A bad weekend and last few days.

[Suff]

WM a lesson long learned with Windows when this happens, from a similar issue I had years ago, keep a backup machine, use a physical network and rdp to the machine you are locked out of. Almost every time I have been able to get back in even if I was locked out by a standard interfaced issue because RDP is a slightly different subsystem.

BTW did you still have the Explore patcher installed? I tried it and experienced a similar crash after update way back in the early days which is why I stopped using it.

I have found two workarounds to having to use explore patcher. One is a taskbar which sits on top of the actual taskbar and the other is a menu which incorporates itself into the system tray and can be exposed as a fixed item so you can just click on it. I've only found these two in the last month or so using Grok because work is going to move me off Windows 10 by October and force me onto Windows 11.

Both apps come in portable editions which makes it possible for me to use with the work machine.

Sorry gate, horse bolted. But worth remembering.