Get Windows 7 Start Menu, Explorer And Task Manager In Windows 8

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If you are one of the first users who grabbed the latest Windows 8 developer preview, you will find that a lot has changed since Windows 7. Among the visible changes are the Start Menu, Windows Explorer Ribbon, and Task Manager, all of which have been totally revamped by Microsoft. If you are a big fan of Windows 7 and want to bring back Windows 7 Start Menu, Windows Explorer (without Ribbon), and Task Manager in Windows 8, the result is just a few clicks away since it requires a simple registry tweak.

Important Note: This tweak is for those users who are using Windows 8 Developer Preview. Windows 8 does not include Start Menu any more. There is only Start Screen which can be accessed by hitting the Windows key or moving the cursor to lower-left corner of the your screen.

Open the Run Dialog box using Win+R hotkey. Type regedit and hit Enter. This will launch the Registry Editor.

windows 8 regedit

Now navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer from the left sidebar.

windows 8 registry editor


On the main interface, double-click RPEnabled, change the DWORD Value data to 0, and click OK.

edit registry windows 8

Now restart Windows Explorer, or log off the system and login again to view the change. The Windows 8 start orb, start menu, windows explorer, and task manager will be replaced with that of Windows 7. User won’t be able to tell if you are using Windows 7 or Windows 8.

To revert back the changes, double-click RPEnabled in Registry Editor and change the value back to 1. It’s that simple. Enjoy!

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