Bringing back Start menu in Windows 8+ without any third party plug in

Posted by Sheo Narayan in Windows 8 category on 1/9/2015 for Advance level | Points: 250 | Views : 4111

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Most of the developer face issue while working with Windows 8 that they do not have Start menu and every time they have to go to the Metro style ui or Start screen (press windows icon) and search through the huge list of items. In this article, We are going to look into a very easy way to bring back the Start menu.

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This article is applicable to Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 operating system only.

Steps to follow to bring back the Start menu

Select "Hidden items" check box in the toolbar of the windows explorer like below (You will have to click on the View menu to display below toolbar). This will make sure that you are able to see the hidden files and folder of your systems. This step is necessary, once you are done with displaying Start menu you can uncheck it so that you do not see the hidden items. To know the answer of why to do this step, read point 4.
Right click your task bar and select Toolbars > New toolbar....
Now select the folder as shown in the picture below. Notice the address bar path, its C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs and click Select Folder button.

Important: Note that ProgramData folder will only be displayed when Hidden items checkbox is checked in step 1 above.
Now, notice your Task bar, you can see a Programs folder. Click on >> just beside it and you will see all the start menu items here. Use it as if its Start Menu and you are done.
If you want not to see the Hidden files and folder, you can go back to step 1 and uncheck the Hidden items checkbox.

Hope this would be very useful and handy for all windows user like me who loves Start menu.

Thanks for reading. Do share any tips and tricks on DotNetFunda.com!

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About the Author

Full Name: Sheo Narayan
Member Level: HonoraryPlatinum
Member Status: Administrator
Member Since: 7/8/2008 6:32:14 PM
Country: India
Regards, Sheo Narayan http://www.dotnetfunda.com

Ex-Microsoft MVP, Author, Writer, Mentor & architecting applications since year 2001. Connect me on http://www.facebook.com/sheo.narayan | https://twitter.com/sheonarayan | http://www.linkedin.com/in/sheonarayan

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Posted by: Vuyiswamb on: 1/19/2015 | Points: 25

Nice i did it

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