Two Spyder icons on Windows taskbar

[mrclary]

Checklist

• I added a descriptive title
• I searched open reports and couldn't find a duplicate

What happened?

After a shortcut is created and the user pins the shortcut to the taskbar, launching the application from the taskbar results in two taskbar icons.
See spyder-ide/spyder#24292.

Expect only one taskbar icon.

Note: the expected behavior is observed if, and only if, "app_user_model_id": "spyder.spyder"

Conda Info

active environment : base
    active env location : C:\Users\rclary\AppData\Local\miniforge3
            shell level : 1
       user config file : C:\Users\rclary\.condarc
 populated config files : C:\Users\rclary\AppData\Local\miniforge3\.condarc
                          C:\Users\rclary\.condarc
          conda version : 25.11.0
    conda-build version : 25.11.1
         python version : 3.12.11.final.0
                 solver : libmamba (default)
       virtual packages : __archspec=1=icelake
                          __conda=25.11.0=0
                          __cuda=0=0
                          __win=10.0.26100=0
       base environment : C:\Users\rclary\AppData\Local\miniforge3  (writable)
      conda av data dir : C:\Users\rclary\AppData\Local\miniforge3\etc\conda
  conda av metadata url : None
           channel URLs : https://conda.anaconda.org/conda-forge/win-64
                          https://conda.anaconda.org/conda-forge/noarch
                          https://conda.anaconda.org/nodefaults/win-64
                          https://conda.anaconda.org/nodefaults/noarch
          package cache : C:\Users\rclary\AppData\Local\miniforge3\pkgs
                          C:\Users\rclary\.conda\pkgs
                          C:\Users\rclary\AppData\Local\conda\conda\pkgs
       envs directories : C:\Users\rclary\.conda\envs
                          C:\Users\rclary\AppData\Local\miniforge3\envs
                          C:\Users\rclary\AppData\Local\conda\conda\envs
               platform : win-64
             user-agent : conda/25.11.0 requests/2.32.4 CPython/3.12.11 Windows/11 Windows/10.0.26100 solver/libmamba conda-libmamba-solver/25.4.0 libmambapy/2.1.1
          administrator : False
             netrc file : None
           offline mode : False

Conda Config

==> C:\Users\rclary\AppData\Local\miniforge3\.condarc <==
channels:
  - conda-forge

==> C:\Users\rclary\.condarc <==
envs_dirs:
  - C:\Users\rclary\.conda\envs
channels:
  - conda-forge
  - nodefaults
custom_multichannels:
  local: ('file:///C:/Users/rclary/.conda/conda-bld',)
show_channel_urls: True

