Open Shell
Open Shell is a fork of the Classic Shell project for Windows that getting back the classic start menu to modern versions of Microsoft Windows.
Features
Properties
- Support for Themes
- Lightweight
- Privacy focused
Features
- Customize Windows
- Change Start Button
- System Tweaker
Windows Explorer Extension- Make Taskbar Transparent
- Ad-free
Tags
- start-menu-replacement
- classic-start-menu
- shell-replacement
Open Shell News & Activities
Recent News
Recent activities
K0RR added Open Shell as alternative to DMS
POX added Open Shell as alternative to Noctalia
pandanautinspace added Open Shell as alternative to xoblite
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What is Open Shell?
Open Shell is a fork of Originally 
Classic Shell by Ivo Beltchev.
Flexible start menu that can mimic the menu behavior of Windows 2000, XP and Windows 7 and compatible with all recent versions of Windows 10 and previous versions of Windows.
Advanced features: •Choose between “Classic” and “Windows 7” styles. •Drag and drop to let you organize your applications. •Options to show Favorites, expand Control Panel, etc. •Shows recently used documents. The number of documents to display is customizable. •Translated in 35 languages, including Right-to-left support for Arabic and Hebrew. •Does not disable the original start menu in Windows. You can access it by Shift+Click on the start button. •Right-click on an item in the menu to delete, rename, sort, or perform other tasks. •The search box helps you find your programs and files without getting in the way of your keyboard shortcuts. •Supports jumplists for easy access to recent documents and common tasks. •Available for 32 and 64-bit operating systems. •Has support for skins, including additional 3rd party skins. Make your own! •Fully customizable in both looks and functionality. •Support for Microsoft’s Active Accessibility. •Converts the “All Programs” button in the Windows menu into a cascading menu. •Implements a customizable start button. •Can show, search and launch Windows Store apps (Windows 8).
Open Shell information
Developed by
passionate-coderLicensing
Open Source (MIT) and Free product.Written in
Rating
Average rating of 4.3Alternatives
41 alternatives listedSupported Languages
- English
AlternativeTo Category
OS & UtilitiesGitHub repository
- 8,464 Stars
- 478 Forks
- 679 Open Issues
- Updated
Comments and Reviews
Pretty good program for customizing one of the most (un)customizable operating systems. The program itself sometimes feels unintuitive when using, but it's because of Microsoft, I suppose.
Does NOT work on ARM CPUs (Black Screen after Reboot) and will not be developed to run on ARM according to GitHub. https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu/issues/966
has grown more frustrating and less intuitive over the years.
I like how customizable it is. The only issue is that it keeps the flat little square for active apps even when using an image for the texture. Ofc you could just enable transparency in the OS settings to make it look better. But otherwise it works like a charm and it's lightweight. If I was willing to plurge a bit & had the cpu for it, I'd probably pay for WindowBlinds10. But as a free option, Open Shell is a great choice.
The very best alternative to and replacement for the crippled Windows 11 Start Menu. How can one say that the app is "outdated and no longer works on modern versions of Windows"? Obviously, it does not work on YOUR system, which is most likely damaged, because as of this writing I have been using the currently newest version of Windows 11 (22H2), and Open-Shell works as well as it had before. I have tried StartAllBack, StartItBack, Start11, Start Menu X, you name it, and none of these programs was even close to stability, functionality and ease of use offered by Open-Shell. Start Menu X was particularly harmful, as I had to recreate registry entries that software removed/destroyer. The other three programs mentioned above are just clumsily designed, often slow, and do not provide the navigating comfort of Open-Shell. The latter is in its own class, THE standard by which the other similar programs can be judged.
I can find all the programs I have installed using Open-Shell. I can't find them with Windows start menu for some reason.
Also, I can drag and drop any program to add to start menu, which I can't do with Windows 10 start menu.
It's an outdated app that no longer works on modern versions of Windows.