive » Some of Windows 7’s features heavily protected in PDC build November 3, 2008 at 1:21 pm

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  96. Microsoft confirms MinWin is in Windows 7, after all « Randa On The Web November 3, 2008 at 1:50 pm

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  97. Windows 7 build 6801 provato su VirtualBox November 3, 2008 at 2:21 pm

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  98. Jash Sayani November 3, 2008 at 2:23 pm

    Wow! Cool. Trying it out……

  99. New Windows 7 Taskbar unlocked « Bassheadtech.com November 3, 2008 at 2:31 pm

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  100. Jash Sayani November 3, 2008 at 2:33 pm

    http://i34.tinypic.com/s3cxtt.png

    Any Suggestions…?

  101. WinAjuda » Windows 7 da PDC: download e questões incidentais November 3, 2008 at 2:36 pm

    [...] sobre a build distribuída na PDC 2008, Rafael Rivera descobriu como habilitar nela a superbar, que é como bloggers gringos estão chamando a novíssima e anabolizada barra de tarefas [...]

  102. Windows 7: Build 6801 também tem a nova superbar « WindowsNET November 3, 2008 at 2:58 pm

    [...] Via: Whitin Windows [...]

  103. STeve-O November 3, 2008 at 3:17 pm

    how do i fix this “Program too big to fit in memory”
    it always shows up when i try to start unlockprotectedfeatures.exe

  104. Windows 7 M3 build 6801: abilitare la nuova TaskBar | Trucchetti.com November 3, 2008 at 3:49 pm

    [...] Le nuove caratteristiche sono state trovate e sono disponibili in questa build, ma…. bloccate da Microsoft! Ma noi vi diremo come sbloccarle !!! Riporto testualmente la procedura direttamente dalla fonte: [...]

  105. Marcus Wiberg November 3, 2008 at 4:19 pm

    People this really works, i alot of issues tryin’ to get this to work and finally i really got i working and it is AWESOME!!!

    The unplug internet solution does not work, the appz dont care about beein’ online!

    I tried to use the new feature “troubleshoot combatility” and that helped me alittle, i got a error message from the application instead of the “….. this not respond” but it really didnt unlock the feature.

    Then i started the app on my desktop and “…… can’t find explorer.exe” and it actually created by automatic a explorer.exe to my desktop then i started it again from the desktop and it showed me a window… with radiobuttons which let me to chose unlock the hidden bar… but it didnt really activate it, then i deleted the explorer.exe that the software created on the desktop and drag the file to the windows folder then started it clicking on it and it worked!

    Hope this works!!

    Thanks for the file, great work!!

  106. Come attivare la Superbar in Windows 7 build 6801 : Windows 7 November 3, 2008 at 4:45 pm

    [...] Fonte | Within Windows [...]

  107. piwui November 3, 2008 at 4:51 pm

    Proble, with running the
    “@echo off
    copy /Y %userprofile%”
    file published by war59312

    Copy both the file (named fx patch.cmd) and unlockProtectedFeatures.exe to the windows directory.
    Start a command prompt and jump to the windows directory.
    Run “edit patch.cmd” and remove any annoying characters that does not belong there.
    Save the file and run it. Voala!

  108. Rafael November 3, 2008 at 5:06 pm

    I’m working on a newer tool to unlock some other features, plus be easier to use. Stay tuned folks.

  109. Timothy November 3, 2008 at 5:39 pm

    Whoa man, you’re awesome Rafael!

  110. jeremy November 3, 2008 at 5:41 pm

    ok to get the code and programe to work just reinstall windows 7 and do it right after its done installing

  111. Mario November 3, 2008 at 6:03 pm

    I get the unlockProtectedFeatures has stopped working error as well. Any time frame on a fix for this? Thnx for the hard work.

  112. Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report mobile edition November 3, 2008 at 6:46 pm

    [...] set of checks tied to various shell-related components, including the new Taskbar.”  He’s posted the unlock instructions over at his website. Here’s the short version: Download the small UnlockProtectedFeatures utility [...]

  113. Before you unlock your Windows 7 Superbar… | Ed Bott’s Windows Expertise | November 3, 2008 at 6:55 pm

    [...] probably caught the buzz last night when Within Windows blogger Rafael Rivera demonstrated how to unlock the flashy new Windows 7 taskbar in the PDC [...]

  114. bill November 3, 2008 at 6:59 pm

    you da man….nice one. thank you.

  115. David November 3, 2008 at 7:00 pm

    For those getting the Application stopped responding issue… Go in and Manually change the permissions on Explorer.exe.

    I’m running this in a VM as a test so i just gave all accounts full control and than was able to run it no problem.

    Hope that helps.

  116. war59312 November 3, 2008 at 7:12 pm

    Hi,

    O.K my batch file works just fine. The problem is that the blog here adds some stupid chars to the start of it. No my fault.

    Though I did make one little mistake, but it only effected people who have spaces in their user name.

    Anyhow, I have made it even easier.

    1.) Download the correct version below and save the file to your desktop.

    32bit: http://rapidshare.com/files/160422438/unlockProtectedFeatures_x86.exe

    or

    64bit: http://rapidshare.com/files/160422412/unlockProtectedFeatures_x64.exe

    2.) Double click on the file from above so that it runs. If UAC kicks in then of course click on “Yes” to allow it to run.

    Note: This will kill explorer.exe so make sure you have saved everything your working on first.

    3.) You should now see something like this:

    http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/3201/successgx9.png

    4.) “Unlock Protected Features” should be chosen already so simply click the “Launch” button.

    5.) You should now see the new task-bar. Go ahead and close the batch file and the “Libraries” window.

    Now you might want to keep the installer “unlockProtectedFeatures_x86.exe” or “unlockProtectedFeatures_x64.exe” in case you wish to turn the new task-bar off. Just run it again if you wish to turn off the task-bar and of course this time choose “Lock Protected Features”.

    But yes, you can now go ahead and delete the other two files that are now on your Desktop: install.cmd and unlock.exe as they are no longer needed.

    Enjoy,

    Will

    PS: It’s just a winrar SFX self extracting archive. If you don’t believe me simply right click on exe and choose extract. Then look at the batch file. Of course if you want to be sure that I did not include a virus just run a MD5 or whatever on unlock.exe and you will see it matches the files posted here. :)

  117. Fix PC Errors » Blog Archive » Unlocking Windows 7 November 3, 2008 at 7:17 pm

    [...] Unlock Windows 7 features [...]

  118. Monaco November 3, 2008 at 7:18 pm

    Got it working after a few failed attempts. Don’t know what exactly I may have done wrong in the first place. Its working now. Thanks for the work around Rafael.

  119. » Windows 7 SuperBar Afinal Pode Ser Activada na Pré-Beta Build 6801 November 3, 2008 at 8:27 pm

    [...] HomePage : WithinWindows [...]

  120. chris November 3, 2008 at 9:17 pm

    war59312’s app worked great. Thank you, the new taskbar is awesome!

  121. Screenshots: Windows 7 Build 6801 at Lost on the Freeway November 3, 2008 at 9:29 pm

    [...] for a group of trusted employees connected to the internal Microsoft domain. However, Rafael from WithinWindows.com has come up with quite a workaround to enable it on this build. The last few screenshots show the [...]

  122. Mario November 3, 2008 at 9:33 pm

    war59312’s app give me the same error message. It tells me your app has stopped working, etc etc.

  123. Clifton Griffin | Unlock Windows 7 Superbar in Build 6801 | November 3, 2008 at 10:08 pm

    [...] To unlock the superbar, read this very helpful post at withwindows. [...]

  124. war59312 November 3, 2008 at 10:20 pm

    Mario,

    Then more than likely it’s some software that is running on your PC that is causing the issue. Anti-virus perhaps?

    As I tested this many times on a new clean install and it works great.

    Trying running my application is safe mode. Should work, not tested, not home at the moment to test.

    Take Care,

    Will

  125. war59312 November 3, 2008 at 10:21 pm

    Chris, thanks for confirming it worked for you. :D

  126. Windows 7 to let users create a Desktop Slideshow from files, feeds - Within Windows November 3, 2008 at 10:22 pm

    [...] as to what else was under Microsoft’s elaborate lock, key, and duct-tape protection scheme mentioned earlier, I had my friend Chris Holmes run a scan of his 7 system, as I’m still babying my laptop’s SSD [...]

