If you dont like metro, you could do this.

dfanz0r

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I hate the metro ui but like windows 8 overall.

This is what i did to disable the metro ui.

First start up regedit

then go to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

Down the list a ways there is the shell entry.

I changed mine to cmd:
Ps4DC.png


Now when you restart windows when you log in you will no longer be greeted with the start tiles. But with a cmd window lol.

IMO this is tons better than metro, been using it like this for a day. No wallpapers, and no watermark.

But what this also means, is that if someone wrote a full replacement shell for windows we would also have no metro. So someone get on that. Or someone should try to get window 7's explorer.exe to work on windows 8, i've tried it doesn't work.

Also like this windows explorer browsing files works as normal too. Running explorer.exe doesn't start back up metro and everything, just brings up the file explorer. There are also no more hot corners metro is completely gone :D.
image:
gdhnL.png
 

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Nice idea - people are already working on it.

In the meantime: Metro disabler

Yeah but odds are that microsoft will patch that before RTM.

This i HIGHLY doubt they will remove.

But one more side effect of this, it screws with the window color changer.

The color changer for windows doesn't work right anymore. It doesnt work period. Only way to change color of windows is to switch to a premade theme that has a color saved in the theme file and not set on auto, Like the basic themes.

I was also thinking about making me some sort of simple application launcher with python at some point that will get started on startup.

Edit worked on that some, so far i have it displaying the wallpaper(location taken from Registry) on all monitors, behind all windows.

Ft2MM.jpg
 
Last edited:

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fxxkmetro is not going to be perfect yet, it is early days. It is a great attempt and works well overall.

Keep at it - lots of people are looking for ways to avoid the metro infection.
 

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I hate the metro ui but like windows 8 overall.

This is what i did to disable the metro ui.

First start up regedit

then go to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

Down the list a ways there is the shell entry.

I changed mine to cmd:
Ps4DC.png


Now when you restart windows when you log in you will no longer be greeted with the start tiles. But with a cmd window lol.

IMO this is tons better than metro, been using it like this for a day. No wallpapers, and no watermark.

But what this also means, is that if someone wrote a full replacement shell for windows we would also have no metro. So someone get on that. Or someone should try to get window 7's explorer.exe to work on windows 8, i've tried it doesn't work.

Also like this windows explorer browsing files works as normal too. Running explorer.exe doesn't start back up metro and everything, just brings up the file explorer. There are also no more hot corners metro is completely gone :D.
image:
gdhnL.png

So can you directly boot to Desktop without seeing that Metro Start Screen???:sarc:
 

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But one more side effect of this, it screws with the window color changer.

No it doesn't.

It works fine for me.

You might have caused that by the other mucking about you are doing.
 

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hmm thats weird, i might have a look at it again see what the issue is.


So can you directly boot to Desktop without seeing that Metro Start Screen???:sarc:


There is no desktop this way. You boot into a command prompt. I might try to get this little program i'm working on to clone a lot of the features of the desktop though.

you can still start programs and everything but you just don't have the desktop interface at all. It doesnt just remove metro but the whole desktop as well.
 

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That Shell= entry has been there since forever. But sadly noone ever really made use of it. There are like a dozen desktop shells (+Window managers) for linux but not many (if any true shell replacements) for windows.

Would be nice if this forces someone to see commercial interest, not just in add-on tool bars or hacked theme changers but a TRUE and FULL Windows shell replacement that really kicked ass :D

It would be a bit daunting but... Win8 may create a market for it for real.
 

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hmm thats weird, i might have a look at it again see what the issue is.


So can you directly boot to Desktop without seeing that Metro Start Screen???:sarc:


There is no desktop this way. You boot into a command prompt. I might try to get this little program i'm working on to clone a lot of the features of the desktop though.

you can still start programs and everything but you just don't have the desktop interface at all. It doesnt just remove metro but the whole desktop as well.

If you can resolve that, it would be so good for try. Actually the Metro is shared with classic shell (as I think so), so there is a problem in eradicating them.

That Shell= entry has been there since forever. But sadly noone ever really made use of it. There are like a dozen desktop shells (+Window managers) for linux but not many (if any true shell replacements) for windows.

Would be nice if this forces someone to see commercial interest, not just in add-on tool bars or hacked theme changers but a TRUE and FULL Windows shell replacement that really kicked ass :D

It would be a bit daunting but... Win8 may create a market for it for real.

I got a shell entry in Windows System 32 folder, i.e. twinui.dll.mui . That's is responsible for almost all metro stuff. Once when I replaced it by a file I've just tweaked , Windows lost all the metro, and it comes to same scenario that this thread states initially. :zip:
 

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I got a shell entry in Windows System 32 folder, i.e. twinui.dll.mui . That's is responsible for almost all metro stuff. Once when I replaced it by a file I've just tweaked , Windows lost all the metro, and it comes to same scenario that this thread states initially. :zip:

Exactly, WIth a single change and the proper installed software, the ENTIRE desktop/toolbar/startmenu "shell" can be replaced by anything else, if such anything else's existed. Linux has always had many to chose from (generally all worse than windows though) Windows has always had that ability, just nothing to choose from. The standard windows desktop was generally good enough and hackable enough that no one has really gone through the effort of doing a complete replacement. But if Win8 is hated enough on release, it could actually open up a real market for one :)

I would even love to do my part for such a project. We could end up with a really nice power user desktop for windows in the end. Something staring with the current windows desktop but moving in the complete opposite direction of Metro. Or maybe some else ?completely new" but also in the opposite direction of metro :D
 

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It's ironic - when we build pe, of course we need to launch some kind of shell.

