Nothing happens when installing the ep_setup.exe

[HenrikoMagnifico]

I double clicked the setup installer, it asked for elevation. Clicked "Ok" and then the screen went gray for a second. Then nothing changed. Everything's like usual in Windows 11, what did I do wrong?

Running the latest 2021-12, cumulative update for Windows 11 for x64-based systems (KB5008215)

[valinet]

Kill explorer.exe and start it manually.

[Andre-10]

Do you see "Properties" when right clicking the Taskbar?

[null-von-sushi]

For what it's worth, it also did nothing for me. Right clicking the taskbar just gives me "Taskbar properties", which opens the new settings. I tried restarting explorer manually, did not fix it. I am using an ARM based system though...

[7coil]

I also just edited references in the setup file from AMD64 to ARM64, which makes me feel that the setup works properly

[valinet]

makes me feel that the setup works properly

It’s a Turing machine, you don’t need to “feel”, we have all the instruments to actually confirm something. If the solution file generates ExplorerPatcher.amd64.dll, that has to be changed as well. Anyway, idk, the setup probably has to be modified: on ARM64, you would actually need 3 DLLs:

• ARM64 version to inject explorer and native processes
• amd64 version to inject x86 64-bit apps running under emulation (if EP is used as shell extension)
• IA-32 version to inject x86 32-bit apps running under emulation (if EP is used as shell extension)

Also, idk if the calling convention used by Windows APIs on ARM64 is different than the one used by the standard. Have to check it out. If it is different, many function prototypes are improper as they are, they would have to be decorated with the calling convention as well (using “WINAPI”, which on amd64 is “__fastcall”). The reason these are missing in the first place is, at first, I wasn’t that aware of this aspect (EP is a giant learning process) and because on amd64 the Windows API uses fastcall while the standard uses fastcall as well. On IA-32, they actually differ, like, Windows API is fastcall while the standard uses cdecl as far as I remember, so for the functions included there, those are decorated.

Also, some patches have to be manually edited, especially the ones handpicking class members from class pointers (obtained by calls to GetWindowLongPtrW, for example). For example, extracting the clock object instance from the CTray object. Or TrayUI from CTray. Those are highly dependent on the object layout generated by the compiler. They 99.99% do not match what the amd64 compiler did. The disassembly for the ARM64 version of explorer.exe has to be studied. Unfortunately, IDA Free only works with amd64 binaries. Maybe try Ghidra…?

This patch is not trivial at all. New architectures don’t come for free, or as the touted magic pills where everything is solved magically. Or at least for these kind of apps. Yeah, web pages generally work just fine…

[7coil]

I have builds working for all three architecture; I'll take a gander to see what I can bodge tomorrow.

Also it's a "feeling" because even with the tools, I don't really understand what I'm doing - I'm just a monkey that bought into WOA because I'm an idiot.

[msikma]

It does nothing for me either, and I'm also on Windows 11 for ARM. Curious to see what you come up with.

[Amrsatrio]

Here's my latest progress on getting this to work on ARM64:
#138 (reply in thread)