Pin to taskbar not working on Windows 10 Build 1809

[ckck2000]

Hello,

The plugin's ShellVerb.PinToTaskbar function doesn't work on Windows 10 Build 1809 (17763.379)
There was no problem on Windows 10 build 1803.

[lordmulder]

Yeah, this seems to be a bug (or "intended behavior" they might say) in Windows 10 v1809 🙄

All I know is that finding the FolderItemVerb instance for the “Pin to taskbar” menu item still works fine in Windows 10 v1809, but then FolderItemVerb::DoIt() fails for no conclusive reason 😠 😠 😠

I think the returned error code is E_INVALIDARG (aka “One or more arguments are invalid”), which obviously makes absolutely no sense, as the DoIt() function does not take any arguments...

Regards.

[gbelmont22]

I was just made aware my NSIS installs are no longer correctly pinning the shortcut to the taskbar and suspect this is the issue. I did some digging and found this article:

Pinning a network program with a Jump List to the taskbar programmatically in windows 10 – Part 1

The author describes the issue in Windoze 10 v1809 and outlines a methodology for fooling windows back into behaving itself. I think there is enough information presented that you might be able (if so inclined) to cobble together a work around in StdUtils using the same technique.

[lordmulder]

Well, according to that article, the "solution" seems to be to rename your program to explorer.exe, in order to fool Windows – Windows apparently "blocks" all other processes now. I haven't tried that yet, but it probably is not feasible for most installers to be called explorer.exe. Also, the other approach, which is to manipulate the image path name, seems pretty awkward to me. This feels like defeating a "how braindead can they be to do that?" with an "oh, we really shouldn't be doing that" 😨

[gbelmont22]

I agree manipulating the image path name is a bit of jigery-pokery, but unless I'm not getting it, I think it's a change to the PEB data in memory only (not the actual name of the file on the filesystem). So (again, if I am getting this right), the idea is to just quietly find the PEB in memory, tweak the image name to 'explorer.exe', execute the pin operation, return the name back to it's original value, and proceed like nothing bizarre ever happened. - Definitely not optimal, but (in my opinion) it could be a workable hack/solution... ymmv. BTW. StdUtils rocks. :-)

Update: Don't bother mate, this workaround no longer functions. It looks like it is also a victim of build 1809 or later. oh well...

[Nutzzz]

Note this feature could be revived based on the method that MS Edge is currently using (meaning it should stick around for a while). This from <https://geelaw.blog/entries/msedge-pins/>:

1. Initialise COM.
2. Use ILCreateFromPathW to get an absolute PIDL.
3. Use CoCreateInstance to activate CLSID_TaskbandPin with interface IID_IPinnedList3.
4. Use Modify method with the PIDL to pin/unpin the target.
5. Release the interface, the PIDL and uninitialse COM.

You can get an example here under MIT license. Once compiled, use pin "C:\path\to\file.lnk" to pin a Shortcut, and pin "C:\path\to\file.lnk" u to unpin it.

[lordmulder]

Thanks, will definitely have a look at that!

I think the crucial point is the availability of the, apparently undocumented, IID_IPinnedList3 interface.

Is it only available in latest Windows 10 or also in older OS?