Start11 with nVidia Surround

from Stardock Forums

Windows 11
nVidia 1080 x2, SLI
Three 4K displays - 11520x2160 total resolution

I've been using Start11 since last year with nearly no issues. Recently, a new program I need to run requires enabling nVidia Surround so that my three monitors appear as a single monitor to Windows. Upon making this change, I encountered MANY issues that could not be fixed by just restarting Windows Explorer or even rebooting. I've had problems such as:

  • Taskbar Settings forcing Start11 to crash
  • Taskbar stuck at top of left monitor
  • Taskbar half-visible at bottom of left or all monitors
  • Taskbar missing altogether

I've been reading through the forums trying to resolve each issue. Each time, I've had to:

  1. Uninstall Start11
  2. Restart PC
  3. Manually delete any remaining Stardock folders/contents
  4. Run Purge_StartAll as Admin
  5. Restart PC
  6. Reinstall Start11

I've tried several different settings, but no matter what, I can't get Start11 to work properly with my Windows Desktop when in Surround mode. Apparently, from the many threads I've found in the forums, I'm not alone.

Is Start11 planning to fix this functionality? I already own three licenses, and it would be quite disappointing if this wasn't something that was being fixed. I am told that a competitive product currently DOES work with surround mode.

Thank you for any assistance you can provide.

Ted

start menu products
2,401 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. Would like to know which version of Windows and what version of Start11 on have on your system? For Windows, please Windows own "Winver.exe" to get those numbers. Also need to know  which scaling factor you have on (100%, 125%,150% etc)?

Thanks
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

I installed Start11 using 1.24.0.0 (that is the setup.exe number)

I see Stardock Start11 Service (32 bit) File version 1.1.0.0 in my processes list
I also see two instances of Start11_64.exe, File version 1.0.0.1 in my processes list.

In the Start Menu, the Start11 icon points to Start11Config.exe File version 1.2.4.0

Winver.exe reports Version 21H2 (OS Build 22000.795)

Scaling factor is 200%

Hope this is enough info.

Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Just as a test, put the scaling factor to 100%, reboot, retest, see if the issue go away and report back. You can put back the 200% scale after that.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

It will take some work -- I'll try to get to it later. I had to remove surround uninstall and reinstall to get things set up. Is there a way to save my Start Menu shortcut layout so that I don't have to go through all of this any more times? It's almost 70 arranged/grouped icons. :-)

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,

Sorry to hear you are having trouble.

Is Start11 planning to fix this functionality?
End of quote

Start11 is not 'broken' in this case.  To do what Start11 does, restore prior Windows features (to the taskbar in particular), we had to create it - a new taskbar - from scratch.  NVidia Surround, DisplayFusion, etc often conflict with that effort.

That said, as a workaround, you may try turning off the Start11 Enhanced Taskbar features when you have a need to use Surround:

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager