How to Get the Classic Windows 10 Start menu in Windows 11.
The first thing that will catch your attention when you upgrade to Windows 11 or purchase a new PC that is shipped with Windows 11, is the Start menu. In almost all previous versions of Windows, Microsoft always designed the Windows Start menu on the bottom left, something that every user has become familiar with over the years.To upgrade the Windows 11 user interface, Microsoft dug deep into its design portfolio and created a more engaging and refreshing user interface that enhances the user experience along with other features to improve system performance.
One of the notable design changes in Windows 11 is the Start menu, which is now in the center of the taskbar rather than on the left as we've seen before. In addition, after clicking on the Start menu in Windows 11, you'll see a floating window with rounded corners and with the location of the power button changed to the bottom right. Also, the new Start menu has two sections: the top section is for Pinned apps and the bottom section contains the Recommended apps.
If you are one of the users out there who are not fans of the new Windows 11 Start menu design and want to change it back to the classic Windows 10 start menu, follow the steps below. *
* Note: If you might be wondering why a user would want to go back to the old design of the Start menu, I believe that individual preferences and Live Tiles in the Windows 10 Start menu are reason enough to do so.
How to Switch to Windows 10 Start Menu in Windows 11.
- Method 1. Bring Back the Windows 10 Intrface in Windows 11 with a third-party utility.
- Method 2. Restore Windows 10 Start Menu in Windows 11 manually.
Method 1. How to have the Windows 10 Start Menu & Working Interface in Windows 11.
The first and easiest method, to get the known working environment of Windows 10 in Windows 11, is by using one of the following third party utilities:
Explorer Patcher.
The Explorer Patcher is a completely free utility that modifies the Windows 11 environment to look like Windows 10, with a few clicks.
1. Navigate to Explorer Patcher download page on GItHub.
2. Scroll down and click Download the latest version of the setup program.
3. Run the downloaded file and ask Yes to UAC warning to install the program.
4. After your screen flashes for a few seconds, you'll be greeted by the familiar Windows 10 taskbar with the classic Windows 10 Start Menu aligned on the left.
5. Right-click if you want on the taskbar and open Properties to customize any other options offered by Explorer Patcher and you're done!
StartAllBack
StartAllBack can change the Windows 11 taskbar, Start menu and File Explorer to look like in Windows 7 or 10. You can try the software for free for 30 days and if you like it you can buy it for $4.99.
1. Navigate to StartAllBack download page to download and run the setup file.
2. At the first screen choose Install for me if you're the only user on your PC or click Install for everyone to install the program for all users.
3. When the installation is complete, you'll see the familiar Windows 10 Start menu and taskbar in Windows 11 with the StartAllBack settings open to customize any other options you want.
Method 2. How to Get the Classic Windows 10 Start menu in Windows 11 manually.
Step 1: Change Windows 11 Taskbar Alignment from Center to Left.
The first step to bring back the classic Windows 10 Start menu in Windows 11, is to change the position of the taskbar (and Start menu) from the center to the left.
To move the Windows 11 Taskbar at the left:
1. Click Start and search for Settings.
2. Click Personalization on the left, then select Taskbar at the right.
3. Scroll down to Taskbar behaviors, and change the Taskbar alignment from Center to Left by using the drop-down menu.
4. Now, the taskbar should have moved to the left.
Step 2: Get Windows 10 Start menu in Windows 11.
To bring back the old Windows 10 Start menu in Windows 11, you have to add the "Start_ShowClassicMode" REG_DWORD with value "1" in Registry: *
* Update (23 Nov 2021): This method no longer works because Microsoft banned the change to the Windows 10 Start Menu after updating Windows 11 to build 22000.65.
1. Click on Start, type regedit and open Registry Editor.
2. When prompted from User Account Control, click Yes
![image_thumb[60]](https://www.wintips.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/image_thumb60.png "image_thumb[60]")
3. In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following folder:
- Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
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4. Important Step > Backup Registry.
Since making changes to your Registry settings can be dangerous because even a minor mistake can result in system harm, it's important to make a backup of the Registry Key you're about to update before you start. To do that:
a. Right-Click on the Advanced key at the left-hand side panel and choose Export.
b. Give a suitable name (e.g. "Advanced_Backup"), and save the REG file to your desktop. *
* Note: If something goes wrong after editing the registry, you can simply undo the changes by double-clicking the extracted registry key (REG file) on your desktop.
