How to disable the Start Menu auto-expand feature on Windows 10
If you’ve updated Windows 10 to 1909, you’ve probably noticed that the Start Menu does a new, little trick. If you hover the mouse cursor over the All Lists tab, it expands automatically. No one asked it to do that. It does it anyway. There’s no Off switch for it so if you want to disable the Start Menu auto-expand feature, you’re going to have to do it via third-party app called Mach2.
Mach2 is an app that can edit feature switches in Windows 10. A switch is basically a way to enable or disable certain features in the OS. You can’t change the state of the switch from the Windows registry so this app is really the easiest way to do it.
Do this at your own risk. We’ve tested everything out, and it works, and nothing breaks but you should still assume all risks with this.
Disable Start Menu auto-expand
Download Mach2. Extract the zipped file. You don’t need to install the app. Open Command Prompt with admin rights. Use the cd command to move to the extracted folder.
Example
cd "C:\Users\fatiw\Downloads\mach2_0.3.0.0_x64"
Once you’re in the folder, use the following command to disable the Start Menu auto-expand feature.
mach2 disable 18715789
Once you’ve run the command, restart your PC. When you next hover over the All Apps tabs in the Start Menu, it will not expand automatically.
To undo this change, you will again need to open Command Prompt with admin rights. Use the cd command to move to the folder with the Mach2 app. Run the following command, and then restart your system.
mach2 enable 18715789
If you want to know what the command is doing, it’s basically enabling/disabling switch number 18715789. Switch number 18715789 is the switch that controls the auto-expand feature on the Start Menu.
The auto-expand feature is something that no one really asked for. It’s a bit too fast too; you might accidentally hover the mouse cursor over the All Apps tab and it just expands. It’s an odd feature to have considering users have the option to show or hide the All Apps list from the Start menu.
In the event this backfires, you might experience problems with the Start Menu. There isn’t much you can do if that happens. Windows 10 has a troubleshooter for the Start menu that you can run but if that doesn’t do the trick, you might have to create a new user account or re-install/reset Windows 10. As we said, try this at your own risk.
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Tried the mach2 solution–worked for 24 hours, then auto expand was back after a restart. First attempt to apply the .\mach2 disable 18715789 solution again failed, tried once more running 3 times consecutively, and auto expand is again gone. Any suggestions as to what to try next if auto expand comes back again? (I’ve already registered a complaint about the lack of a simple Windows 10 v. 1909 option to disable in the GUI with the Feedback Hub app.)
No one asked it to do that – perfectly said. It drives me nuts that as I click I end up fighting with it. And none of the other similar menus across Windows 10 apps do this so it’s inconsistent.
When I disable it with mach2 though, the feature turns itself back on after a couple of reboots (maybe when updates are installed). What a pity, but thanks anyway.