Menu bar tweaks:Restore Help menu and remove weird highlight
Feb 6, 2024 13:28:48 GMT -8
Post by Jevil7452 on Feb 6, 2024 13:28:48 GMT -8
Confirmed working on 1703, 1803 and 1909. Other versions untested.
If you re-add the Help menu to your explorerframe.dll.mui, it will actually still work
To do this, go to C:\Windows\System32\en-us\explorerframe.dll.mui
(or whatever your language code is)
Copy that file to the desktop, and open it in RisohEditor (no, not Resource Hacker, you cannot use that or else it will corrupt)
Then go to RT_MENU > 263.
Add the following code:
Now, in the Menu bar you'll see Help, and a working View Help menu entry. If you have HelpPane restored, it'll open that instead of the web browser
The patched files will be attached to this post. But, you should be aware that this will force the menu bar to be always visible, no matter what! Do not use this if you use the ribbon, although it might fix some of the weirdness of Windows 11 and the menu bar. You'd need to test that on your own.
To do this, download the patched DLL pack and extract it to System32.
Then, go to the following registry location: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{5b4dae26-b807-11d0-9815-00c04fd91972}\InProcServer32
1. Restore working Help menu
Despite the Help menu (and most of it's functionality) being removed in version 1703, there is still code that would populate the Help menu with a View Help menu entryIf you re-add the Help menu to your explorerframe.dll.mui, it will actually still work
To do this, go to C:\Windows\System32\en-us\explorerframe.dll.mui
(or whatever your language code is)
Copy that file to the desktop, and open it in RisohEditor (no, not Resource Hacker, you cannot use that or else it will corrupt)
Then go to RT_MENU > 263.
Add the following code:
POPUP "&Help", 33024
{
MENUITEM "", -1, MFT_SEPARATOR
}
It should look like this:MENUITEM "&Internet options...", 41329
}
POPUP "&Help", 33024
{
MENUITEM "", -1, MFT_SEPARATOR
}
}
Do the same for RT_MENU > 266
Save, and replace.Now, in the Menu bar you'll see Help, and a working View Help menu entry. If you have HelpPane restored, it'll open that instead of the web browser
2. Remove weird highlight
IMPORTANT WARNING: THIS WILL BREAK STARTISBACK++'S ALL PROGRAMS AS FLYOUT MENU FEATURE
Normally, the menu bar has a weird highlight in Explorer. However, I found out while trying to restore removed menu items with working functionality, that if you set the DLL in the registry for the menu bar to a patched Windows XP x64's browseui.dll, it will remove the highlight.The patched files will be attached to this post. But, you should be aware that this will force the menu bar to be always visible, no matter what! Do not use this if you use the ribbon, although it might fix some of the weirdness of Windows 11 and the menu bar. You'd need to test that on your own.
To do this, download the patched DLL pack and extract it to System32.
Then, go to the following registry location: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{5b4dae26-b807-11d0-9815-00c04fd91972}\InProcServer32
Take ownership, and make the (Default) entry say xpbrowse.dll (this is how the DLL is called in the pack) instead of shell32.dll, keep the other parts intact
Below, you can see the effect of both of the modifications: