Microsoft’s latest preview build of Windows 11 removed the ability to use the classic Start menu—or at least the version of it available in Windows 10—by modifying certain settings.
The next-gen Start menu is one of Windows 11’s most obvious design changes. Unlike its predecessors, which were found in the bottom left corner of the screen, the new Start menu is located in the center of the taskbar by default. (Though it can be moved to the classic location.)
TechRadar reported that Windows 11 previously allowed testers to switch back to the old Start menu by modifying the Windows Registry used to store low-level operating system settings, which made it easier to ease into the new user interface that arrived alongside Windows 11.
That option was removed with the release of Windows 11 build 22000.65 on July 8. Microsoft didn’t mention the change in the blog post announcing that build; it simply noted that the Start menu received a new search box “to make it easier to find what you’re looking for.”
This is a preview release of Windows 11, however, so it’s possible that the ability to restore the current-gen Start menu will return in future builds. It’s hard to predict how the operating system might change between now and its release sometime later this year.