  127. XTIZ3 November 3, 2008 at 10:25 pm

    The x86 version doesn’t seem to be working. (box pops up saying that it has stopped working) Anyone else having the same problem?

  128. XTIZ3 November 3, 2008 at 10:46 pm

    Never mind. Problem solved. Sorry for my stupidity.

  129. Tester2 November 3, 2008 at 10:52 pm

    war59312,

    Thanks that one worked perfectly - couldn’t get it working with the first method.

    Thank You!

  130. war59312 November 3, 2008 at 10:54 pm

    Hi All,

    For those that are having problems, can you please post a screen-shot of my batch file running? Would like to see what it says.

    I was able to reproduce the error of unlockProtectedFeatures.exe stop working.

    That would happen every time if I where trying to run unlockProtectedFeatures.exe out of the system32 folder.

    It should be running out of %windir% which by default is C:\Windows.

    Anyhow it looks like this is a bug in unlockProtectedFeatures.exe itself. Not Windows and nothing to do with my pretty simple batch file. I’m just wondering if those that are getting errors from unlockProtectedFeatures.exe are also getting errors in my batch file.

    Thanks for trying it out,

    Will

  131. war59312 November 3, 2008 at 10:56 pm

    XTIZ3, your not that stupid since you figured it out. :)

    Tester2. your most welcome, and thanks for confirming.

  132. xx66stangxx November 3, 2008 at 11:49 pm

    Ok so I have been getting the unlockProtectedFeatures.exe has stopped working error. Here is exactly what I am doing:
    I have command prompt copied to my desktop. I right click it and press Run as administrator.

    in C:\Windows I have unlockProtectedFeatures.exe placed in there.

    with cmd opened as Administrator I do:

    cd %windir%
    takeown /f %windir%\explorer.exe
    cacls %windir%\explorer.exe /E /G Danny Mayer:F
    taskkill /im explorer.exe /f
    start unlockProtectedFeatures.exe

    when I typed unlockProtectedFeatures.exe is when I get the error the program has stopped working.
    I am going to try war59312’s method

    To get this straight all I have to do is download your version. (already done)

    double click it (since it’s on my desktop) and click on unlock then launch. Correct? I don’t have to execute any commands through command prompt?

    If that doesn’t work I am going to: Try in safe mode, turn off Avast!, and reinstall on another hdd (I am going to delete my osx86 partition on my bigger hdd)

  133. Rafael November 3, 2008 at 11:57 pm

    Try putting Danny Mayer in quotes in your cacls command.

  134. notherdude November 4, 2008 at 12:01 am

    funny, earlier today this worked on 32 bit but then I installed 64 and I got the stopped working error, tried with no A/V and in safe mode - got a message that ‘no maopping . . username . . had been done” and then the ’stopped working error’ won the last step, however, war’s batch file worked! Had to run as administrator of course. Don’ know why the other method worked earlier but didn’t later on 64, Happy. Thanks Mario and war

  135. xx66stangxx November 4, 2008 at 12:09 am

    Thanks Rafael. Awesome find! I will repost later when I get home.

  136. notherdude November 4, 2008 at 12:10 am

    boy I butcherd that last comment - bad keyboard
    Thanks Rafael and thanks War59312

    after the second step I got a message saying that no mapping had been done, I assume some mapping was supposed to be done?

    anyway, when I got to last step I got the ’stopped working ‘ error - however, running war’s batch file as administrator did work and now I am a hpaay camper.

  137. nick November 4, 2008 at 12:30 am

    war59312 you are the man!

  138. C.T.Smithey November 4, 2008 at 12:45 am

    war59312
    The little do-dads you made there man are perfect, was having hella-time the other way with X64. Thanks for your work on that man its great, BUT, NOW I got my wife wanting Win7 because “It is so pretty with that TaskBar” >.< SO we all know what that means do it or I shall never hear the end of it.
    Thanks again man that was great work.
    12beers and 6cheers to ya

  139. Dilip November 4, 2008 at 12:54 am

    Thanks War! It works great now!!

  140. blue_falcon November 4, 2008 at 1:14 am

    Took some bloody key wrestling to get the 64bit edition to work, but once I typed it all in like cacls explorer.exe /E /G MyUsername:F it worked splendid. Great work!