==> envvars <==
allow_softlinks: False

Conda list

# packages in environment at C:\Users\rclary\AppData\Local\miniforge3:
#
# Name                         Version          Build               Channel
annotated-types                0.7.0            pyhd8ed1ab_1        conda-forge
appdirs                        1.4.4            pyhd8ed1ab_1        conda-forge
archspec                       0.2.5            pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
attrs                          25.4.0           pyhcf101f3_1        conda-forge
backports                      1.0              pyhd8ed1ab_5        conda-forge
backports.tarfile              1.2.0            pyhd8ed1ab_1        conda-forge
beautifulsoup4                 4.14.3           pyha770c72_0        conda-forge
boltons                        25.0.0           pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
brotli-python                  1.1.0            py312h275cf98_3     conda-forge
bzip2                          1.0.8            h2466b09_7          conda-forge
ca-certificates                2025.11.12       h4c7d964_0          conda-forge
cachecontrol                   0.14.3           pyha770c72_0        conda-forge
cachecontrol-with-filecache    0.14.3           pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
certifi                        2025.11.12       pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
cffi                           1.17.1           py312h4389bb4_0     conda-forge
chardet                        5.2.0            pyhd8ed1ab_3        conda-forge
charset-normalizer             3.4.2            pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
click                          8.2.1            pyh7428d3b_0        conda-forge
click-default-group            1.2.4            pyhd8ed1ab_1        conda-forge
colorama                       0.4.6            pyhd8ed1ab_1        conda-forge
conda                          25.11.0          py312h2e8e312_0     conda-forge
conda-build                    25.11.1          py312h5ae4e53_0     conda-forge
conda-index                    0.7.0            pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
conda-libmamba-solver          25.4.0           pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
conda-lock                     3.0.4            pyha6a9232_1        conda-forge
conda-package-handling         2.4.0            pyh7900ff3_2        conda-forge
conda-package-streaming        0.12.0           pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
cpp-expected                   1.1.0            hc790b64_1          conda-forge
crashtest                      0.4.1            pyhd8ed1ab_1        conda-forge
distlib                        0.4.0            pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
distro                         1.9.0            pyhd8ed1ab_1        conda-forge
dulwich                        0.22.8           py312h2615798_0     conda-forge
ensureconda                    1.4.7            pyh29332c3_0        conda-forge
evalidate                      2.0.5            pyhe01879c_0        conda-forge
filelock                       3.19.1           pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
fmt                            11.1.4           h5f12afc_1          conda-forge
frozendict                     2.4.6            py312h4389bb4_0     conda-forge
gitdb                          4.0.12           pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
gitpython                      3.1.45           pyhff2d567_0        conda-forge
h2                             4.2.0            pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
hpack                          4.1.0            pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
hyperframe                     6.1.0            pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
idna                           3.10             pyhd8ed1ab_1        conda-forge
importlib-metadata             8.7.0            pyhe01879c_1        conda-forge
importlib_resources            6.5.2            pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
jaraco.classes                 3.4.0            pyhd8ed1ab_2        conda-forge
jaraco.context                 6.0.1            pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
jaraco.functools               4.3.0            pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
jinja2                         3.1.6            pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
jsonpatch                      1.33             pyhd8ed1ab_1        conda-forge
jsonpointer                    3.0.0            py312h2e8e312_1     conda-forge
jsonschema                     4.25.1           pyhe01879c_0        conda-forge
jsonschema-specifications      2025.9.1         pyhcf101f3_0        conda-forge
keyring                        25.6.0           pyh7428d3b_0        conda-forge
krb5                           1.21.3           hdf4eb48_0          conda-forge
libarchive                     3.7.7            h5343c79_4          conda-forge
libcurl                        8.14.1           h88aaa65_0          conda-forge
libexpat                       2.7.1            hac47afa_0          conda-forge
libffi                         3.4.6            h537db12_1          conda-forge
libiconv                       1.18             h135ad9c_1          conda-forge
liblief                        0.16.6           hac47afa_1          conda-forge
liblzma                        5.8.1            h2466b09_2          conda-forge
libmamba                       2.1.1            h00a3e12_0          conda-forge
libmambapy                     2.1.1            py312h259b449_0     conda-forge
libsolv                        0.7.34           h8883371_0          conda-forge
libsqlite                      3.50.3           hf5d6505_1          conda-forge
libssh2                        1.11.1           h9aa295b_0          conda-forge
libxml2                        2.13.8           h442d1da_0          conda-forge
libzlib                        1.3.1            h2466b09_2          conda-forge
lz4-c                          1.10.0           h2466b09_1          conda-forge
