Windows 8 Consumer Preview Bypass Metro Start Screen and Show Desktop

[Ex_Brit]

It works but like so many similar hacks it has a side-effect of displaying your libraries folder opened on your desktop. Of course you can dismiss it immediately.

I'll reserve judgement on this until I've played around with it some more. According to the forums it must be installed with Admin rights and run also with Admin rights.

 

[Ivo]

I just tried Classic Start in a VM. Seems to be working. It opens an Explorer window on startup, which causes the Desktop to appear. That's a bit messy, but works.

I am developing my own solution to add to the next version of Classic Shell. However I'm quite busy at the moment, so I've decided to wait with the next release until a new version of Win8 is released - RC, RTM, or whatever's next. It is possible Microsoft will add a native option to skip Metro by then

 

[Ex_Brit]

I wish MS would do that....allow a total bypass of Metro. I quite like the new Task Manager but the rest can go as far as I'm concerned and I certainly do not like the way Metro takes over the pairing of Bluetooth and similar devices which allows absolutely no flexibility. That would mean a complete switch off for Metro which I doubt will ever happen knowing how stubborn they've been thus far.

 

[fafhrd]

MS cannot do that - allow a total bypass of Metro - it gives the illusion of speed. Like any other illusion it requires a degree of hocus-pocus. That is provided by the plain backdrop and simple tiles, and putting more complex applications offscreen to the right, should you (likely) need them.

Metro's delaying tactics gives that extra second or two, or more, for all the services to come up to speed, before the user can start to multitask.

There is nothing new in typing directly to the (Metro) shell - we all had to do it when our PCs booted to MS-DOS (but we could see what we had typed displayed on screen.)

In that respect Windows 8 is a retrograde step - to before the days of the Start Menu - but it probably will do more to educate users how to get the best out of Windows than all the versions since Windows 95.

 

[Britton30]

I wish MS would do that....allow a total bypass of Metro. I quite like the new Task Manager but the rest can go as far as I'm concerned and I certainly do not like the way Metro takes over the pairing of Bluetooth and similar devices which allows absolutely no flexibility. That would mean a complete switch off for Metro which I doubt will ever happen knowing how stubborn they've been thus far.

I completely agree to that! Since MS created it they can do anything they want to do.

 

[CPJames]

Just to let you all know I noticed a setup file for the ClassicStart program mentioned in the MDL forum. URL below for Setup file below.

 

[reb3rd]

If you have not upgraded to Windows 8.1 yet.

Boot To The Desktop - For Windows 8 and 8 Pro

Make sure you have "Hide extensions for known file types" unchecked in Folder Options. Just for file verification purposes.
Re-check it afterwards if you want.

Create the "Show Desktop" file:

Open a text editor like Notepad. (not Word or Wordpad)
Copy and Paste or type the following into the text editor:

[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

Do not have any extra spaces at the top and do not "Carriage Return" (enter) to next line at the end.

Save the file as - Show Desktop.scf (actually any name you want, just remember it)
When you see the file it will have the Desktop icon but it will not have .scf at the end even with "Hide extensions for known file types" unchecked. Right click the file and go to properties. It should have "Type of file: File Explorer Command (.scf)" and the name should be just "Show Desktop" with no extension.

Copy the file to the "Start Menu\Programs\Startup" folder.
There are more than one "Startup" folders in Windows 8 and 8 Pro. Put it in this one:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

Close everything down. Restart your computer.

When it boots up, it will pause at the "Start" screen until it reads the contents of Startup.
It will then go to the Desktop with nothing opened up.

Side note: If you want something to open automatically when you boot up, put it in this same Startup folder after Show Desktop.