  141. xx66stangxx November 4, 2008 at 2:20 am

    @Rafael the quotes around my name worked! awesome thanks!

  142. /zinger November 4, 2008 at 2:58 am

    war59312 : thank you very much! now it’s working!

  143. TJ @ SmartBlogTips November 4, 2008 at 4:05 am

    Thanks. It would be nice to try on the pre beta Win 7 build

  144. Thorn November 4, 2008 at 6:35 am

    its not work ver 64bit :( PLEASE HELP ME
    I get unlockProtectedFeatures has stopped working. Then does the whole error reporting thing.

  145. Windows Seven : Et on activait la "awesome" taskbar? , Louis-Guillaume Morand November 4, 2008 at 8:11 am

    [...] d’activer la barre des tâches tant demandée.Pour la manipulation et l’explication, c’est par iciPour la version française, il vous suffit de1-  créer un dossier sur votre bureau,2- d’y [...]

  146. YJ November 4, 2008 at 8:30 am

    Worked beautiful when rebooted in safe mode once to apply the change.

    Thanks Rafael for another brilliant post.

  147. harm November 4, 2008 at 8:43 am

    thanks got it working.

  148. notherdude November 4, 2008 at 8:49 am

    @Thorn

    Had same problem on 64.

    DL war59312’s batch file to your desktop http://rapidshare.com/files/160422412/unlockProtectedFeatures_x64.exe

    right click on it and choose ‘run as administrator’

    worked for me

  149. Unlock Superbar in Windows 7[How To] | IntoWindows November 4, 2008 at 10:00 am

    [...] of Windows 7 is missing from the Windows 7(build 6801).As the new taskbar is next to awesome, withinwindow has come up with a solution, by using which one can enable superbar (new taskbar) in the 6801 [...]

  150. M November 4, 2008 at 10:20 am

    Hi All,

    I’ve upgraded from Vista SP1 to Windows 7 (running on VMware). I ran all the steps with no errors. Unfortunately, the new taskbar does not appear for some odd reason. Any ideas?

    Regards
    M

  151. Norman November 4, 2008 at 10:32 am

    Well, I dont know if youre intrested or not, but the x64 thing works well on Server 2008 R2 Build 6801 (which leaked some hours ago I think) too :)

  152. Blog of World'Sanyi » Windows 7: Attivare Superbar su M3 6301 November 4, 2008 at 10:40 am

    [...] Originale articolo  da qui [...]

  153. M November 4, 2008 at 10:47 am

    I’ve found out that my build is (6589.1×86fre.winmain_win7m2.08042-1634) !!!!! It does not seem the hack will work on this build!

  154. .NetRolller 3D November 4, 2008 at 11:00 am

    M: That is not a real Windows 7 build, but a modded version of Vista SP1. Only the builds 6519 and 6801 are actual Windows 7 builds, and only 6801 contains the Superbar.

  155. M November 4, 2008 at 11:07 am

    I am downloading Windows 7 build 6801 as we speak. Quick question, Can I install windows 7 without upgrading from an earlier version using VMware?

    Regards
    M

  156. CyberBlog » Blog Archive » La superbar di Win7 c’è anche nella build 6801, basta abilitarla November 4, 2008 at 12:10 pm

    [...] Superbar c’

  157. Amoney November 4, 2008 at 1:10 pm

    hey—my shutdown/log-off/restart won’t work.. .it doesn’t hang.. just seems to close running process then sit there like a fresh reboot.. any ideas?

  158. Shake up your Windows 7 with Aero Shake | Torrent Searcher News November 4, 2008 at 2:31 pm

    [...] 2008 is called “Aero Shake” - the same feature that led Rafael on an epic journey to unravel the secrets of build 6801 superbar. What Aero Shake does is allows you to shake your application windows furiously, to quickly [...]

  159. Reddo November 4, 2008 at 2:46 pm

    thatnks war59312 your solution worked perfectly for me

  160. Mike November 4, 2008 at 3:18 pm

    I been going through the event log because my laptop seems to be shutting down by it’self alot, and noticed some warnings about possible memory leak in explorer.exe. This could be due to his patch. Not sure if anyone else is experiencing any random restarts. A few other point to the processor failure which is odd because vista doesn’t do this. Dont know if it’s due to the fact it’s pre-beta or if its perhaps the reason why they disabled thie new taskbar in this build in Windows 7. Right now I return the task bar to the normal vista looking one and hasn’t rebooted yet.

