Is it possible to have a Start button for Windows 8 without any Application?

Question

Well I have seen some applications having Windows Start button.

But is there any trick to have the Windows Start button without downloading any application ?

Answer 1

I think, a reasonable compromise to replicate the Start button functionality is to build tiles corresponding to the features offered through the Start button & group them together.

Scott Hanselman has a nice article on how you can customize Start menu options as shortcuts and then make them accessible through Tiles.

For instance, to Shutdown the PC with a single click, create a shortcut on the desktop with the Target set to c:\Windows\System32\Shutdown.exe -s -t 00. To make this shortcut appear as a Tile on the Metro Home screen, right click on the desktop shortcut and select Pin to Start from context menu.

Answer 2

Its a bit of an ugly hack but there's a very simple way to get something that works almost like a start button. Rightclick on the taskbar in desktop mode and select "add toolbar"

That will open up a file selection window. Click on the folder image, to switch from breadcrumb to directory mode, and change the folder to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs and hit select folder (It will be something else by default.)

This will add a toolbar to the bottom right hand corner of the taskbar next to your notification bar. Now unlock the toolbar and click between the first icon and texture that unlocking the toolbar causes.

Drag it right till the toolbar and icons swap places and shift the icons to a more reasonable size.

Then click on the >> for a ghetto start button

Answer 3

Not sure at all if this is what you want, but I was frustrated by the lack of mouse support for activating the Win8 Start Screen (which imo is grand for getting at apps once you have it open).

The hotspots are slow and fiddly with a mouse, so I pinned my own makeshift "Start" button to the taskbar which simply opens the existing Win8 Start Screen - no need for any apps to be installed.

Create a VBS file with the following source

WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell").SendKeys "^{ESC}"

This just triggers the WinKey keyboard shortcut every time you run it.

Create a shortcut that runs the VBS file

The shortcut is actually to C:\Windows\explorer.exe and then takes the path to the VBS as a param. You can also add an icon for your button here by hitting "Change Icon..." - I threw in a nice pink one.

Then you just pin that shortcut to the taskbar.

Answer 4

There might be a way bymessing with a shell file, but it is not for the faint of heart. You can potentially mess things up if you are not sure what effect the changes will have on the system.

Alternatively, you can use Start8 or checkout this thread.