Classic Shell: Forum

I am having a bit of a nightmare trying to get Classic Start Menu to boot into the Metro Start Screen for Windows 8.1. By default the "Skip Metro Screen" option is set to skip the Metro screen, but for some of our laptops I want it so that when a user logs on they start with the Metro UI. I have been trying to use GPO settings for this, and whilst the settings for other Classic Start Menu Options are applied successfully, the Skip Metro screen option seems to be ignored - it makes no difference which option I set for Skip Metro screen in the GPO, when the GPO is applied to a laptop the Skip Metro Screen option is always ticked.

I have also tried manually changing the registry setting for SkipMetro to 0 in "HKCU\Software\IvoSoft\ClassicStartMenu" & "HKCU\Software\IvoSoft\ClassicStartMenu\Settings" but this is also ignored. I tried rebooting the machine after making these changes, but with no luck.

If however, I manually un-tick the "Skip Metro screen" option in Classic Start Menu's GUI then it works perfectly. Observing the "SkipMetro" registry entry in Regedit after un-ticking the option via the GUI shows that the SkipMetro option is changed from a 1 to a 0. I find this bizarre, as after changing this option manually to a 0, it is ignored by Classic Start Menu, but if done via the GUI then it works. It's almost as though the settings are being stored somewhere other than in the registry. I can't make sense of it.

Also, another problem I've come across is the GPO option for "Menus Item for the Windows 7 Style". If after entering text in the relevant box I click OK, I get the error message: "No text was entered for this field. Make sure that you enter text" from GPO Editor (running on Server 2012 Standard).

Can you help?

On a positive note, Classic Start Menu is a brilliant piece of software and makes Windows 8 usable.

Thanks.

The Skip Metro screen option is not supported for Group Policy on Windows 8.1, it's supported only on Windows 8. Also on Windows 8.1, when you change it in Classic Start Menu settings, all it does is change the Windows setting to boot to Desktop which you can also change from Taskbar Properties -> Navigation tab. Windows 8.1 also does not have a policy setting that will affect all users for booting to Desktop/Metro. It has a per-user policy at User Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar called "Go to the desktop instead of Start when signing in or when all the apps on a screen are closed".

The text you enter for "Menus Item for the Windows 7 Style" policy setting must be copy-pasted from the MenuItems7 value at HKCU\Software\IvoSoft\ClassicStartMenu\Settings registry key. Are you doing that?

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Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and helped a little with Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

The "Skip Metro screen" policy only works on Windows 8. It says so right under its title - "Requires Windows 8".

Thanks for your replies. It all makes sense now. I did notice that it says it requires Windows 8 but didn't realize that it was that specific as to differentiate between 8 and 8.1, I just thought that it meant Windows 8 and higher - oh well!

So, just to clarify for anybody else who gets caught out by this gotcha; on Windows 8.1 the "SkipMetro" DWORD value in: HKCU\Software\IvoSoft\ClassicStartMenu has no effect on Classic Start Menu, however, the registry entry that is relevant and is actually tweaked via the "Skip Metro screen" tick box in the Classic Start Menu GUI is the "OpenAtLogon" DWORD Value located at: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StartPage\

Also, regarding the other problem with inputting the text in the "Menu Items for the Windows 7 Style" in Group Policy Editor. I was copying and pasting the registry settings directly into it like you suggest, but I still received the error message. Fortunately, I have figured out what was causing this error. It seems that when pasting the settings directly into GP Editor, it adds an extra new line at the end of the text. For some reason GP editor does not like an empty new line anywhere in the text. After deleting the empty line from the bottom of the pasted text, the entries were accepted without error.

Thanks again guys for all of your help.