  161. XTIZ3 November 4, 2008 at 3:40 pm

    Anyone mind telling me how to pin programs to the task bar?

  162. -JJ- November 4, 2008 at 4:06 pm

    war59312 is the best :]. Your batch file worked just fine.

  163. PDC 2008 : Wrap up « blurg.net November 4, 2008 at 4:28 pm

    [...] MS style, the builds shown did not necessarily reflect the build given to the attendees, but WithinWindows has worked out how to address that to a certain extent. I am not waiting for the Windows 7 beta to [...]

  164. Xepol November 4, 2008 at 4:59 pm

    speaking as a programmer, it is easier to limit and/or disable features than it is to put them in for testing, pull them out again and then put them back in again.

    Once in, other apps may code against them. Removing them for a demo version could lead to HUGE headaches when it comes to removing outside dependancies.

    It is just easier to hide the UI that isn’t fully up to snuff yet, particularilly if the back end code is stable (and stable does not always means “fully works”, just more a matter of “does not crash everything”)

    So they get locked down so that the associated developers can work on them and no one else asks stupid questions about why feature X doesn’t work right while it is being polished.

  165. Mike November 4, 2008 at 5:23 pm

    “XTIZ3

    November 4, 2008 at 3:40 pm

    Anyone mind telling me how to pin programs to the task bar?”

    Just drag and drop

  166. Omitek » Blog Archive » Tenha a nova Taskbar do Windows 7 Build 6933 na Build 6801 November 4, 2008 at 5:39 pm

    [...] Within Windows. ACOMPANHE POR RSS ARQUIVADO EM Windows 7, Windows e [...]

  167. Windows 7 Desktop - AVForums.com November 4, 2008 at 6:29 pm

    [...] Windows 7 Desktop For anyone who wants to enable the new "SuperTaskbar", read the instructions here. __________________ [...]

  168. Sara November 4, 2008 at 6:36 pm

    Thanks so much, war 59312. It worked like a charm.

  169. soren121 November 4, 2008 at 6:40 pm

    Worked like a charm! Althought I don’t get the Aero shininess because I’m running in VirtualBox….

  170. New W7 Taskbar - I'm a fan - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net November 4, 2008 at 7:40 pm

    [...] enables it. Like I said, it is not a full-featured new taskbar. Here is the link to the ‘fix’ - http://www.withinwindows.com/2008/11…me-workaround/ __________________ Check out my Remote Desktop FAQ! [...]

  171. codenamepenryn November 4, 2008 at 8:47 pm
  172. XTIZ3 November 4, 2008 at 9:43 pm

    Much thanks, Mike. I swear I’ve tried it before… Stupidity strikes again.

  173. Cool toys and Gadgets » Blog Archive » Unlock some Aero Shake features in the pre-beta build of Windows 7 November 4, 2008 at 10:06 pm

    [...] turns out however, that some of these new features were in fact hidden from view. Rafael over at “Within Windows” discovered the “protected features” were only available to 1) members of an allowed [...]

  174. Fixing Microsoft: Windows 7 at GeekSmack.net November 4, 2008 at 10:08 pm

    [...] Rafael managed to make a patch that enables the Superbar in 6801. This is the one feature that really made me fall in love with Windows 7. Before all of you [...]

  175. Windows 7. - Club3G Forums November 4, 2008 at 11:13 pm

    [...] people…if you want to wait for another build go ahead but… Flashy Windows 7 bits protected by elaborate scheme, workaround - Within Windows That my friends will enable the new start/taskbar that every one wants. Have fun PS Don’t ask [...]

  176. Bee_bkk November 5, 2008 at 12:12 am

    Thank you. It’s work great for me.
    but someone can help me?
    My windows can’t restart and can’s shutdown before I run this patch and still now can’t restart and can’t shutdown.

  177. AaronL November 5, 2008 at 12:19 am

    After following all the steps in the admin cmd prompt I get to the start unlockprotectedfeatures.exe and it asks me to ‘confirm file replace: The following file already exists unlock.exe. Would you like to replace the existing file with this one? Yes, Yes to All, Rename, No, No to All, Cancel.”

