Classic Shell: Forum

V4.2.1 hosed my Start Menu, when I updated from 4.1.0

Many items start with "$Menu."
I saw where those items are to be looked up in StartMenuL10N.ini, but that file is 89KB full of nul characters.

I can't uninstall this version, or even re-install this same version, because it looks for 'ClassicShellSDetup64_4_1_0.msi, which is not anywhere on my hard drive. It looks in 'C:\ProgramData\' for the file, but a Search can't find that file anywhere.
I saw online that the file might be in C:\Windows\Installer, but I don't have an 'Installer' folder under 'Windows'.
I have hidden items set to show.

The one saving grace is that the Start Menu does still work.

Looks like the installation got hosed. Run the installer for 4.2.1 again (download it again if you don't have it), then choose Remove. Reboot and install again.

I was able to restore 'StartMenuL10N.ini' and 'StartMenuHelperL10N.ini' files from a hard drive backup, and the Start Menu items no longer have the '$Menu.' prefix. Both of those .ini files were full of nuls, but 'ExplorerL10N.ini' seemed OK.

I didn't try running the 4.1.0 installer. Since 4.2.0 seems to be installed, I'm not sure if that installer will remove the program.I think I did try the 4.2.1 installer again, but got nowhere.

Additional: I ran the installer again (ClassicShellSetup_4_2_1.exe) but don't see "Remove" as an option - just Install.

You need to uninstall the previous version first. It may fail if the previous installer was corrupted (like if its files got deleted or something). You need to download the installer for the exact version you currently have and select Remove. I thought you currently have 4.2.1, that's why I suggested you run it and Remove. If you have another one, like 4.1.0 or 4.2.0, find it here: http://www.oldfoss.com/Classic-Shell.html

Once you successfully remove what you currently have, do a reboot, and try installing 4.2.1 cleanly. It should work.

Thanks. I'm back in business