If you prefer the "classic" Windows 10 Start menu, or if you want to bring back Live Tiles, Windows 11 gives you the option to revert to the Windows 10 Start menu. Microsoft could remove the ability to switch back to the Windows 10 Start menu in Windows 11. But I hope to reassure corporate users that this setting will be preserved and can also be configured in Group Policy. As of this writing, switching to the classic Start menu can only be done by adding a value to the registry.
Windows 11 Start menu offers a phone-like experience and a cleaner look
But before you rush back to the classic Start Menu, consider using the new Start Menu for a few weeks. In my opinion, this is a major improvement over the Windows 10 Start menu, which has turned into a bit of a mess. The new Start menu in Windows 11 offers a cleaner experience that handles live tiles and replaces them with app icons. App icons can be moved and arranged freely, just like on iOS and Android. Icons are arranged in pages, similar to iOS, for a more "phone-like" look and experience.
The Recommended section at the bottom of the new Start menu lets you view recently accessed documents, whether locally or from the cloud. The timeline in Task View is gone in Windows 11, but the "Recommendations" section on the new Start menu more than makes up for its removal.
Instead of three clicks, you can power off or put your device to sleep with just two clicks on the Windows 11 Start menu. Likewise, logging out or locking your device is just two clicks away. "All Apps" is now hidden in the upper right corner. But you can still search for apps and documents by typing on the Start menu.
How to Switch Back to the Classic Windows 10 Start Menu
However, if you decide that the new Windows 11 Start menu is not for you, you can add a value to the registry and return to the Windows 10 classic menu.
1. Right-click on the taskbar to open the taskbar settings. Set to the left first in the taskbar alignment.
2. Press Win+R to open the Registry Editor, type regedit and press Enter to enter the Registry Editor.
4. Expand the following registry keys:
| 1 |
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\ |
5. Create a new DWORD (32-bit) value on the right, name it Start_ShowClassicMode, and set the value to 1.
Windows 11 Registry Adds Classic Start Menu
6. After the change, restart Windows Explorer or restart the computer directly.
5. If you want to restore to the Windows 11 start menu again, just change the value data of Start_ShowClassicMode to 0.
Through the above methods, we can easily restore the start menu in the Windows 11 system to the classic Windows 10 dynamic tile menu. Since the current Windows 11 system is not perfect in UI modification, I always feel that the restored start menu It feels weird.