    No matter if I replace or not I am then followed by an error for the file “intall.cmd” which states:

  178. AaronL November 5, 2008 at 12:20 am

    oops.

    continued…

    Final error states: “Windows cannot find ‘C:/users/alauper/Desktop/install.cmd’. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.

    Any thoughts?

    Aaron

  179. MrNxDmX November 5, 2008 at 12:23 am

    @ ALL: Take ownership of explorer.exe file manually. It works like a charm here, in vmware.
    At first i got errors in all my tries. Then i took ownership manually and tried again. Here’s proof:

    [URL=http://img219.imageshack.us/my.php?image=windows720081105072108ou8.png][IMG]http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/5545/windows720081105072108ou8.th.png[/IMG][/URL]

  180. Get the pre-Beta from Torrent Sites : Shipping Seven November 5, 2008 at 12:25 am

    [...] The files seem to be valid, although one point to note is that the build given to the PDC attendees (Build 6801) was not the same build as demonstrated at the conference, however many of the features are actually available within the build but are locked down, Rafael of Within Windows has been very active in discovering and unlocking these features. [...]

  181. Windows 7 tiene funciones desactivadas y protegidas. Conoce como activarlas » SoftwareZone : Blog sobre Software con tutoriales de ayuda y noticias November 5, 2008 at 12:50 am

    [...] Los usuarios que tienen una copia de Windows 7 ya sea por ser Betatester o conseguida a través de las redes P2P se han decepcionado al comprobar que algunas funciones vienen desactivadas como por ejemplo la nueva taskbar de Windows 7. Estas restricciones dependen del dominio en el que te encuentres y pronto se ha encontrado una solución para habilitar estas funciones. Podéis conocer más sobre estas restricciones y  ver la solución para saltarse estas aquí [...]

  182. Enabling Superbar in Windows7 Build 6801 November 5, 2008 at 1:07 am

    [...] Developer Conference (PDC) build of Windows 7 on display. Sadly you do not have it ON by default. Rafael @ WithinWindows – has a workaround to enable the “Superbar” provided you have a copy of Windows 7 Build 6801. [...]

  183. alauper November 5, 2008 at 1:15 am

    war59312: here is a screen shot of my error after downloading the file to the desktop and double clicking it.

    Please Help

    alauper

  184. alauper November 5, 2008 at 1:15 am

    war59312: here is a screen shot of my error after downloading the file to the desktop and double clicking it.
    http://aaronlauper.spaces.live.com/?_c02_vws=1

    Please Help

    alauper

  185. Rob November 5, 2008 at 2:39 am

    TO EVERYONE WITH THE “PROGRAM HAS STOPPED WORKING ERROR”

    1. Copy the original explorer.exe to your desktop
    2. Copy unlockProtectedFeatures.exe to your desktop.
    3. Run unlockProtectedFeatures.exe as an Administrator and unlock the features.
    4. Voila! It should work. This took me FOREVER to figure out.

  186. Rob November 5, 2008 at 2:41 am

    Oh yeah, and then copy the patched explorer back after wards.

  187. Ivan November 5, 2008 at 2:48 am

    war59312,thx for your post at

    November 3, 2008 at 7:12 pm

    I finally solve the problem “unlockprotectedfeatures.exe” stopped working, it ’s interesting that it involve certain process

    1.I follow your instruction and double click the exe
    2.after repeating sereval times, it shows that unlock.exe is missed in WINDOWS folder and yet there is a exe call unlock and another called”install.bat” come out and i simply copy “unlock” into WINDOWS
    3.Retry and it works!just choose unlock….and launch! Delete install bat. explorer and unlock on the desktop

    *it is quite interesting that both quick launch bar and this new bar both exist at same time,just unclick it from RIGHT CLICK on task bar—>toolbar—>quick launch!

  188. xx66stangxx November 5, 2008 at 3:16 am

    In Response to Rob’s post

    TO EVERYONE WITH THE “PROGRAM HAS STOPPED WORKING ERROR”

    Thanks to Rafael try putting your username in quotes

    cd %windir%
    takeown /f %windir%\explorer.exe
    cacls %windir%\explorer.exe /E /G “Danny”:F
    taskkill /im explorer.exe /f
    start unlockProtectedFeatures.exe

    That should do the trick.

