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

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NOTE: This tutorial has been featured by Microsoft. AskVG.com was the first website posting this unique trick.

IMPORTANT: This method will also replace "Favorites" list in Internet Explorer with "All Programs" list.

Many people complain about Windows Vista and 7 start menu. They want Windows XP styled "All Programs" list. Windows Vista and 7 show the All 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, 7 and Server 2008.

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 and 7. We'll replace "Favorites" menu with "All Programs" menu.

1. Type regedit in RUN dialog box and press Enter. Now 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. Type regedit in RUN dialog box and press Enter. Now 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

NOTE: If you want to restore the default settings, Type regedit in RUN dialog box and press Enter. Now go to following keys:

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

In right-side pane, change value of "Favorites" to:

%USERPROFILE%\Favorites

Other similar articles that may interest you:

This article was posted by VG in following section: Windows 7, Windows Vista.

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AL Fischer

VERY GOOD! Now, how can we ADD a Program entry instead of replacing FAVORITES with it?
Arlen

It worked very nicely.... It was great until I tried to save a website in my Internet Browser and discovered that my programs were there instead of My Favorites and it would not allow me to save a websit to it. Now I have another problem. How can I fix it?
VG

^^ Please check the NOTE section given at the end.
Thorsten Albrecht

Instead of replying "^^ Please check the NOTE section given at the end." you should mention that anybody who uses this workaround will loose his Internet Explorer Favorites. This solution for the classic start menu is only a workaround if anybody won't use his IE anymore.

Thorsten
Bianca Duvall

Umm.. now my Windows 7 internet explorer favourites menu has my applications listed ! DOH!.

Lucky I saved my reg entries before i changed them.

Oh well it seemed good, shame it doesnt work
david

Thanks, works great. One caveat -- when restarting after setting the dword to "1" Win 7 Pro freaked out and showed only the recycle bin and a shortened program menu. A full reboot is what was needed to get rid of the "All Programs" button.

Once again, great work.
aximili

Am I the only one who can't see the programs in
C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
?

I changed those registry values to All User's programs
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

What happens to Current User's programs??

Thanks though, this Windows 7 programs list is so stupid.
vip

how to change the position(up-down) of "programs",like in screenshot its on 5th position. how to position at below "RUN".

thanks
VG

^^ Thats not possible.
Juan C Walls

I think I found a more or less satisfactory solution in the way that you don't have to renounce to your favorites.

You all probably know you can restore the Quick Launch bar by right clicking in the task bar, choosing Tool Bars/New Tool bar and then selecting the folder where the Quick Launch is stored. (%appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch by entering this text directly in the folder input at the bottom of the window)

This is Basically the same trick, but you type %appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

This will create a new Quick Launch bar with the same functionallity it has the "All Programs" section of the start button in Windows XP. Call it Programs, place it next to the Start button and reduce its size so it only shows the title and there you have it!

The only drawback is it doesn't replace the "all programs" section inside the Start Palette (but I prefer not to disable it) and it steals a small piece of the task bar.

Please, let me know if you try this trick how it resulted.

BTW, in the main article, where it says C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs it should say %appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs This is the correct way to point to that folder independently of the location of the windows installation.

And now lets see if you can help me. This trick and the Quick Launch trick have worked perfectly in other computers I've tryed but in my computer, every time I click in the >> symbol next to programs, it opens the palette in the correct size but blank and it takes a lot of time to display the icons and names and the same happens with every subfolder and also with the Quick Launch bar.