Start11 2.7 Now Available with Taskbar Refinements

Today we are releasing an update for Start11 v2 that brings a heavy focus on taskbar refinements along with compatibility fixes for the latest Windows 11 preview builds. The update is rolling out now and will be available on your device within a week or you can manually search for an update from the About panel in the configuration window.

Much of this release is centered on smoothing out taskbar behavior when using vertical taskbars, rounded corners, autohide, on-top taskbars, and multi-monitor setups where two taskbars may be oriented differently. There is also a new UI option to disable all taskbar functionality in Start11 for users who prefer to use the menu without any taskbar modifications.

Compatibility was the other major focus in this release. The recent preview update KB5086672 introduced an issue where on-top taskbars could cause icons to sit under the taskbar, which this build resolves, along with a workaround for the latest Windows 11 builds where the search box on vertical taskbars would sometimes paint without an icon. Several 25H2-specific issues were also addressed, including the search window appearing too high on screen with left or right taskbars and search on a right-aligned taskbar overlapping slightly.

For deployment scenarios and power users, this release includes new options like S11_ForceDarkMode that provides administrators control over dark mode behavior for Win7-style menus, and S11_HideShadows provides an option to hide shadows on the Start11 menu when preferred.

Rounding out the release are a handful of quality-of-life improvements. Microsoft Edge pinned weblinks can now use the icon from the webpage and resizing Win11-style menus allows them to be a little smaller than in previous releases to allow you to create a more compact Start menu layout.

If you haven't tried Start11 v2, you can learn more about it on the app page and if you have any feedback, make sure to let us know as much of what shipped in this release came directly from customers reporting edge cases with vertical taskbars, multi-monitor setups, and the latest Windows 11 preview builds.