  189. moshe November 5, 2008 at 4:37 am

    check out http://tr.im/r5g for a installation guide

  190. Windows 7 gizli özellikler: Yeni Super Taskbar | Teknoloji Herşeyim November 5, 2008 at 4:49 am

    [...] Taskbar Unlock Tool‘u indirin. 32 Bit Windows 7 için, 64 Bit Windows 7 [...]

  191. Mjhieu November 5, 2008 at 6:34 am

    Thanks you for your great work! Finnaly, I can unlock this cool super bar, what I want to see in windows 7!

  192. Shaibal November 5, 2008 at 8:58 am

    cacls %windir%\explorer.exe /E /G “%USERNAME%”:F

    I can’t get the above step to work. It says that not mapping has been done. When I continue anyway, when i run “start unlockProtectedFeatures.exe” it says that the program has stopped working. Any ideas?

  193. Jon November 5, 2008 at 9:08 am

    I can’t get this to work..I keep getting

    ERROR: Not all priviledges or groups referenced are assigned to the caller.

  194. Mike November 5, 2008 at 10:01 am

    You people are just NOT following the instructions properly.

  195. Rubber Gun November 5, 2008 at 10:40 am

    I’ve found another fix!!
    Those who downloaded the self-extracting one, the second one, and ran it, it just said some errors, and placed two files on the desktop: unlock and install.
    So i took the install file, right click, edit, and delete the ENTIRE second line.
    Then, I save, and copy Unlock to C:\Windows
    then I run install from the desktop
    It works then!

  196. Abraham Estrada November 5, 2008 at 11:59 am

    Works fine for me, thanks.

  197. Jeromecold’s Blog » Blog Archive » La nouvelle barre des tâches de 7 November 5, 2008 at 12:08 pm

    [...] testé donc pas sûr, je l’ai trouvé ici (y’a même les explications avec): http://www.withinwindows.com/2008/11/02…. novembre 5th, 2008 in Trucs et [...]

  198. Rob November 5, 2008 at 12:36 pm

    I tried every way to get it to work. I knew to put my username in the quotes and I tried just about everything I could do.

    here’s a more detailed explanation.

    1. Go to C:\Windows and copy explorer.exe to your desktop.
    2. Move unlockProtectedFeatures.exe to your desktop.
    3. Run unlockProtectedFeatures.exe as an Administrator, and unlock the protected features.
    4. Kill explorer.exe in task manager.
    5. In task manager go to File > Run and click browse. This will show an explorer window so we can replace the original file without any hassle.
    6. In that window go to your desktop, right click the patched explorer and click copy.
    7. Then, go to C:\Windows and rename the current explorer.exe to explorer.exe.bak
    8. Then paste the patched explorer.exe into the C:\Windows directory, and then click it and press open, and then ok.
    9. Superbar should load right up.

  199. McColley.net » Blog Archive » A Closer Look at Windows 7’s Aero Peek Feature [Windows 7 Screencast] November 5, 2008 at 2:00 pm

    [...] PDC release of the Windows 7 Preview doesn’t have Peek enabled by default—and after unlocking it, it’s still not the full feature set that yesterday’s video showed off. However, even [...]

  200. HofEE November 5, 2008 at 2:21 pm

    It is just not working for me! I followed precisely the instructions but i get every time this error message in the cmd prompt:
    ERROR: Not all priviledges or groups referenced are assigned to the caller.

    What should i do?
    Here is a screenshot: http://img266.imageshack.us/my.php?image=errrormsgjj3.jpg

    PLEASE help!

  201. alauper November 5, 2008 at 2:33 pm

    Rob,

    I followed your steps and it finally enabled the new taskbar! However, I am not able to copy over the explorer.exe file in steps 5-8 because of permissions so everytime I restart the computer it goes back to the old taskbar.

    Any thoughts?

