disabling / removing Metro GUI (works for current developer release)

jimbo45

New Member
VIP Member
Guru
Messages
4,373
Location
Hafnarfjörður IS
Hi all

This is a copy of a post I made in the W7 Forums but I've been pointed to this Forum (never even knew there was a W8 one yet !!)

I've just been playing with the developer edition of W8 download
link in the news section of the Forum.

if you are like me and HATE those
horrible square tacky icons that make this OS look more like a mobile phone than
a desktop / workstation OS then this neat little trick gets back to the more
"Claassical UI" windows look.

Once I've disabled the Metro UI I actually
quite like W8 and it seems snappy enough on my system even as a VM.

To
disable the Metro UI and keep the ribbon, etc, simply rename
c:\windows\system32\shsxs.dll to something else and reboot.

This might
only work for the current developer build but it suits me for the
moment.

I always prefer totally uncluttered desktops with the minimal
information on them at startup.

I hate the android phone default start up
screens -- I'm using an HTC phone.

Nothing wrong with the phone but not
everybody wants or needs zillions of apps on their screen !!!.

To any MS
developers --remember this OS will also be used as a workstation / laptop OS so
please don't turn it into a tablet only or "Iphone" look alike OS. Some peole
like dynamically changing icons ("Metro apps" - why can't they just call them
MOBILE apps which is essentially what they are) but others don't want them
--leave some user choice. !!!!

Cheers

Jimbo45
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Centos 7, W8.1, W7, W2K3 Server W10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 X LG 40 inch TV
    Hard Drives
    SSD's * 3 (Samsung 840 series) 250 GB
    2 X 3 TB sata
    5 X 1 TB sata
    Internet Speed
    0.12 GB/s (120Mb/s)
Thanks for that tip, Jimbo. I'm sure that the GUI will be useful on a touch interface, but it's worse then useless in a workstation/desktop environment.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 7
    CPU
    i7 860
Might as well stick with Win 7 then ...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8, x64, DP8102 - Win7 Ultimate x64, Dual Boot
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba
    CPU
    Core 2 Duo T5500
    Motherboard
    Intel
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel 965
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Laptop 17", Gateway 20"
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900 (x2)
From a GUI perspective, I agree. However, 8 is being promoted as offering improvements in performance, security, privacy and system reliability, along with a decrease in the the memory footprint needed and faster boot-up and shut down speeds. All good stuff for the desktop, and good news for laptops.

It's a new O/S, with - I hope - improvements, tweaks and changes that will make it useful for all sorts of platforms. If all I was interested in was the GUI, I would stick with XP. That's obviously a silly stance to take however.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 7
    CPU
    i7 860
I hope Microsoft will not overlook the fact that most people don't use or want to use touchscreen based computers.

Best regards,

zx81
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 1720
    CPU
    Intel 1720 Core 2 Duo 2.00GHz,800,2M
    Memory
    4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2x2048)
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce Go 8600M GT 256MB DDR2
    Sound Card
    SigmaTel
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.0" Widescreen WXGA+ (1440x900) TFT with TrueLife
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    2x160GB 5400RPM Serial ATA
    Mouse
    Logitech
I found this batch script to work really good to remove the Metro UI without rebooting, while still preserving the new taskbar and the such. Save as KillMetro.bat and run as admin:

Edit: Uh, the below script doesn't actually turn off Metro, it enables the classic Start menu but ALSO allows Metro to be invoked. Anyone have a better script?

Code:
@echo off
ren C:\Windows\System32\shsxs.dll shsxs.dll.bak
tskill explorer
echo Wait a second...
ping -n 2 127.0.0.1>nul
ren C:\Windows\System32\shsxs.dll.bak shsxs.dll

Here's the same script, but to turn it back on:

Code:
@echo off
ren C:\Windows\System32\shsxs.dll.bak shsxs.dll
tskill explorer

The renaming in the above script is not really required if the KillMetro.bat above is used to disable Metro UI, it's more of a fail-safe.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce 460 GTX 1GB
I have created two specific users, one Metro and the other non metro. It takes seconds to logout and in again.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Use several different computers during a day, so specs are irrelevant.
I found this batch script to work really good to remove the Metro UI without rebooting, while still preserving the new taskbar and the such. Save as KillMetro.bat and run as admin:

Edit: Uh, the below script doesn't actually turn off Metro, it enables the classic Start menu but ALSO allows Metro to be invoked. Anyone have a better script?

