"Windows Gadgets Platform" dissapeared from windows features.

[alimeerth]

I just did a clean install of windows vista, not made too much modify to the system. gadgets were working fine before. however, when i add a gadget to the sidebar now it looks graphiccaly corrupted or straight up frozen. i looked up for potential fixes, but later found out that windows gadget platform is not even a option in the turn windows features on/off menu. does someone know how can i add it back?

 

[Vistaar]

I just did a clean install of windows vista...

Welcome to the forum alimeerth! We would really like to know if you have been able to activate this install of Windows Vista? That seems doubtful in light of recent articles such as Microsoft silently kills the last way to activate Windows without internet.

Microsoft actually deprecated Windows Sidebar and gadgets way back in 2012: Microsoft Security Advisory 2719662. Windows 8, 10 and 11 don’t have this old feature. I kept Windows Sidebar disabled as instructed by Microsoft. In your case, it doesn’t sound like Sidebar is disabled, but rather like you have corruption. You probably did a clean install because you were having problems with your old installation. Unless your installation media was corrupt, you most likely have an old hard drive that is failing. Assuming you do not have the so-called extended kernel, I would suggest running sfc /scannow from an elevated command prompt.

 

[wither 3]

I wonder if he has all the updates to Vista.
Also, I wonder if the screen resolution is the same as before.
I run the Windows Sidebar with no issues.

 

[alimeerth]

I have the extended kernel up and working, and i installed the system to a brand new ssd. its fully updated and all the stuff, and i activated it by the developer aplication tool because there is no way to activate vista anymore in my country, turkey. at first the sidebar did not even showed up, but after using sfc /scannow, it shows up but the gadgets are glitched. screen resulution was always 1366x768, cuz suprisingly intel hd graphics driver came preinstalled in the iso.

 

[wither 3]

I looked in Programs and Features and no gadgets item is listed nor is any listed in turning Windows Features on and off.

I wonder if alimeerth would provide a screenshot of the problem.

 

[Vistaar]

I have the extended kernel up and working...at first the sidebar did not even showed up, but after using sfc /scannow, it shows up but the gadgets are glitched.

If you ran sfc /scannow with the so-called extended kernel installed, then your extended kernel is now bricked because those files are “corrupt” as far as sfc knows! I don’t know why you would even want extended kernel in 2026, since it is no longer sufficient for browsers such as Chrome or Firefox and not required for Supermium Web Browser. I also don’t know what effect extended kernel might have on Windows Sidebar.

@wither 3 Would you please check both your Vista and Windows 7 installations to see if “Windows gadget platform” is an option in “turn windows features on/off”? I don’t remember Vista having that, but maybe he found a post online that applied only to Windows 7? Ways of disabling Sidebar on Vista were described in the Microsoft link that I posted earlier

 

[Vistaar]

I looked in Programs and Features and no gadgets item is listed nor is any listed in turning Windows Features on and off.

Would you also check Windows 7 if you still have a working installation?

I think this is an extended kernel issue that we probably won’t be able to help with.