lzo                            2.10             hcfcfb64_1001       conda-forge
m2-conda-epoch                 20250515         0_x86_64            conda-forge
m2-msys2-runtime               3.6.1.4          hc364b38_6          conda-forge
m2-patch                       2.7.6.3          hc364b38_6          conda-forge
mamba                          2.1.1            hbfb34a1_0          conda-forge
markupsafe                     3.0.2            py312h31fea79_1     conda-forge
mbedtls                        3.6.3.1          he0c23c2_0          conda-forge
menuinst                       2.4.1            py312hbb81ca0_0     conda-forge
miniforge_console_shortcut     1.0              h57928b3_0          conda-forge
more-itertools                 10.7.0           pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
msgpack-python                 1.1.1            py312hd5eb7cc_0     conda-forge
nlohmann_json                  3.11.3           he0c23c2_1          conda-forge
openssl                        3.6.0            h725018a_0          conda-forge
packaging                      25.0             pyh29332c3_1        conda-forge
pip                            25.1.1           pyh8b19718_0        conda-forge
pkginfo                        1.12.1.2         pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
platformdirs                   4.3.8            pyhe01879c_0        conda-forge
pluggy                         1.6.0            pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
psutil                         7.1.3            py312he5662c2_0     conda-forge
py-lief                        0.16.6           py312hbb81ca0_1     conda-forge
pybind11-abi                   4                hd8ed1ab_3          conda-forge
pycosat                        0.6.6            py312h4389bb4_2     conda-forge
pycparser                      2.22             pyh29332c3_1        conda-forge
pydantic                       2.11.7           pyh3cfb1c2_0        conda-forge
pydantic-core                  2.33.2           py312h8422cdd_0     conda-forge
pyproject_hooks                1.2.0            pyhd8ed1ab_1        conda-forge
pysocks                        1.7.1            pyh09c184e_7        conda-forge
python                         3.12.11          h3f84c4b_0_cpython  conda-forge
python-build                   1.3.0            pyhff2d567_0        conda-forge
python-fastjsonschema          2.21.2           pyhe01879c_0        conda-forge
python-installer               0.7.0            pyhff2d567_1        conda-forge
python-libarchive-c            5.3              pyhe01879c_1        conda-forge
python_abi                     3.12             8_cp312             conda-forge
pytz                           2025.2           pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
pywin32-ctypes                 0.2.3            py312h2e8e312_1     conda-forge
pyyaml                         6.0.2            py312h31fea79_2     conda-forge
referencing                    0.37.0           pyhcf101f3_0        conda-forge
reproc                         14.2.5.post0     h2466b09_0          conda-forge
reproc-cpp                     14.2.5.post0     he0c23c2_0          conda-forge
requests                       2.32.4           pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
requests-toolbelt              1.0.0            pyhd8ed1ab_1        conda-forge
ripgrep                        15.1.0           h77a83cd_0          conda-forge
rpds-py                        0.30.0           py312hdabe01f_0     conda-forge
ruamel.yaml                    0.18.14          py312h4389bb4_0     conda-forge
ruamel.yaml.clib               0.2.8            py312h4389bb4_1     conda-forge
semver                         3.0.4            pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
setuptools                     80.9.0           pyhff2d567_0        conda-forge
shellingham                    1.5.4            pyhd8ed1ab_1        conda-forge
simdjson                       3.12.3           hc790b64_0          conda-forge
smmap                          5.0.2            pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
soupsieve                      2.8              pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
tk                             8.6.13           h2c6b04d_2          conda-forge
tomli                          2.2.1            pyhe01879c_2        conda-forge
tomlkit                        0.13.3           pyha770c72_0        conda-forge
tqdm                           4.67.1           pyhd8ed1ab_1        conda-forge
trove-classifiers              2025.8.6.13      pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
truststore                     0.10.1           pyh29332c3_0        conda-forge
typing-extensions              4.14.1           h4440ef1_0          conda-forge
typing-inspection              0.4.1            pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
typing_extensions              4.14.1           pyhe01879c_0        conda-forge
tzdata                         2025b            h78e105d_0          conda-forge
ucrt                           10.0.22621.0     h57928b3_1          conda-forge
urllib3                        2.5.0            pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
vc                             14.3             h41ae7f8_31         conda-forge
vc14_runtime                   14.44.35208      h818238b_31         conda-forge
vcomp14                        14.44.35208      h818238b_31         conda-forge
virtualenv                     20.34.0          pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
wheel                          0.45.1           pyhd8ed1ab_1        conda-forge
win_inet_pton                  1.1.0            pyh7428d3b_8        conda-forge
yaml                           0.2.5            h6a83c73_3          conda-forge
yaml-cpp                       0.8.0            he0c23c2_0          conda-forge
zipp                           3.23.0           pyhd8ed1ab_0        conda-forge
zstandard                      0.23.0           py312h4389bb4_2     conda-forge
zstd                           1.5.7            hbeecb71_2          conda-forge

