How to Enable Windows 7 and Vista Start Menus and Disable Windows 8

Most of the people have started testing recently released Windows 8 Developer Preview build. Many of Windows 8 Developer Preview users might have notices that the Microsoft have removed the previous start menu and replaced it with the new Start Screen.

No option is available for changing the new start menu to the old start menu of Windows vista or Windows 7 style. So in this article I am going to share some information with the help of which you can easily change the new start menu to the old one. Two methods are there to do the same; I am going to discuss them one by one.

1. Using Registry Hack to instal start menu in Windows 8

In this method a small registry trick is used to enable the old start menu in Windows 8. (Note that these registry trick can disable new Metro UI stuff & ribbon in Windows Explorer.)

1. First of all press “WIN_R” key combination. Then type regedit > Enter. After that Registry Editor will open up.
2. Now you have to go to the following key: “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer”.
3. In right side pane, change value of “RPEnabled” to 0.
4. After this you can enjoy your old start menu in Windows 8.

2. By Renaming System File

In this method you have to rename a system file known as “shsxs.dll”. This will enable old Start Menu but will disable the new start screen. Like the above mentioned method this method will not disable Ribbon UI in Windows Explorer. You have to follow the given steps for doing the same.

1. First press “WIN+R” key for launching the RUN dialogue box and then you have to type %windir%. After that press Enter. A windows folder will open in front of you.
2. Now you have to look for a file named as “shsxs.dll”. Once the file is found, you have to rename it to “shsxs.dll.bac” (say). If you get an error while renaming the file, then first take the ownership of the file.
3. Now at last you have to restart your computer system and then you can enjoy your old Start menu.