5. Then right-click on Advanced and select New → DWORD (32-bit) Value.
6. Change the Value name to Start_ShowClassicMode and press Enter.
7. Now, double-click on Start_ShowClassicMode value, change the Value data to 1 and press Enter.
8. Close Registry Editor and restart the PC to apply the change. *
* Update (23 Nov 2021): This method no longer works because Microsoft banned the change to the Windows 10 Start Menu after updating Windows 11 to build 22000.65.
Conclusion: I believe that Microsoft ought to give Users the option to choose the Start menu they prefer from Settings. Users doesn’t have to tweak the Registry Editor which is a complex tool, to have the Classic Windows 10 Start menu on Windows 11. Kindly use the comment section below to share your view about the Windows 11 Start menu – love it or hate it?
That's it! Let me know if this guide has helped you by leaving your comment about your experience. Please like and share this guide to help others.
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April 9, 2024 @ 4:57 am
Not only does the Win11 start menu suck major, the taskbar functionality is also totally screwed up, not to mention sabotaging the right click context menu.
MS could not have done a crappier job if they'd tried.
Luckily, ExplorerPatch brings back the Win 10 taskbar, OpenShell (previously ClassicShell) brings back a usable startmenu, and there is a registry patch to bring back the full right click context menu.
Curse you MS, curse you!
March 3, 2024 @ 1:10 pm
Win11 start menu is horrific for me as a power user. I want a menu that fills my entire screen and is full of all my applications and scripts that i can run with one windows keyboard button press + 1 mouse click. This is what happens when you let marketing and design control software. Its absurd.
November 27, 2023 @ 2:30 pm
I've tried for a few months to get used to the Win11 start menu, reflecting the thoughtful comments of Bart Hofland above, but sadly, the new layout is just not functional enough to satisfy anyone using more than a few software packages, let alone a "power user", which I guess I am. There are some improvements to Win11 that I like, and overall I think it is perhaps a slight improvement over Win10, but the start menu is the main entry-point to the OS, and it fails badly.
It's the simple things like poor efficiency of space use, inability to remove nametags from beneath icons, the unwanted, empty "recommended" section, and so on. If we don't want to do the additional mouse location and click-through, then trawl through the "all apps" list for anything that doesn't fit on the main start menu, we're forced to bundle icons into folders which then display a maximum of four tiny, weeny icons, with each folder having acres of pristine, creamy real estate languishing unsullied in between them. It really makes no sense at all.
September 7, 2023 @ 7:18 pm
Thank you very much friend searching and searching and testing I came to your post, great bro, the "Explorer Patcher" method worked perfectly for me, and very easy to apply by downloading ep-setup from GitHub, applied to the latest version of win11. but the regedit method creating the Start_show key no longer works. Thank you
June 22, 2023 @ 1:27 pm
This is a highly complex and difficult topic. And largely subjective as well.
I understand the initial resistance to UI-changes. To be honest, I often get frustrated by them as well.
However, by now, I actually have realized that such a first reaction to UI-changes is actually quite short-sighted. I would like to elaborate a little on this seemingly harsh statement of mine.
Psychological effects should not be underestimated. But that counts in multiple regards. For example, consider the fact that the UI is the primary contact with a software product. If the UI would largely stay the same, end users might be tempted to think that the product has not changed that much. That might result in a feeling that upgrading is unnecessary, despite the fact that lots of things might have changed for the better under the hood.
When the UI changes roughly every three years with a new product upgrade, users will be periodically confronted with (unwanted?) changes, which they have to adopt and learn. This effort might seem unproductive at first. But I disagree there. I think that such UI-changes will also keep end users more alert and less bored. Since boredom leads to rut, and rut leads to dulled thinking, such UI-changes might actually be a good thing.
Customizability (by letting end users configure their UI) might seem a nice and flexible solution, which could offer the best of both worlds. But I don't think that that's correct. Such flexibility would actually make life much more complex. Helping others with technical issues or explaining things to them could (and thus would) become much more complex and difficult with an additional dimension (like a personal UI-flavor) on top of a certain version of a software product.
As a software developer and power user, I have used at least nine Windows versions quite intensively in the last three decades: Windows 3.11, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 10 and WIndows 11. Looking back at that timeline and the Windows UI progress that it shows, I am actually quite happy with it.
So, in the end, I sincerely hope that Microsoft (and other software companies) will keep embracing UI-changes like these in their software product roadmaps.
July 20, 2023 @ 1:21 pm
Let me continue your comment.
So, in the end, I sincerely hope that Microsoft (and other software companies) will keep embracing UI-changes like these in their software product roadmaps WHILE not compromising users productivity, because sometimes the line between customization and productivity is blurred, and this is what happens to Microsoft when doing such a major UI changes in Windows 11.
