Microsoft decided they wanted to change the way the start menu looked and worked starting on Windows 8 / 8.1. And most people including myself decided they didn’t like it at all. Then they improved it a bit with Windows 10 but there were still many that preferred the good old Windows 7 style start menu.
If you are like me and many others well I have an old saying “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”.
Starting back with Windows 8 / 8.1 there were several programs developed some were paid schemes some were not and didn’t work well .
I am only going to discuss the one that works and is OpenSource not fee’s involved and plainly just works.
Classic Shell OpenSource now Open Shell, to change the start menu back to the Windows 7 style but that has now been replaced with Open Shell. You can use Open Shell with Windows 11 but you just need to change a couple of settings to make it work properly. Or you can have the Windows 7 and Windows 11 start menu at the same time!
Let’s dig in…..
First download the Open Shell Installer, “Download Here“ also Download the Windows 7 ORB style Start Button, “Download The ORB“ you will need this image in order to complete the install and gain the style and look of your Windows 7 style menu on Windows 10 and Windows 11. Note 1: For those Win10 users it’s a breeze Install and then chose the ORB image and done. However Microsoft decided to thwart this for Windows 11 and make it a bit more difficult to be achieved, this tutorial covers Windows 11 only.
Note 1.1: Once you install for Windows 11 move the ORB image to your pictures folder then chose that image to change the shell to the ORB.png.
Video made available from
If you need assistance Contact Me I can help you get this done very quickly.
