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How do I set the classic start up menu in Windows 11?
Answer recommended by moderator
Hello, thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A.
Unfortunately, there is no built-in option in Windows 11 to switch to or fully customize the Start menu to look like the classic one (Windows 7 style).
However, you can find some options under Settings > Personalization > Start, where you can customize a few Start menu behaviors and layout preferences.
To use a classic-style Start menu, you will need to use a third-party utility such as Open-Shell to customize the Start menu layout.
Then it is odd then that the Microsoft AI provided the original suggestions of using Regedit or GrpPol. The same suggestions presented by literally hundred/thousands of posters online from the initial Win11 release to as recently as May 2025. It appears MS has nerfed that functionality to prevent the entire user community from fixing what they broke with Win11. Having had to work on MS since the days of MS-DOS 3.0, its a global fact that MS can't release two subsequent OS's that are functional. If this is what they want to choke their user community with, they may as well just re-introduce WinME, or maybe the Metro Desktop.
I do not accept your response as valid.
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Personally, I think many (tens/hundreds of thousands of) users feel frustrated, irritated, even betrayed by the seemingly arbitrary desktop/policy/registry/GUI/convention changes that MS makes. It's one thing to make a functionally superior upgrade, but quite another to do a glitzy, trendy reconfiguration forcing everyone to relearn what they already know and have trained muscle-memory for. Linux looks more inviting with every new WIN release. Of course, you can't be everything to everyone, unless you produced a standalone base program with gaming DLC-type additions for customization? Surely the product gurus behing the roadmap could manage that bit of marketing?
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I appreciate your comment, but Microsoft is making crap. For security, lets suggest downloading a third-party app that might put a virus on your system.