September 17, 2023 @ 3:51 am
Not allowing the user to use a familiar option and forcing change is more short-sighted than how you perceive the "resistant" users in question to be. I don't want to pin apps. I don't want recommendations. I want to see a usable list of applications available to me.
Microsoft's pathologic insistence on controlling user behavior has become overreaching at this point.
January 18, 2024 @ 6:25 am
This nonsense. You have a very unrealistic view about the Windows 11 in the market place. Consider a small business with 100 employees running Windows 10. Upgrade those machines to Windows 11 over the course of one week and witness chaos. Are businesses suppose to shutdown operations, suspend productivity because a group of programmers decided to foist their idea of what is best to make gamers and recreational users happy. For better or worse, Windows is the default OS in the world of business. It is laughable to suggest that an established way of performing computer tasks needs to be changed for the sake of supposed human lethargy. As a programmer, I can put the power of change underneath any button I wish or add features as necessary, and I can do so without the disruption of commerce. When such sweeping changes are dumped onto the markets, people need to be retrained to adopt to the "New and Improved" version (sarcasm). It is idiotic for anyone to claim the change is good for them so as to keep employees more alert and less bored. Have stoplights changed with all the new innovations in technology? No! Yet the old optics keep traffic moving with near perfection in a faster paced society than ever before. I feel your view is myopic at best.
April 28, 2023 @ 8:37 am
These people make software and yet somehow created something a programmer should hate! I guess they are so large and compartmentalized they just failed to notice???
I have 12 icons for each annual release of Autodesk software and I keep at least the last 5 years of releases available because I have to test my custom plugin changes across all of them. Those 60 are just one block that I need to meticulously organize since Autodesk builds all their icons without including the damn years in the name.
Then I have various groups for database utilities, all kinds of editors, git tools, plus all the normal stuff every other user would have…. Generally I like Windows 11, but this start menu is so very painful for power users! I would of actually preferred a windows 8.1 menu over this piece of garbage.
August 4, 2023 @ 5:31 am
That is great and all, and people should not push against good change. Bad change, is just bad though.
Removing custom sections for apps, and adding layers just adds clicks to get to where you want to go. A good UI does not embrace burying in clicks. Windows 10 had 1 click, with all shown on the left and categorized (personalized) groups on the right. Now you have 1 "pinned" section and then a layer to get to all.
Organizing sections and programs is helpful. A catch all and layering, is not.
April 11, 2023 @ 2:20 am
I despise the Windows 11 start menu. it might work great for someone that only uses a few programs. I use a lot of programs and I refuse to waste my time searching through a bunch of icons. I believe that the folks that created the Windows 11 menu are incapable of reading a table of contents or an index and need a bunch of pictures for navigation,
January 16, 2023 @ 11:51 am
i hate the win 11 start menu/ the win 10 start menu was the best one. they made this kind of decision when they developped win 8 and we see what win 8 is becoming. they promised that win 10 would be the last OS but they decided to launch win 11 and to install it they froce us to dedicate our pc our bios to windows OS only without authorizing us to install ubuntu or fedora in parrallal. Microsoft is an ogre which want to impose us their view their intrusion etc … Snowden and assange were totally right.
October 8, 2022 @ 8:35 am
Don't like it. The Win 11 start menu is a backward step. The inability to organise apps and website tiles in categories or sub-tiles is a great loss and leaves your desktop unorganised.
I have a Surface Pro and like to use it in tablet mode when out and about. The apps and website tile shortcuts can no longer be easily navigated with one finger with the Win11 menu . It's just NOT a friendly interface for the Microsoft 2 in 1 model… have they forgotten what they are selling?
October 7, 2022 @ 7:44 am
It is not only the start menu, W11 is a setback in many way's, it looks like a cheap smartphone, pushing the user in their One drive, teams, Office, Edge etc environment. The only good thing is the hardware recognition. A pitty unix is such a mess, Microsoft is digging their own grave. Next computer is probably a tablet which gives a desktop too.
July 2, 2022 @ 9:50 pm
I'm a PC vendor and purely because of the awful Start menu in Windows 11, I don't sell Windows 11, only Windows 10.
I find Windows 11 very unproductive. With Windows 10, all my apps were two clicks away. One click on Start button, second click on my App. Now I have to really hunt for what I want. And as for the Start button floating around in the middle of the task bar, how stupid is that. First thing I do when I come across Windows 11 is to use the preference to put it back in the left corner where it belongs.
The person who convinced his bosses to move it from the left hand corner where its been forever should be put out in a field and bomb the b*****d (in the words of Kenny Everett).
