An early leaked build confirmed that the new version of Windows, wiz., Windows 11, will be getting a design overhaul. And out of all the new features of Windows 11, the Start menu redesign is one of the noticeable changes you’ll see after installing it. The new start menu has ditched live tiles in favor of pinned app icons, and it now popup from the center of all Taskbar. But if you are here, then I am sure you don’t like the new start menu and looking for a way to switch back to the old Windows 10 Start Menu in Windows 11!
Well, the good news is, thanks to some Windows enthusiasts, you can do that with a simple registry hack. So now, let’s see how you can get your favorite start menu back.
How to get Windows 10 Start Menu in Windows 11?
- First of all, search for ‘Registry Editor‘ using Windows search and then click on ‘Run as administrator. Alternatively, you can press ‘Win + R’ to open Windows Run, then type in ‘Regedit‘ and hit Ok.
- You’ll now see a UAC popup asking your permission to allow access to Registry Editor. Click on the ‘Yes‘ button to open the Registry Editor on your Windows 11.
- Inside the Registry Editor, navigate to the following path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
- Now right-click on the empty space, then click on ‘New‘ from the right-click menu and choose DWORD (32 Bit) Value.
- This will create a new entry inside that path, rename it to ‘Start_ShowClassicMode‘, and press enter to save it.
- The default value of this new entry is ‘0‘; to make this work, we need to change it to ‘1‘. For that, double-click on ‘Start_ShowClassicMode‘ to edit the window, type in ‘1‘ as Value data, and hit ‘Ok‘ button to save it. (Base should only be Hexadecimal)
- After that, you need to restart your computer to see the old Start Menu with the live tiles in action on your Windows 11 PC/Tablet.
Also read: Customize your Windows Taskbar like a Pro!
Step 2: Move taskbar icons to the left on Windows 11.
If you notice, by default, Windows 11 taskbar app icons and the start button is in the center, which goes well with the newly redesigned Start menu, but not so much with the old start menu.
Thankfully, you still have an easy option to change its position back to the left side, allowing you to achieve the exact Windows 10 start menu look. To move icons to the left on Windows 11 taskbar:
- Open ‘Windows Settings.’ You can type in ‘Settings‘ inside the Windows Search and then click on the ‘Open‘ to open Windows settings.
- Inside ‘Settings,’ navigate to ‘Personalization >> Taskbar‘ and choose ‘Left‘ from the drop-down under the ‘Taskbar Alignment‘ option to shift icons on the taskbar to the left.
- And there you have it. You can now enjoy your classic old-style start menu in Windows 11.
So this is how you can switch back to Windows 10 Start menu on Windows 11. But if I am honest, I am biased towards the new Windows 11. It’s clean, intuitive, and without any visual clutter. But I can see some of you do like the old start menu for its live tiles and app list. But where I feel that Microsoft should work on is the new taskbar. I love the recent redesign but prefer small icons with a taskbar position on top, and this isn’t happening.
Do you like the old Windows 10 start menu or the new start menu on Windows? Then, let’s wage war in the comment section.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is there any easy way to switch to the old Windows 10 Start Menu on Windows 11?
There is no easy way to switch to the old Windows 10-style start menu. You’ll have to go through all the steps to enable it every time you install the new Windows 11.
Since Windows 11 is Windows 10 with UI overhaul, we hope Microsoft gives a simple toggle inside ‘Windows Settings’ to enable the Win 10 style Start menu in future Windows updates.
I have mixed feelings about the new taskbar since you can no longer use smaller icons or change their position. Also, if you are using the old start menu, the new taskbar doesn’t go well.
But unfortunately, there is no way you can switch to the older Windows 10 taskbar. We will update the article if we find anything in that regard.
