[Aloha]

You can always disable the ribbon of the explorer. There's a small button next to Help button on the menu bar. Click on it to show or hide the ribbon.

[Tihiy]

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Any chance this will have full X64 support at any point in the future

Yes, i hope next version will be 64-bit too.

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and does it also disable the explorer ribbon?

No. There is tool called... ribbon disabler?
I'm trying to reinstate Metro in Win7 explorer in order to fix parts dependant on Metro UI.

[xpclient]

Hey Tihiy, can't get this to work. On x64 Windows 8, I copied 32-bit Explorer.exe from Windows 7's SysWOW64 and Explorer.exe.mui from SysWOW64\en-US\ and placed it in another folder and extracted this patch there. Then it ran the patch and even said patched successfully, then I pressed 7 to set the 7 Explorer as default, it said success all done and then even deleted the icon cache and terminated Explorer. Logged off and now Explorer.exe does run from C:\Explorer7 but it opens the file manager window..that is, it runs as the file manager, it doesn't run as the shell, the Taskbar etc don't appear. Also the value of the shell key at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon still says simply "Explorer.exe" which means it is still loading it from the %windir% path. I changed it to C:\Explorer7\Explorer.exe, and still Explorer.exe is only opening it with as a file manager, not as a shell. I get the Ribbon even if Explorer.exe of Windows 7 is running. What went wrong? Sorry if this comes under "stupid questions".

[Tihiy]

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I changed it to C:\Explorer7\Explorer.exe, and still Explorer.exe is only opening it with as a file manager, not as a shell.

I believe (read somewhere?) that MS resticted win8 x64 to 64-bit shell only. But fear not, beta 1 will have 64-bit support. I can't promise ETA now, but it should be soon enough.

[xpclient]

^^ Okie dokie no problem. Yes Windows 7 and onwards, only 64-bit Explorer can load as shell. I just thought that because 64-bit is mentioned in the OP, you had tested it with 64-bit. Will wait for the 64-bit version then.

[Tihiy]

Beta 1 version uploaded to first post!

• Improved Start Menu appearance
  
• Customize tray icons dialog works
  
• 64-bit support!

This post has been edited by Tihiy: 19 July 2012 - 04:56 PM

[tomasz86]

I don't use Windows 8 myself but I just want to say thank you Tihiy for this awesome patcher you've been developing

[roirraW "edor" ehT]

I also wanted to say thanks. I am using W8 RP x64, and plan on using the RTM, but I'll probably be ignoring Metro for the most part at least for a year or two. I'm also happy with W8's Desktop interface in combination with Classic Shell, but it's good to have alternatives and as long as it's stable I think it's a good idea.

[MagicAndre1981]

thanks, I'll test it later this evening

And MSFT is angry about you. I've posted a link and a picture of Win8 with your startmenu and 1 hour later the topic was deleted in the technet forum. Again you see the censorship against all users who don't like metro.

[JFX]

Great work

If Pinning will work, this will be a perfect shell replacement.
Enjoying a Metro free Win8 now.

[xpclient]

WOW they actually deleted the TechNet topic. Those dumb morons who are out to take out features from our beloved OS!!

[Tihiy]

Well MS never liked any tools which are patching system files, didn't they? I hope your technet post won't lead to more features removed from RTM.

[xpclient]

Okay tried on 64-bit. Works nicely. If any one has 7 Taskbar Tweaker running, exit it or not so nice things will happen. The EXE still didn't change the "shell" entry in the 64-bit registry but I changed it manually and have the Start Menu back. Thanks!!! Great job. The keyboard loop doesn't work yet? (Hotkey shortcuts in the Start Menu?). You can get language input indicator by turning on old language bar from Control Panel and use Left Alt+Shift keys to switch like Windows 7. Will test for more features working and not working. Here's the proof:




Though I fear if MS went so far as to delete that thread, they may go a step further and ship an "update" to Windows 8 RTM to ensure only a signed Windows 8 binary will run or something like that.

Unrelated to this project but replacing Taskmgr.exe and Taskmgr.exe.mui from 8 with 7's also brings good old Task Manager for those who can't stand the new one with Metro clutter.

This post has been edited by xpclient: 20 July 2012 - 05:10 AM

[Tihiy]

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The keyboard loop doesn't work yet? (Hotkey shortcuts in the Start Menu?)

You mean specifying keyboard shortcuts for start menu items? Works for me.

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The EXE still didn't change the "shell" entry in the 64-bit registry but I changed it manually and have the Start Menu back

It changes shell in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon, it should work that way in 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

This post has been edited by Tihiy: 20 July 2012 - 05:46 AM

[vinifera]

if MS start protecting their OS with special signatures required
the screw the OS

why use something inferior

This post has been edited by vinifera: 20 July 2012 - 06:23 AM

[Aloha]

I can customize the notifications now.
Both "Pin to Start" and "Pin to Taskbar" work perfect. (Edit: I mean the Pinning on Right click context.)
"Use large icons" in Start Menu properties doesn't work, the icons still display small, but I think it's OK.
Thanks for making this patch, Tihiy. I decide to use this explorer a few more days to see if there is anything else to complain!

This post has been edited by Aloha: 20 July 2012 - 07:43 AM

[Aloha]

Gosh, Tihiy. You should have warned me not to delete anything on Start Menu of explorer 7 because it will make the tiles on Start screen of explorer 8 disappear too!

Why didn't you tell me something like this:

Adding icons to Start Menu of explorer 7 is also adding tiles on Start Screen of explorer 8.
Deleting icons on Start Menu of explorer 7 is deleting tiles on Start Screen of explorer 8 too.

And ... I am searching for the way to get back the Desktop tile now!

[Tripredacus]

Has anyone tried this on a later build? I think I'm going to load up Windows 8 and see if it still works.

[Tihiy]

Aloha, on 20 July 2012 - 10:03 AM, said:

Gosh, Tihiy. You should have warned me not to delete anything on Start Menu of explorer 7 because it will make the tiles on Start screen of explorer 8 disappear too!

No whining allowed. I've attached desktop.lnk, drag it into start folders.

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Has anyone tried this on a later build? I think I'm going to load up Windows 8 and see if it still works.

You're from the future, right?

Attached File(s)

•  Desktop.zip (534bytes)
  Number of downloads: 47

[Tripredacus]

Insane beings from the future says it still works.

The part I like is that it was really easy to do. Ease of use is always good for things like this.

Well that's enough fiddling for today, back to work...

Spoiler

looking at pictures of cats on the internet