How to re enable the old Classic Start menu in Windows 8

Posted Date: 18-Sep-2011	Category: Windows 8	Rating:
Author: Raghav	Member Level: Gold	Points: 15

The new Start button in Windows 8 is a major change from the previous versions of Windows. But it is possible to change the new Start menu back to the old Classic Start menu in Windows 8. This article explains how to get back the old Classic Start menu in Windows 8.

How to re enable the old Classic Start menu in Windows 8

Windows 8 Developer Preview is now out and many users have downloaded it and started using it. But the new Start button in Windows 8 Developer Preview is a drastic change compared to old style Classic Start menu in earlier versions of Windows. Lot of people actually are interested to have some of the Windows 7's features on Windows 8. One such feature is the Classic Start Menu. Hence I am posting this article to help those who are interested to enable the old Classic Start menu even in Windows 8. This article explains the way in which we can change the new Start menu of Windows 8 back to the classic Start menu in Windows 8. If you are looking for more Windows 8 tweaker Apps, take a look at www.Windows8Tweaker.com and www.Windows8PowerToys.com.

There is an application / tool available for toggling between the new Start menu and the old style Classic Start menu with a single click. The name of the application is Windows 8 Start Menu Toggle and can be downloaded from Deviantart website.

You can download this application from Deviant website using the following link and install it in your Windows 8 PC.

http://solo-dev.deviantart.com/art/Windows-8-Start-Menu-Toggle-258422929

But it is also possible to change to old Classic Start menu using Registry if you are an advanced user. It is very simple procedure using Registry editor. Please follow the steps given below to get the old Classic Start menu in Windows 8.

Open REGEDIT
Goto HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
Now change the value of RPEnabled from "1" to "0".
Close Registry Editor. That is all... you will get back the old style Classic Start menu as in Windows 7.
To get back to tile based Metro User Interface of Windows 8, just change that value from "0" to "1".

Please note that making changes to the Registry is always risky and you should not do it unless you are very much confident about yourself.

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