How to Enable Good Old Windows Vista and 7 Style Start Menu and Disable Metro UI in Windows 8 Developer Preview?

NOTE: If you are using a new version of Windows 8 and the methods mentioned in this article don’t work for you, check out following updated tutorial: How to Enable Start Button and Start Menu in Windows 8?

If you have started testing recently released Windows 8 Developer Preview build, you might have noticed that Microsoft has removed the old Start menu and replaced it with the new Start Screen.

There is no option given to bring back the old Windows Vista or 7 style Start menu in Windows 8.

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In this topic we are going to share 3 methods to enable old Start Menu in Windows 8:

  • Using Registry hack
  • By renaming a system file
  • Using 3rd party Software

METHOD 1: Using Registry Hack

This method involves a small registry trick which can enable old Start Menu in Windows 8. Please keep in mind this registry trick will also disable the new Metro UI stuff and ribbon in Windows Explorer.

1. Press “WIN+R” key combination to launch RUN dialog box then type regedit and press Enter. It’ll open Registry Editor and go to following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

2. In right-side pane, change value of “RPEnabled” to 0

Enable_Windows_8_Classic_Start_Menu.png

3. That’s it. It’ll bring back the old start menu in Windows 8.

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Windows_8_Classic_Start_Menu.png

PS: If you want to restore default settings, change the value to 1 again.

METHOD 2: By Renaming System File

This method involves renaming a system file “shsxs.dll“. It enables old Start Menu but disables new Start Screen. Unlike the above registry method, this method doesn’t disable Ribbon UI in Windows Explorer:

1. Press “WIN+R” key combination to launch RUN dialog box then type %windir% and press Enter. It’ll open “Windows” folder.

2. Now look for a file with the name “shsxs.dll“. Once you find it, rename it to some other name like “shsxs.dll.bak“.

If you get an error while renaming the file, first take ownership of the file using any of following tutorials:

Rename_shsxs_dll_file_Windows_8.png

3. That’s it. Restart your system and now you’ll have access to old Start Menu.

Thanks to our readers “Chris123NT“, “Andy” and “billstelling” for sharing this file rename trick…

METHOD 3: Using 3rd Party Software

If you don’t want to modify registry or rename system file manually, you can try ViStart which also works in Windows 8 and will not disable Metro UI, Start Screen or Explorer Ribbon UI:

ViStart: A Windows Vista and 7 Start Menu Clone for Windows XP

Thanks to our reader “EiNS” for suggesting it…

Published in: Troubleshooting Guides, Windows 8

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

NOTE: Older comments have been removed to reduce database overhead.

  1. I don’t have neither RPEnabled or shsxs.dll, and creating a new DWORD in regedit won’t change anything…
    That’s strange…

  2. there is not “shsxs.dll” to my windows 8 consumers preview 32 bit system in C:\Windows\System32
    the closer to this named shsvcs.dll .

    =======

  3. ^^ These methods no longer work in Consumer Preview as mentioned in NOTE given at the beginning. Please check the new link given in NOTE section.

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