[BUG] - Can't disable News and Interests - Taskbar widget AND all the icons near the clock are missing from the Taskbar

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xShARkx

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Can't disable -> News and Interests - Taskbar widget <- in Settings -> Desktop, after saving changes and clicking process, when I open my iso again in NTLITE this option is back to default instead of disabled like in the screenshot below:

QUkq5x9.png


And

All the icons and notifications in the taskbar are also missing, even though its enabled in Settings -> Explorer, just like in the screenshot below:

HkAemqX.png



V5K7rMq.png


See /\ news and interest still here and all the icons for the network, sound and etc are missing.
 
Do you have a preset? So nuhi or someone else can know what NTLite version and Windows build you're editing?
 
Tried many times with clean iso's from scratch, but indeed the disable News and Interests - Taskbar widget policy in Settings is broken and does not apply properly.

The second issue regarding the taskbar icons near the clock seems fixed now with latest Ntlite, since i re-do from scratch, and it's fine now.

Edit:

Found the solution for first issue:

Code: 
# https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/taskbarda-widgets-registry-change-is-now-blocked.88547/#post-1849006
# jeff789741

$MethodDefinition = @'
[DllImport("Shlwapi.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, ExactSpelling = true, SetLastError = false)]
public static extern int HashData(
    byte[] pbData,
    int cbData,
    byte[] piet,
    int outputLen);
'@
$Shlwapi = Add-Type -MemberDefinition $MethodDefinition -Name 'Shlwapi' -Namespace 'Win32' -PassThru

# (2 is for off)
$option = 2

$machineIdReg = Get-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SQMClient\' -Name 'MachineId' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
$machineId = '{C283D224-5CAD-4502-95F0-2569E4C85074}' # Fallback Value

if ($machineIdReg) {
    $machineId = $machineIdReg.MachineId
}

$combined = $machineId + '_' + $option.ToString()
$reverse = $combined[($combined.Length - 1)..0] -join ''
$bytesIn = [system.Text.Encoding]::Unicode.GetBytes($reverse)
$bytesOut = [byte[]]::new(4)
$Shlwapi::HashData($bytesIn, 0x53, $bytesOut, $bytesOut.Count)

$dwordData = [System.BitConverter]::ToUInt32($bytesOut,0)

Copy-Item (Get-Command reg).Source .\reg1.exe

Start-Process -NoNewWindow -Wait -FilePath .\reg1.exe -ArgumentList 'ADD','HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Feeds\','/v','ShellFeedsTaskbarViewMode','/t','REG_DWORD','/d',$option,'/f'
Start-Process -NoNewWindow -Wait -FilePath .\reg1.exe -ArgumentList 'ADD','HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Feeds\','/v','EnShellFeedsTaskbarViewMode','/t','REG_DWORD','/d',$dwordData,'/f'

Remove-Item .\reg1.exe -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Source:

github.com

ShellFeedsTaskbarViewMode cannot be set with Explorer.Exe running · Issue #2733 · ChrisTitusTech/winutil

Describe the bug When running the "Disable Telemetry" Tweak, I get the below error: Set HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Feeds\ShellFeedsTaskbarViewMode to 2 WARNING: Unable to set S...
github.com github.com

and

forums.mydigitallife.net

TaskbarDa (Widgets) registry change is now blocked

I noticed that with the last August "Cumulative Update " that you can't change the "TaskbarDa" registry value anymore to disable the crappy TaskBar...
forums.mydigitallife.net forums.mydigitallife.net

edit 2:

Added the .ps1 with this script on post-setup, after first login the news and interest garbage was gone from the taskbar, but after restarting it was back again ffs.
 
Last edited:
Widgets is a terrible mess for tweaking. The correct solution depends on your Windows release (W10 vs. 11), if you simply want to unpin Widgets from the taskbar or disable it entirely, and whether you want an user or machine setting.

NTLite currently uses this tweak for W10:
Code: 
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Feeds]
"ShellFeedsTaskbarViewMode"=dword:00000002

As a HKCU setting, it can easily be ignored by later changes to Windows new user provisioning. To disable it for all users, and switch to a HKLM setting (which can't be overwritten by user setup):
Code: 
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Feeds]
"EnableFeeds"=dword:00000000
 
garlin said:
Widgets is a terrible mess for tweaking. The correct solution depends on your Windows release (W10 vs. 11), if you simply want to unpin Widgets from the taskbar or disable it entirely, and whether you want an user or machine setting.

NTLite currently uses this tweak for W10:
Code: 
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Feeds]
"ShellFeedsTaskbarViewMode"=dword:00000002

As a HKCU setting, it can easily be ignored by later changes to Windows new user provisioning. To disable it for all users, and switch to a HKLM setting (which can't be overwritten by user setup):
Code: 
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Feeds]
"EnableFeeds"=dword:00000000
Click to expand...

Yeah i saw on the preset that ntlite was using ShellFeedsTaskbarViewMode set to 2, but it seems that this key is blocked from changes, that's why when you set News and Interests - Taskbar widget <- in Settings to disabled in ntlite which = to ShellFeedsTaskbarViewMode set to 2, after processing and loading the iso again its back to default instead of disabled.

Tried the second reg key and that one seems to work, ill test more and give feed back.

Thank you.
 
You re-edited post #6 this morning, but you don't need this PS script to bypass Taskbar security protections.

Just remove the User Choice Protection Driver (UCPD) from the image. It only has one job, to prevent you (or an app) from tampering with selected Taskbar or File Type Associations (FTA) settings. You can also disable the driver as a Service, but it's still pointless keeping it around.
 
garlin said:
You re-edited post #6 this morning, but you don't need this PS script to bypass Taskbar security protections.

Just remove the User Choice Protection Driver (UCPD) from the image. It only has one job, to prevent you (or an app) from tampering with selected Taskbar or File Type Associations (FTA) settings. You can also disable the driver as a Service, but it's still pointless keeping it around.
Click to expand...
So if I disabled the User Choice Protection Driver (UCPD), do you think that then the News and Interests - Taskbar widget setting will apply properly in ntlite?

Which is the best option\practice?

1 - Disabling UCPD + changing the News and Interests - Taskbar widget setting to disabled in ntlite

or

2 - Disabling UCPD + adding this registry file in ntlite:

Code: 
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Feeds]
"EnableFeeds"=dword:00000000
 
We know at some point, NTLite's tweak did work as advertised. So removing UCPD might be the difference, since it was added in March 2024 and later updates.

There are multiple solutions because some of tweaks work at the taskbar level, other tweaks work at blocking the Widgets app, or its feed (which blocks the app).
 
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