Classic Shell – Registry Entries for Custom Windows 7 Style Start Menu

When applying the Classic Shell Group Policy Templates in Windows 2012 RDS, there is an option called “Menu items for the Windows 7 Style”. In order to customize the menu items, you first need to make changes to some user profile that is using Classic Shell and then go and retrieve the entries from the HKCU\Software\IvoSoft\ClassicStartMenu\Settings\MenuItems7 key in the Registry to know what to enter there. Even on the Classic Shell forums, they didn’t have it documented so here goes…

First, you should have a list of entries titled “Items(1-23).Command=” followed by the friendly name of the item.

Item1.Command=user_files

Following each one of those entires, you may or may not have an additional entry for each item titled “Items(1-23).Settings=” followed by one or more of the display options depending on how you want it displayed.

Item1.Settings=NOEXPAND

As of Classic Shell version 4.1, here is a list of the Command names and their descriptions:

admin - %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools

apps - %PROGRAMFILES%\WindowsApps
computer - This PC
control_panel - Control Panel\All Control Panel Items
defaults - Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Default Programs
desktop - %USERPROFILE%\Desktop
devices - Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Devices and Printers
downloads - %USERPROFILE%\Downloads
favorites - %USERPROFILE%\Favorites
fonts - %SYSTEMROOT%\Fonts
games - %PROGRAMFILES%\Applications?
help - %SYSTEMROOT%\HelpPane.exe
homegroup - Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\HomeGroup
lib_documents - Libraries\Documents
lib_music - Libraries\Music
lib_pictures - Libraries\Pictures
lib_tv - %PUBLIC%\Libraries\Recorded TV
lib_videos - Libraries\Videos
libraries - Libraries
links - %USERPROFILE%\Links
network - Browse Local Network Screen
network_connections - Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network Connections
printers - All Control Panel Items\Printers
recent_documents - %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent
run - Explorer Run Command
separator - Displays a Separator
user_documents - %USERPROFILE%\Documents
user_files - %USERPROFILE%
user_music - %USERPROFILE%\Music
user_pictures - %USERPROFILE%\Pictures
user_videos - %USERPROFILE%\Videos
windows_security - Ctrl+Alt+Del Screen

Here is the list of display settings as I see them:

<BLANK> - Omitting the Item.Settings line completely appears to be equivalent to "Display as a menu" from the Settings Menu.
<BLANK> - Displaying a separator in the menu doesn't require an Item.Settings line either.
ITEM_DISABLED - Equivalent to "Don't display this item" from the Settings Menu.
NOEXPAND - Equivalent to "Display as a link" from the Settings Menu.
TRACK_RECENT - Where available/applicable, show Recent MRU list.

Here is an example of what an entry might look like:

Item1.Command=user_files
Item1.Settings=NOEXPAND
Item2.Command=user_documents
Item2.Settings=NOEXPAND
Item3.Command=user_pictures
Item3.Settings=ITEM_DISABLED
Item4.Command=user_music
Item4.Settings=ITEM_DISABLED
Item5.Command=user_videos
Item5.Settings=ITEM_DISABLED
Item6.Command=downloads
Item6.Settings=ITEM_DISABLED
Item7.Command=homegroup
Item7.Settings=ITEM_DISABLED
Item8.Command=favorites
Item9.Command=separator
Item10.Command=games
Item10.Settings=TRACK_RECENT|NOEXPAND|ITEM_DISABLED
Item11.Command=recent_documents
Item12.Command=computer
Item12.Settings=NOEXPAND
Item13.Command=network
Item13.Settings=ITEM_DISABLED
Item14.Command=network_connections
Item14.Settings=ITEM_DISABLED
Item15.Command=separator
Item16.Command=control_panel
Item16.Settings=TRACK_RECENT
Item17.Command=admin
Item17.Settings=TRACK_RECENT|ITEM_DISABLED
Item18.Command=devices
Item18.Settings=NOEXPAND
Item19.Command=defaults
Item19.Settings=ITEM_DISABLED
Item20.Command=help
Item21.Command=run
Item21.Settings=ITEM_DISABLED
Item22.Command=apps
Item22.Settings=ITEM_DISABLED
Item23.Command=windows_security

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