Since getting my hands on Windows 8 this past week, I (like many others) have really grappled with the constant accidental returning to the metro tiles every time I try to search for something in the new neutered Start Menu that appears in the Developer’s Preview of Windows 8.  To say I hate that would be an understatement.

Today, a colleague forwarded m

e a link to a blog entry that showed the magic registry key to get my beloved Start Menu mostly back the way it was.  Apparently, there is a small GUI app on CodePlex that will take care of this as well.

I decided I didn’t want to see anything, I just want to toggle.  So, I threw together a quick Console App to take care of this.  I can place this app on my desktop in Windows 8 classic mode and just toggle back and forth without having to see anything but a quick flash of the console.

Here’s the code:





 




 




 


    

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    1. using Microsoft.Win32;
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    1. namespace ToggleStartMenu
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    1. {
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    1.     class Program
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    1.     {
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    1.         static void Main(string[] args)
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    1.         {
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    1.             var rootKey = Registry.CurrentUser;
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    1.             var subKey = rootKey.OpenSubKey(@”Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer”, 
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    1.                 RegistryKeyPermissionCheck.ReadWriteSubTree, System.Security.AccessControl.RegistryRights.FullControl);
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    1.             if (subKey != null)
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    1.             {
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    1.                 var value = (int) subKey.GetValue(“RPEnabled”);
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    1.                 subKey.SetValue(“RPEnabled”, value == 0 ? 1 : 0, RegistryValueKind.DWord);
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    1.             }
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    1.         }
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    1.     }
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    1. }
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Here’s the source.