June 22, 2022 @ 4:43 pm
Apparently, the guy who got rid of "Coca Cola" for "New Coke" was hired by Microsoft and immediately got rid of the Win10 Start for Win11 Start. Genius!
There is nothing dumber than taking away something people like and replacing it with something they may or may not like. In fact, the only thing I really liked about Windows 10 was the Start Menu. I liked being able to group all of my apps that I used by category. If I wanted "Programs and features," I knew right where it was. If I wanted an entertainment app, I knew right where it was. Productivity App, Communication App, Utility App, etc., I knew right where all of my apps were. Two clicks: Start; App – Done. That's called productivity in an OS.
Imagine a restaurant menu that mixed entre, dessert, appetizer, soup, salad, and drink options all together over three pages. That's Win11's strategy.
Amazingly, they could have let users go back to the Win10 Start, but thought it would be smart to take that away. How stupid are these people?
I dual boot into 10 or 11. I keep going back to 10, all because of the Start menu.
May 23, 2022 @ 5:42 pm
I can tell you that it did help me with version 1 of windows 11 but after doing the update today 23.05.2022 it doesn't work anymore the Windows 10 key menu in windows 11.
Thanks
May 19, 2022 @ 6:58 pm
the WIN 11 Start menu SUCKS. GIVE US THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE THE OLD ONE. IT's OUR computer not yours!
May 12, 2022 @ 11:14 pm
Typical. Windows 11 is a vast improvement in so many ways, but MS seem to be going back to their old ways. I like the windows 10 start menu but MS in their "wisdom" don't want me to use it any more.
I'm going back to Win 10!
April 29, 2022 @ 4:08 am
Hate the 11 start up menu, I wish they would leave things alone!
April 20, 2022 @ 1:45 pm
You can always purchase Stardock.com Start 11 which lets you reset the menu to Windows 7 through Windows 11. Your choice. $5.99
April 22, 2022 @ 12:03 am
Has anyone checked how reliable Stardock is and is it safe?
June 15, 2023 @ 1:22 pm
I have used it for quite a few months and it does a pretty good job.
Like so many others here I hate the Windows 11 Start Menu.
Start11 made the transition some much better, since now my Windows 11 looks like 10. Yay!
Ocasionally it doesn't respond correctly, but that has happened about 3 times now. Enough to notice, not enough to bother me.
The original Windows 10 Start Menu has it's quirks from time to time too.
April 18, 2022 @ 3:30 am
Microsoft's refusal to address the huge dissatisfaction with the START menu is just another sign of their arrogance.
April 13, 2022 @ 10:21 pm
As always, coperate america decides what is best for everyone :-(
April 13, 2022 @ 5:49 am
Back to windows 10 because of the organized start menu
April 4, 2022 @ 4:00 am
Sometimes Microsoft takes some strange decisions, and it's hard to understand the thought process behind them. Windows 11 Start Menu is one of them.
After the complaints of Windows 8 Start Menu (which I liked BTW – one of those very few), they got the balance right in Windows 10. There were just two changes I was looking forward to:
1) Have the option to move the Start Menu to the Center without any workaround
2) Provide the ability to easily switch between multiple virtual desktops
From what I've read from the user community, I can say that these two were popular suggestions. Alas, Microsoft decides to revamp the Start Menu, strip every single feature and provide a vanilla start menu that no one seems to like. I really wonder if they're reading the blogs and taking decisions based on popular opinions. If they're reading it, I would like to tell Microsoft…. "Bring the Window 10 Start Menu back to Windows 11"!!
April 3, 2022 @ 1:08 am
I tried it but of all the changes they made the start menu is the one I can't stand I switched back to 10 just because of the start menu I just press the windows key on the keyboard and at the same time use the mouse to open the app or folder or whatever I need to use and that's it whatever I'm doing I'm one keystroke and one click away from my next thing why would I need to scroll like on the phone to find what I want?
March 14, 2022 @ 3:52 pm
Bring back Win10 start menu to win11
March 12, 2022 @ 9:57 pm
I do not like what passes for a start menu in windows 11, and I don't particularly like Microsoft banning the ability to change it. Hopefully someone will come up with a work around for Microsoft's block soon. Meanwhile considering reverting back to Windows 10.
March 9, 2022 @ 3:35 pm
Windows 11 Start menu – hate it!
March 4, 2022 @ 11:29 pm
The Windows 11 Start Menu is rubbish. Updates to operating systems are supposed to improve work efficiency.
The Windows 11 Start menu makes using Windows less efficient, even to the point of making shutting down slower. How is this better?
March 2, 2022 @ 6:31 am
Windows 11 menuing SUCKS. Why? You can't see all options with right click; you have to go down the list to "Show more options" , then look through that list! WHY???