The best shell is windows explorer - i.e. the desktop .

At least up to now.

I have had a quick go at pe4 - desktop looks just fine - the important stuff is working - mmc etc.

But big chunks of code have been removed to stop us doing what we want.

No start menu of course - Classic shell to the rescue.

No pin to taskbar, and minimizing a progarm makes it disappear into task mgr like one of those apps.

2012-06-08_155656.jpg2012-06-08_204720.jpg
 

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interesting

I hate the metro ui but like windows 8 overall.

This is what i did to disable the metro ui.

First start up regedit

then go to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

Down the list a ways there is the shell entry.

I changed mine to cmd:
Ps4DC.png


Now when you restart windows when you log in you will no longer be greeted with the start tiles. But with a cmd window lol.

IMO this is tons better than metro, been using it like this for a day. No wallpapers, and no watermark.

But what this also means, is that if someone wrote a full replacement shell for windows we would also have no metro. So someone get on that. Or someone should try to get window 7's explorer.exe to work on windows 8, i've tried it doesn't work.

Also like this windows explorer browsing files works as normal too. Running explorer.exe doesn't start back up metro and everything, just brings up the file explorer. There are also no more hot corners metro is completely gone :D.
image:
gdhnL.png

So you need a shell instead of cmd.

Can we, by chance, use Explorer.exe but with a command parameter for the Desktop (something that gets the same as show desktop)?

some examples of paremeters:
Command-Line Switches for Windows Explorer
How Can I Start Windows Explorer Opened to a Specific Folder? - Hey, Scripting Guy! Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs
Explorer.exe command-line Switches

Not sure if exists yet but it should be fixable. I'll just use Metro until something solid is found for this tweak.

Thanks for sharing your idea.

Hopachi
 

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FXXKMETRO works great for me.

Best if you click tile to get to desktop - then dble click fxxkmetro.

Might have a look at starting up fxxkmetro automatically - but it would still be after getting to the desktop.

There aren't really any replacement shells to speak of - file managers, sure .

I can think of one possibilty - it is a bit xp looking.

I might have a go at that in few hours.
 

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FXXKMETRO works great for me.

Best if you click tile to get to desktop - then dble click fxxkmetro.

Might have a look at starting up fxxkmetro automatically - but it would still be after getting to the desktop.

There aren't really any replacement shells to speak of - file managers, sure .

I can think of one possibilty - it is a bit xp looking.

I might have a go at that in few hours.

Yes, fxxkmetro may work fine now, but what about for RTM? I doubt it.
 

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You are right MS don't want us to avoid metro.

Not sure if this app. has caused enough attention for them to bother - particularly at this late stage.

The fact people think MS might try do that shows MS has a big problem.

They have lost the trust of their customers.
 

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Got it going.

It now boots to login - sharp splashscreen - sharp desktop.

No metro start screen - no metro.

It doesn't save any time because you still have to wait for the desktop replacement to load.

It also takes a lot of fiddling around to get set up.

SharpEnviro

D/l and install - it tells you to reboot.

Looks awful and laggy at first :

Go to Configure>Desktop - untick Enable Explorer Desktop - that is what is causing the issue.


sharp-configure.jpg




Then spend ages finding where the settings are and fiddling around.

Reboot again.

It can look great - it is highly customizable.



sharp3 (Large).jpg


Aston Shell is probably easier - but it's not free.

I did have a copy and license somewhere - can't find it now.
 

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LOL
That's no Windows anymore. It's Openbox or Gnome now.

But you made it look good indeed.

And you even have multiple desktops.:shock:

So it's also free. :cool:

Something for the fans of transparency.
 

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Yes, it is very gnome like.

I don't know if transparency will work for rtm - MS are still busy butchering.
 

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If you dont like metro, you could do this.

I hate the metro ui but like windows 8 overall.

I hate the metro ui but like windows 8 overall??!! Windows 8 is Metro and Metro alone!

Good gracious! The only word you capitalized is the one that refers to yourself.

This is what think of this thread:

Let's take a Rembrandt and spray paint it with graffiti. :p
 

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Got it going.

It now boots to login - sharp splashscreen - sharp desktop.

No metro start screen - no metro.

It doesn't save any time because you still have to wait for the desktop replacement to load.

It also takes a lot of fiddling around to get set up.

SharpEnviro

D/l and install - it tells you to reboot.

Looks awful and laggy at first :

Go to Configure>Desktop - untick Enable Explorer Desktop - that is what is causing the issue.


View attachment 6964




Then spend ages finding where the settings are and fiddling around.

Reboot again.

It can look great - it is highly customizable.



View attachment 6965


Aston Shell is probably easier - but it's not free.

I did have a copy and license somewhere - can't find it now.
LOL wow that looks really messed up. xD I don't think I'd want a program that uses transparency and will ultimately LAG the starting of the computer because it'd have to boot up every single time. You'd have to get rid of all your desktop icons so they wont load in able to load this only. And you might as well disable anti virus at boot also because this thing looks like it'd take forever to boot!....Nahhh I'll stick with Metro.

Also those who hate Metro, I got some advice too. Stay in Windows 7. LOL besides there is some perfect Windows 8 visual styles you could easily install and use to make it look like 8.
 

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