  202. Windows 7 (build 6801) bez nových funkcií - SpigiBlog November 5, 2008 at 2:59 pm
  203. Windows 7 (build 6801) bez nových funkcií a s nimi :-) - SpigiBlog November 5, 2008 at 3:02 pm
  204. My Blog Channel » Blog Archive » A Closer Look at Windows 7’s Aero Peek Feature November 5, 2008 at 3:30 pm

    [...] PDC release of the Windows 7 Preview doesn’t have Peek enabled by default—and after unlocking it, it’s still not the full feature set that yesterday’s video showed off. However, even [...]

  205. James November 5, 2008 at 3:52 pm

    This only works if I REMOVE the “” around my username lol. If I put them there I get an error.

  206. codemonkey0312 November 5, 2008 at 4:54 pm

    Try right clicking explorer, go into properties -> security -> edit… select your username and click Allow on the full control option. Then you can change the name and move, ETC.

  207. rupbert November 5, 2008 at 5:28 pm

    One major concern I have with the new icon based taskbar is that in general, most program icons are either horribly pixelated or too detailed to look clean at a specific resolution.

    I use RocketDock, and one of the great features is the ability to use custom .png icons (that look beautiful). Hopefully there will be a similar functionality to the ’superbar’.

  208. Rob November 5, 2008 at 5:58 pm

    I had the same problem alauper, what is happening is windows thinks that the explorer that is on your desktop is the main explorer.exe. What you need to do is open task manager, kill the explorer.exe process. You will now be able to move it, but to move it you need to do it within task manager. So go to File > Run. The run dialog will show, then click browse. Now go to your desktop in the left pane and copy the explorer file to C:\Windows. Then go back to your desktop, and delete the one on there. Then select C:\Windows\explorer.exe and click open, and press okay. Explorer should open and no longer be on your desktop.

  209. joseph November 5, 2008 at 6:24 pm

    just a quick question how do you reverse this and get the old explorer working again

  210. Rob November 5, 2008 at 7:12 pm

    You should have made a backup explorer file. Don’t know what to tell you.

  211. .NetRolller 3D November 5, 2008 at 7:15 pm

    joseph: Open Task Manager, kill Explorer, open UnlockProtectedFeatures from Task Manager, select Lock, and click Launch. There you go.

  212. Shake up your Windows 7 with Aero Shake. « Evan Riley November 5, 2008 at 7:38 pm

    [...] at PDC 2008 is called “Aero Shake” - the same feature that led Rafael on an epic journey to unravel the secrets of build 6801 superbar. What Aero Shake does is allows you to shake your application windows furiously, to quickly [...]

  213. joseph November 5, 2008 at 7:39 pm

    yea i know that im talking about when i exit explorer through task manager and try to start it up again it says its not a valid win32 application

  214. A Closer Look at Windows 7’s Aero Peek Feature - Softsaurus.org November 5, 2008 at 7:42 pm

    [...] PDC release of the Windows 7 Preview doesn’t have Peek enabled by default—and after unlocking it, it’s still not the full feature set that yesterday’s video showed off. However, even [...]

  215. » Windows 7 Superbar PC Authority: Your number 1 source for PC error repair and tweaks November 5, 2008 at 8:11 pm

    [...] Unprotect Windows 7 hack [...]

  216. Rob November 5, 2008 at 10:39 pm

    Joseph, this happened to me but what happened was I ended up trying to load “C:\Windows\system32\explorer.exe” and it didn’t work and it gave me that error. Make sure you are loading “C:\Windows\explorer.exe”.

  217. joseph November 5, 2008 at 10:46 pm

    oh ok i see i forgot to check which directory i was in

  218. Alex November 5, 2008 at 11:34 pm

    Everything works, and thanks for the guide. Except I have one problem, whenever I restart my pc, I have to repeat the process that worked for me (to get the taskbar). How would you make it permanent?

    In order for the taskbar to work for me, I had to copy the patch and the explorer to my desktop and run it there… (read from someone here)

  219. Ant November 6, 2008 at 12:02 am

    Great work! It works awesome-ly =)

    My only problem is that when I resume from hibernate, the awesome-bar usually crashes right away, or shortly after… anyone else experiencing this?

  220. Alex November 6, 2008 at 12:12 am

    Thanks war59312! That file actually worked perfectly, and even when restarted, the taskbar is still there. Much appreciated. Oh, my audio driver doesn’t work, windows says there’s a computability issue, is there a way to make the driver work?

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