Get Windows XP Styled Classic All Programs List in Windows Vista and 7

Many people complain about Windows Vista start menu. They want Windows XP styled "All Programs" list in Vista. Windows Vista shows the Programs list within startmenu on the other hand XP shows it in a new expanded column outside the startmenu.

Recently we received an email from "James Phillips":

Dear Vishal, I am contacting you as a last resort (I have already stated my problem in various forums and blogs with no success whatsoever).

My problem is with Vista's start menu, specifically the way it displays the All Programs list. Instead of showing the list within the start menu itself, i would like it to expand out into a new column, just like in XP.

I know this function is available using the classic menu, but i actually like all of the other features in the normal menu (search etc...) so I would prefer not to use classic.

thanks for any suggestions you may have.

Actually there is a way to enable XP styled All Programs list in Vista which will also work in Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7.

Long time back, we posted a tutorial to customize Windows XP start menu:

Change Look-n-Feel of Windows XP Start Menu

We'll use the Step 5 mentioned in above tutorial to implement XP styled Programs list in Vista. We'll replace "Favorites" menu with "All Programs" menu.

1. Open regedit and go to following keys one by one:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

2. Now you'll need to change the value of Favorites string value in right-side pane to:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

Change C: to your system drive, where windows is installed in your system.

3. That's it. Log off or restart your system and now "Favorites" link in start menu will change to "Programs" and will show all program shortcuts installed in your system just like XP start menu does.

NOTE: If you can't see the new menu in startmenu, you'll need to enable "Favorites Menu" from Taskbar Properties -> Start Menu -> Customize.

4. You can also disable the All Programs button in start menu. Open regedit and goto:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

In right-side pane, create a new DWORD value NoStartMenuMorePrograms and set its value to 1

Now log off or restart your system and the final output will look as following:

As you can see, the new Programs menu shows the program shortcuts very similar to XP and "All Programs" button is no longer there.

PS: If you want a ready-made registry script to do the task automatically, then download following ZIP file, extract it and run the extracted REG file. It'll ask for confirmation, accept it. Restart your system to take affects:

Download Registry Script

This article was posted in Windows 7, Windows Vista.

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43 Comments

Nikolaj

i know another way you cold copy explorer.exe from xp to vista and run it in safe mode but that kills aero
FaRReR

I extremely doubt that would work. Have you tried it? It'd probably screw up your computer forever.
FaRReR

I meant to 'Nikolaj', by the way. Not Vishal, you rock mate!
moioonode

What theme you are using, vishal ?
Nikolaj

it works i did it!
Nikolaj

oh i mean u shold not replace it with the windows xp explorer just try closing vista explorer and open xp explorer in xp mode it works with a xp sp2 explorer
Nikolaj

@moioonode
VG is using AeroVG
goldi

Thanks VG nice job but anyway how to restore?????????
goldi

Means how to restore to default content menu???
Riza

Wow. Perfect! Again, perfect!
This is an thing what I don't like in Vista and now it's fixed. I'll be back when I start using Vista.
For now I prefer XP MCE.