Code:
@echo off
ren C:\Windows\System32\shsxs.dll shsxs.dll.bak
tskill explorer
echo Wait a second...
ping -n 2 127.0.0.1>nul
ren C:\Windows\System32\shsxs.dll.bak shsxs.dll

Here's the same script, but to turn it back on:

Code:
@echo off
ren C:\Windows\System32\shsxs.dll.bak shsxs.dll
tskill explorer

The renaming in the above script is not really required if the KillMetro.bat above is used to disable Metro UI, it's more of a fail-safe.

Here is a tool that does that Download Metro UI Tweaker for Windows 8 1.0 Free - A simple means of customizing the Metro interface of Windows 8 - Softpedia
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7
Turning Metro UI off per-user:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RPEnabled set to 0
Then log off and back in.

Then for the rest of the system, login UI, etc:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RPEnabled set to 0
Restart.

No changing DLLs needed...The registry (and Group Policy) is the supported way.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7/Windows 8
I agree that the Metro UI is kind of "alien" for the PC. But if you cut it out, you are missing a lot of fun and end up with a lesser system than Win7.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
I have created two specific users, one Metro and the other non metro. It takes seconds to logout and in again.

Good idea !
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10.0.10122
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    My Build - Vorttex Ultimate
    CPU
    Core i7 @ 4500 MHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS Z87-Plus
    Memory
    32GB DDR3 @ 1822 MHz (OC)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon R9 280X 3GB @ 1180 / 6800 MHz
    Sound Card
    7.1 HDA
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LCD LG 22" + CRT LG 17"
    Screen Resolution
    1760 x 1320 / 1280 x 960
    Hard Drives
    1 x 240 GB SSD (System)
    3 x 500 GB HDD (Data/Media)
    1 x 2000 GB e-HDD (Backup)
    PSU
    ThermalTake 1000W PSU
    Case
    Corsair Carbide R300
    Cooling
    Corsair H60 (Push-Pull)
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Wireless Keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Wireless Mouse
    Internet Speed
    60 Mbps (Down) 5 Mbps (Up)
    Browser
    IE, FF, Chrome
    Antivirus
    AVG Internet Security 2015
    Other Info
    Some wired stuff
Try out Classic Shell.

I haven't tried it out on a single monitor (I use two) but, to me, it's the best of both worlds.

2011-09-24_161314.jpg
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8, x64, DP8102 - Win7 Ultimate x64, Dual Boot
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba
    CPU
    Core 2 Duo T5500
    Motherboard
    Intel
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel 965
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Laptop 17", Gateway 20"
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900 (x2)

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
I found this to be the best for laptop or desktop... be sure to set your user tile image before disabling, or you are stuck with the white generic user outline on the logon screen.
MetroController

http://winaero.com/comment.php?comment.news.17
 
Last edited by a moderator:

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    17074 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP dv7 3173nr
    CPU
    M520
    Memory
    5GB
    Screen Resolution
    1600x900
    Internet Speed
    120Mb/s
  • PC2
    HP A12 R7 17074
Hmm, may be an overkill to set the regkey from 1 to 0 or 2. Go to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

Right click on the RPEnabled and click Modify

Set to 0 or 2 (with 2 you keep the new Task Manager).
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Shawn. my comment was not intended as a criticism of the tutorial. It was meant as an answer to post #16. I just thought that downloading a program for such a trivial operation is a bit heavy handed. But maybe some people are not comfy manipulating the registry and prefer some tool where they do not know what is really happening.

Btw: recently I noticed watermarks in your tutorials. Have people been "stealing" your snips? That once happened to me many years ago with one of my first tutorials on Shadow Explorer. Half a dozen forums and blogs (and very well known ones) used my snips to spread the news. Some even without the reference.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
Wolfgang,

Oh no mate. I didn't take it that way at all. No worries. Besides, I always welcome constructive criticism anyways. Anything to help improve the tutorials so that they may help better is always welcomed.

I wast just posting to let folks know that the tutorial was updated for what you pointed out to make it easier to do using the context menu addition from the tutorial. That's all. :)

I agree. I don't much care for using 3rd party programs when not needed to be able to use Windows 8 own built-in features or options to do it. The tutorial just uses a simple .vbs file to make the registry changes with when using the context menu.

Yep, I always use watermarks on our images at our VF, SF, and EF sites. This way, if any one uses the images at their site, everyone will know where they came from.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Back
Top