Replacing the Start Menu button.

I'd like to keep the Windows 11 taskbar layout centred but replace the Start (menu) icon with my own custom button icon, like I did on Windows 10.

Unfortunately, Classic Start Menu (classicshell.net) can replace the Start Menu button icon in Windows 11 Pro with a custom one of my own, as I could with Windows 10 Pro, but it will place the custom icon on the left side of the taskbar. (With Classic Start Menu, you can substitute the Start Menu icon with a strip of three images, which Classic Start Menu loads when you hover over or click on the Start Menu icon. What the third image is for I don't remember.)

Is there anything like this possible for the Start icon in the new (centered) Windows 11 taskbar?

This works for me:

It does still work but only in the corner.

hdmi said:

This works for me:

GitHub - Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu: Classic Shell Reborn.

Classic Shell Reborn. Contribute to Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

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I checked and Open Shell indeed works, but like Classic Shell Menu does in Windows 11, it doesn't replace the new Start icon in the new taskbar but places the custom Start Menu icon in the corner. I was wondering if there's a utility or tweak out, already, with which the new Start icon can be customized.

Start11 easily replaces the start button with numerous options.



What is even more important to me was that it also fixed the horrible waste of space between the left side of the button and the screen when the start button is on the left.

moonkey said:

I checked and Open Shell indeed works, but like Classic Shell Menu does in Windows 11, it doesn't replace the new Start icon in the new taskbar but places the custom Start Menu icon in the corner. I was wondering if there's a utility or tweak out, already, with which the new Start icon can be customized.

Click to expand...

If you like to tinker, you can use StartAllBack (former StartIsBack) and use it to make the Start Button invisible with a fully transparent .png file like the one pinned here:
Next, you could pin something to your taskbar or use something like Rainmeter to run a command:
"%PROGRAMFILES%\Open-Shell\StartMenu.exe" -open
Finally, in Open-Shell settings you can go to the Commands tab to choose what should happen when you press the Win key and/or change the horizontal position of the classic Start Menu to match the position of the Start Button's surrogate.

On a side note, if you, like me, use ExplorerPatcher to bring back the classic Taskbar of Windows 10, then it also is possible to put an empty Toolbar (i.e., a Taskbar Toolbar that just points to an empty folder) as a "spacer" between the Start Button (invisible Start Button) and the Pinned area. Between this spacer and the Pinned area, you can then put an additional Toolbar with a shortcut on it that points to the aforementioned command. The end result will be that the aesthetics might not be totally in line with what you are looking for, and you may notice a very short delay after you click the button, but then you gain something in return, as the "modern" Taskbar of Windows 11 does lack several useful features compared to the "classic" Taskbar of Windows 10 according to many, myself included. Another nice touch is that ExplorerPatcher can be combined with StartIsBack/StartAllBack, in which case it [ExplorerPatcher] will give you the added ability to change the default settings listed below, which are automatically ignored by ExplorerPatcher if it can't find a .dll file from StartIsBack/StartAllBack in the correct folder location. (See the documentation of ExplorerPatcher on GitHub for exact details on how that works.)
ExplorerPatcher and TranslucentTB (Microsoft Store app) can also be combined (I have been using TranslucentTB combined with BOTH ExplorerPatcher AND Open-Shell, it works.)

P.S., ExplorerPatcher also works when combining it with RaMMicHaeL's 7+ Taskbar Tweaker.

Stigg said:

Start11 easily replaces the start button with numerous options.

View attachment 13557

What is even more important to me was that it also fixed the horrible waste of space between the left side of the button and the screen when the start button is on the left.

View attachment 13558

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I checked out the software. Unfortunately, it can also only replace the Start button icon if the taskbar is aligned at the (left) side of the screen.

Thanks for the suggestion. I should have been clearer I'd like to keep the Windows 11 layout for the taskbar, centred, and only change the Start icon. I'll update the OP.

Use Open Shell on the left and Win11 Start in the middle, that way OpenShell behaves as normal with whatever icon you want.

clam1952 said:

Use Open Shell on the left and Win11 Start in the middle, that way OpenShell behaves as normal with whatever icon you want.

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Please explain.

If you leave the Win11 Start menu in the Centre Open Shell will work as normal on the left.

clam1952 said:

If you leave the Win11 Start menu in the Centre Open Shell will work as normal on the left.

View attachment 13638

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I see what you mean. Practical. It would certainly work, but I'd like to replace the new Start icon itself.

like hdmi said, use startallback. you can set the button to the left side, but icons to the middle. make the start button a transparent image, thus you will not see the button on the left side. next make a little script file (you can use autoit or any other to set CTRL+ESC and create a shortcut to it). pin that shortcut to your taskbar and it will be in the middle and have whatever icon you set as its icon.... it will not change to a different image/icon when depressed, but meh

Thanks for adding your take to the thread, dacrone.

It's surprising to me there still is no way to customize the Start Menu icon this long after Windows 11's release. Has Microsoft added special protections in Windows 11 to the Start Menu icon?

It’s the taskbar that causes the issues. It’s its own thing now unlike previous windows versions.

Thanks for explaining. I suppose it's a good thing the OS is getting harder to customize. It's mostly exploits of weaknesses in the code after all, but I hope Microsoft adds a customization layer.

moonkey said:

I suppose it's a good thing the OS is getting harder to customize.

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In my experience, it's been getting easier. It used to be a lot harder before ExplorerPatcher came out...

Using OpenShell 4.4.170 in 10 and 11 , works awsome ..........this startmenu has much more options then any other startmenu...............

Do you know where is the original Start icon file path?

atinfo said:

Do you know where is the original Start icon file path?

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Windows 11 no longer uses a separate file for it, instead it is coded in the system files, but the one from Windows 10 still exists on it.
C:\Windows\System32\@WLOGO_48x48.png

I have created my own .png and put it in C:\Program Files\Open-Shell\Buttons

hdmi said:

Windows 11 no longer uses a separate file for it, instead it is coded in the system files

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Are you sure?

I thought the Explorer icons (ribbon/bar icons) are coded with OS sys files, but recently I have found its assets folder (there are full icons which Explorer uses in its UI, all of them are in SVG format).

hdmi said:

but the one from Windows 10 still exists on it.
C:\Windows\System32\@WLOGO_48x48.png

Click to expand...

Yes! It still is there (Win 10 Start).