Jul 03, 2021 13:00:00

Summary of how to customize the Windows 11 start menu and taskbar like Windows 10

The development version of 'Windows 11 ' announced on June 25, 2021 has been released from June 28, 2021, and many people should be actually experiencing new features and new UI. However, in Windows 11, the design of the Start menu has changed significantly, and the taskbar icons are concentrated in the center, which makes it difficult for people familiar with Windows 10 to use. So, I actually customized the start menu and taskbar like Windows 10 and tried to reproduce the old design.

Windows 11: How to Enable the Classic Start Menu | Petri
https://petri.com/windows-11-how-to-enable-the-classic-start-menu

◆ Start menu looks like Windows 10
The start menu of Windows 11 in the initial state looks like this. Customize it like Windows 10.

Since customizing the Start menu requires editing the registry, open the Start menu and type 'regedit' to launch the 'Registry Editor'.

Click Yes when prompted for permission when you start Registry Editor.

After launching Registry Editor, follow the tree on the right or enter the path in the address bar to go to Computer \ HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced .

Then right-click in the blank area of the area with the registry keys on the right and select New> DWORD (32-bit) Value.

When the new registry key is created, rename it to ' Start_ShowClassicMode '.

Double-click the created registry key 'Start_ShowClassicMode' ...

Enter 1 in the input area labeled Value Data and click OK.

Sign out once for the registry changes to take effect. To sign out, click the user name part in the start menu and click 'Sign out'.

When I signed in again, I was able to reproduce the Windows 10-like start menu like this.

◆ Left justify the taskbar icon
You can change the position of the icon on the taskbar from the settings. First, right-click on the blank part of the taskbar and click 'Taskbar Settings'.

When the taskbar settings are displayed, select 'Left Alignment' from 'Taskbar alignment'.

Then, you can left-justify the taskbar icon like this.

◆ Return the start menu to the initial state
To restore the Windows 10-style customized Start menu, you need to delete the registry key 'Start_ShowClassicMode' that you created. To delete a registry key, right-click the registry key created in Registry Editor and click Delete.

When the deletion confirmation screen is displayed, click 'Yes' to sign out and sign in to return to the start menu. Be careful when deleting registry keys, as deleting different registries can cause system instability.

◆ Bonus
At the time of writing the article, Windows 11 does not have a setting item that makes the taskbar compact, which is equivalent to 'use a small taskbar button' in Windows 10. However, by creating a registry key named ' TaskbarSi ' in 'Computer \ HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced ', changing the value to '0 ' and signing out and signing in, It is possible to make the taskbar thinner.

By moving the slider below, you can compare the size of the taskbar before setting (left) and after reflecting the setting (right).