It is an absolute PAIN to create simple desktop shortcuts!
The "Start" menu is truly that!?! You can't see all options without clicking through multiple screens of options.
BRING BACK THE CLEAN WINDOWS 7 MENUS !!!!!!!!!!
March 6, 2022 @ 9:51 pm
Not sure if you're aware of a third party app called Classic Shell – this faithfully replicates the windows 7 start menu. Used it extensively with Windows 8, and now, since I hate the start menu but otherwise like the UI of Windows 11, I've gone back to it. No regrets, Classic Shell works nicely in 11.
February 12, 2022 @ 11:18 am
11 sucks. the start menu is like a stairmaster for my hands. garbage
February 11, 2022 @ 10:38 am
If I had known how incredibly, stupendously, monumentally, colossally, prodigously and might I add gratuitously horrible the Windows 11 start menu is I would most certainly have stuck with Windows 10.
Basically a second desktop.
July 14, 2022 @ 7:46 am
But unfortunately you cannot as Microsoft is discontinuing windows 10 in 2025
February 11, 2022 @ 3:36 am
Yes please give us the option to use the classic start menu. I personally dont like the 11 version and really not sure why it needed the change.
February 9, 2022 @ 7:27 am
Thanks for posting your Nov. 23 Update. I tried several times to edit the Registry as suggested here and on other posts, without success. I thought I was doing something wrong! I hope that MS's decision to prohibit this tweak means they have a new and better Start Menu planned for a future Win 11 update.
February 6, 2022 @ 7:17 am
Horrible!!! I suppose if all I ever did on my computer was email, Facebook or gaming this ridiculous interface wouldn't bother me.
However, as a "power" user who routinely uses a great variety of programs, including photography, design and advanced office applications as well as computer management, the lack of grouping and customization is an insult. This is a gigantic step backward in an apparent effort to appease the most basic users.
For Microsoft to ban the regedit change to use Windows 10 Start Menu after the latest build (my first install of Win 11), is extremely presumptive. PLEASE at least give us the choice!
February 1, 2022 @ 7:39 pm
well, I'm stuck with Microsoft OS for work, Windows 11 so far sucks. the lack of customizations is beyond counterproductive for my workflow. I'm sure glad I purchased a Mac Book for my wife.
January 30, 2022 @ 8:59 pm
Bring back the Windows 10 Start Menu!!!!!
January 28, 2022 @ 5:13 pm
Got a new PC that came with Windows 11 and this poor excuse for a Start menu. It is ridiculous that they will not let us go back to a Start Menu that most, that I know, like. But that is waht MS really stands for: "Mandatory Stupid".
January 26, 2022 @ 9:42 pm
The start menu is the main reason I didn't want to go windows 11. They finally made a productive start menu in windows 10, and now it's screwed again.
January 26, 2022 @ 8:38 pm
I hated the windows 10 start menu, I'm sure M$ are trolling us just seeing how much worse they can make it.
And that was after the disaster of windows 8!
I've been using classic shell for years to get a decent start menu, but it as it's no longer developed, guess I'll be looking for something else.
M$ need to realise we're using pc/laptop not a phone/tablet. Stop trying to make it all apps and widgets, some of us actually do more with PC & laptop than the average phone user.
January 17, 2022 @ 1:37 pm
I Hate it.
Microsoft is a genius in matter to make things less productive, less intuitive, less configurable, less plausible and even less beautiful. For sure the ones who develop the system does not use it at all. If I have to use a hack in Windows 11, then I would stay with the previous version, which is even a much more fast one.
January 12, 2022 @ 8:32 pm
Leave it to Microsoft to second guess our needs. The new Start menu and the abbreviated right click function is a real problem. What are they trying to do? Cripple us!!
December 30, 2021 @ 8:20 pm
i fking hate it i can not stand the windows 11 start menu . the computer to me is soposed to be super fast simple and efficient . but it is a jumbled mess now . please help bring it back or get windows 10 start menu working again. . . i had the windows 10 start menu set like windows XP just a simple alphabedical order of all the apps i have installed . i have not upgraded to windows 11 on my personal PC but i just baught my son a new laptop and it drives me crazy how clunky the windows 11 start menu is now
December 20, 2021 @ 6:38 pm
The Windows 11 Start menu is reason enough to return to Windows 10. I will NOT be installing Windows 11 on my other machines.
January 17, 2022 @ 1:38 pm
Agreed.
December 18, 2021 @ 2:41 am
I went back to win 10 and classic start
March 3, 2022 @ 6:19 am
How did you go back – Iwill do it too if I can. THanks