Windows 11 lets you enable the classic Windows 10 Start Menu, here's how

With yesterday's leak of a preview build for Windows 11, many users have quickly shared their opinion regarding how they felt about the new Start Menu. If you are not a fan of the new Start Menu layout, Microsoft has included a setting that lets you revert back to the classic Start Menu.

In the leaked preview build of Windows 11, users got their first glimpse of Microsoft's next generation of Windows and quickly focused on the new Start Menu.

The new Windows 11 Start Menu is taken from the now-shelved Windows 10X and has significant differences from the Classic Start Menu, including a floating pane and a redesigned layout.

If you are not a fan of the new Windows 11 Start Menu, Microsoft has added a 'Start_ShowClassicMode' Registry value that allows you to revert back to the classic Windows 10 Start Menu.

Windows 11 tip: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Start_ShowClassicMode DWORD=0x1 to enable classic Start pic.twitter.com/xIfyCw68z9

— Rafael Rivera (@WithinRafael) June 15, 2021

Once you enable this registry key and either reboot Windows 10 or restart Windows Explorer, the classic Start Menu will be shown again, as seen below.

How to force Windows 11 to use the classic Start Menu

To enable the Windows 10 Start Menu in Windows 11, you can either download a Registry file that can enable the feature for you or modify the Windows Registry to enable the feature.

The easiest method is to simply download the show-classic-start-menu.reg Registry file and save it to your desktop. Once downloaded, double-click on it, and when prompted, select Yes at the UAC prompt followed by Yes at the prompt asking if you wish to add the data, as shown below.

If you want to manually enable the Windows 10 Start Menu in Windows 11 via the Registry, you can follow these steps:

Click the Start button, type regedit, and select Registry Editor when displayed, as shown below. Windows will now prompt you to allow Regostry Editor to make changes. Press Yes at this User Account Control dialog box. When the Registry Editor application opens, copy and paste the following path into the address field as illustrated in the image below and press enter on your keyboard.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\
 

After pressing enter, you will be shown a list of values under the Advanced folder. Scroll down until you see 'Start_ShowClassicMode' and then double-click on it to open it. When the Start_ShowClassicMode dialog box opens, enter 1 in the 'Value data' field and press the OK button. You can now close the Registry Editor. To enable the classic Start Menu, you can restart Windows, log off and back on, or open Task Manager and restart the Windows Explorer process.

You will now be shown the classic Windows 10 Start Menu when you click on the Start button