Additional Context

To reproduce:

1. Install Spyder.

   conda create -n spy611 python=3.12 spyder=6.1.1
   

2. Pin the shortcut to the taskbar, launch, and notice two icons.
3. Unpin from the taskbar and remove the shortcut.

   menuinst --prefix C:\Users\rclary\.conda\envs\spy611 --remove spyder
   

4. Modify spyder-menu.json to have "app_user_model_id": "spyder.spyder".
5. Create shortcut.

   menuinst --prefix C:\Users\rclary\.conda\envs\spy611 --install spyder
   

6. Pin the shortcut to the taskbar, launch, and notice only one icon, as expected.

I've tried this with conda=24.5.0 and conda=25.11.0; menuinst=2.1.2, menuinst=2.3.1, and menuinst=2.4.1. All exhibiting the same behavior. I've also tried various values of app_user_model_id:

• Any variation in the capitalization of spyder.spyder works properly, e.g. Spyder.Spyder, SPYDER.SPYDER, ...
• Any variation other than capitalization results in two icons, e.g. spyderide.Spyder6, spyder-ide.spyder, spyde6.spyder, ...

[mrclary]

I've also used a minimal working menu.json file without any change to the reported behavior.

{
    "$schema": "https://schemas.conda.org/menuinst/menuinst-1-1-2.schema.json",
    "menu_name": "Spyder-IDE",
    "menu_items": [
        {
            "name": "Spyder 6 ({{ ENV_NAME }})",
            "description": "Scientific PYthon Development EnviRonment",
            "icon": "{{ MENU_DIR }}/spyder.{{ ICON_EXT }}",
            "activate": false,
            "terminal": false,
            "command": ["{{ PREFIX }}/Scripts/spyder.exe", "%1 "],
            "platforms": {
                "win": {
                    "desktop": true,
                    "app_user_model_id": "spyder.spyder"
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

[mrclary]

I should also mention that I've performed a search for spyder.spyder in the registry editor and removed any items found, before running the tests.

[lrandersson]

Hey @mrclary thanks for reporting this. Just letting you know that I can reproduce it and will look into it.

[lrandersson]

Hi @mrclary, I've looked at this and right now and my theory is that what you're seeing is the expected behavior.
From the spyder code here it looks like it's hardcoded as spyder.Spyder:

def set_windows_appusermodelid():
    """Make sure correct icon is used on Windows 7 taskbar"""
    try:
        return windll.shell32.SetCurrentProcessExplicitAppUserModelID("spyder.Spyder")
    except AttributeError:
        return "SetCurrentProcessExplicitAppUserModelID not found"

Then if the menuinst field app_user_model_id does not match this, Windows will not be able to match the running program with what is set by Spyder when the process is running. I'm also assuming that spyder.spyder or SPYDER.SPYDER (any combination of upper/lower case) works because Windows does this comparison in a case insensitive fashion.

So to summarize, the shortcut app_id must match the process app_id in order to group them together.

Please let me know if you disagree, or have any other input/comments. I saw your comment also about - and _ as well, I agree that the documentation does not really comment on that, the menuinst documentation redirects to the following link https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/shell/appids#how-to-form-an-application-defined-appusermodelid, but it also just says that it should follow pascal notation, and not that it must. But again, I think the issue is just because the spyder app hardcodes this as spyder.Spyder

[mrclary]

@lrandersson, that's great news! Thanks for finding that. It's also a bit embarrassing that I didn't find it 😆 . I'll double check that I can fix it on my end, but I think you can go ahead and close this issue.

[lrandersson]

@mrclary no problem, and thanks, let us know if you encounter any additional problems.

[marcoesters]

Hi @mrclary, great to hear that the problem has solved itself! I will go ahead and close the issue. Please ping us if this you find any new information that points to a menuinst bug and I will reopen.