Solved Move the address bar below the menu bar in Windows Explorer

[Bongo]

Hi Guys..

i want to make this thread alive since, i have the same problem on this thread..
but i getting confused and getting a hard time to implement it..

here's the problem,

I want to re-sized my address bar on my windows explorer to make my address bar invisible to the user..
i use windows 7 style builder to customized the theme..

the theme that i have custom is the default aero theme.
Toolbars, Headers and Rebar> Rebar> NavBar> Basic> Base> Band - CONTENTMARGINS:MARGIN (0, 0, 0, -33)

Since i followed the tutorials, still i don't have luck.. if i change its value then apply after saving, Im getting an error, windows style cannot apply.

If i export the theme and put in other location then proceed to customized the theme and copy it back to its original location. C:\windows\resources\themes. I can save the settings but if i applied it, it wont apply. still no luck..

This is what i want on the theme, no address bar and no navigational buttons (forward, back)
If you can give me all back theme with no address bar and no navigational buttons (forward, back), very much appreciated..

Please help me.. any help i can get. will be much appreciated..
If you have time guys, please kindly provide me a link to a theme with no address bar and no navigational buttons (forward, back)


Thank you


Note: To bongo, please forgive me for using your picture! since your picture is very good example to my problem.. hope you allowed me to use it here.

Welcome to the Seven Forums

Here is a theme with No_addressbar_navigation_buttons

Jerry

 

[Butters]

Since this thread has been resurrected...

I'm actually kind of still wondering if there's a solution for doing this with the Windows Classic theme. Yeah, I know the classic theme doesn't use msstyles, but I just find it hard to believe that there's no UIFILE to edit for Windows Explorer's shell with the Classic theme. Could there be some system32 DLL file it's in?

 

[Butters]

Anyone have any ideas about my last post? I just think it has to be in some dll file somewhere. Could it be in some DLL file like shell32.dll or ExplorerFrame.dll? I don't know, but I just think it has to be somewhere.

 

[Anixx]

Bango, can you please do the same to a classic-like theme, like Classic AE please?

Classic AE 2.5.3 Final by Saarineames on deviantART

 

[Anixx]

Nevermind, I've done it already:

 

[Butters]

Sorry to ask this again, but I really want to know if there's some dll (perhaphs in a UIFILE) I can modify to hide the address bar under the Windows Classic theme? If so, can someone tell me where it is and what it is I need to change?

 

[Anixx]

AFAIK it was possible in Vista and Win7 Beta via registry but this possibility was removed from the final release, with Microsoft citing security considerations, that is the user should always see the location.

I think one can take the explorer files from beta to see.

 

[Butters]

Well I do enjoy messing with Windows betas, so maybe I'll take a look at that.

Anyway, I thought of something that could potentially work. I recall hiding the command bar by changing a UIFILE in shellstyle.dll and changing the padding for 'FolderBandStyle' to -28. This is kind of what people in this thread have been doing with the address bar, except in aero.msstyles (or another msstyles file). So here's what I think could possibly work:

Like I just said, the ID for the command bar in ExplorerFrame.dll's UIFILE is 'FolderBandStyle'. I'm wondering if I could find the ID for the address bar, add it to the UIFILE, and change its padding to a large enough negative number so it will be hidden. I don't know if this will work, and the main thing getting in my way of testing this is that I don't know what the ID for the address bar is. So if anyone knows what it is, please let me know. Could it be the same ID as in an msstyles file?

Sorry if this is kind of hard to understand.

 

[Anixx]

Actually one can specify the msstyles file for any color scheme in the .theme file. I think one can create a color scheme for Classic theme and add a custom .msstyles file.

 

[Butters]

Wait, but the classic theme doesn't use msstyles, so what do you mean? To clarify, what I'm trying to do is hide the address bar in explorer with the Windows Classic theme.

 

[Anixx]

In all .theme files there is section [Visual Style] where there is path= variable. This variable points to a msstyle file. I do not know whether adding such file would affect appearance of a classic theme. In themes based on Classic the variable is empty by default.

 

[Butters]

Oh I see what you're saying. I actually have messed with .theme files (they are basically just text documents with data about which visual style, colors, metrics, sounds, cursors, etc. to load, so pretty easy to modify). If you add any variable that does not point to a msstyles file, I'm pretty sure it will just end up loading Windows Classic.
But the thing is that people in this thread have hidden the address bar by changing its padding IN an msstyles file. But since the Classic theme doesn't use msstyles, I was wondering if changing the address bar's padding elsewhere (like a UIFILE in C:\Windows\System32\shellstyle.dll) would work. Could you just add the address bar's ID to shellstyle.dll, and change its padding there? Also, what is the ID for the address bar?

 

[Anixx]

Unfortunately once the navbar is removed, the search becomes impossible.

 

[Butters]

I'm ok with that. I'm just trying to find a way to do it.

 

[Butters]

I'm sorry to bump again, but I am seriously at a loss here. I've looked everywhere, and I can't seem to find anything. Does anyone have any ideas of what I need to modify? I feel it has to be in a UIFILE somewhere, but where? Anyone have any ideas?

(Also, should I just start a new thread at this point?)

 

[Anixx]

This thing is very important for me too. Especially given that under Win8 one can use classic theme without disabling compositing, so to get rid of tearing.

 

[Anixx]

One of the possiblilities is to run IE6 under Win7. IE6 can be used as a file manager and looks exactly as WinXP explorer. Unfortunately I could not find an IE6 package that would work stably under Win7.

 

[Anixx]

Well I managed to run it using links from this video:
Internet Explorer 6 on Windows 8 - YouTube

Unfortunately it is available only in English and Italian. And apparently it uses the VMWare so it starts very slowly. Yet it integrates will with the system.

The drawbacks so far are:

- It does not open folders by double-click (only wi "go to"). I think this can be fixed by changing the file associations (i.e. the default fale manager).

- The "My computer" icon is too large (I think this can be fixed by Resource Hacker).

- The "My computer" is shown in the status bar irrespectively of the current folder.

- The language (I need Russian)

- It does not recognize inserted media (need refresh).

 

[Butters]

Wow, that's pretty interesting. Yeah it seems to try to open folders with Windows 7's explorer.exe, and that doesn't work. And yes, I'm pretty sure you can change file associations, but I'm not sure.

Actually this is neat. My goal is to get Windows 7's explorer.exe interface to look and act as much like XP's as possible (like a movable address bar, an option for 32x32 icons, ect.) I just think XP's explorer is more customizable. That's why I want to hide the address bar in the first place. But since this takes longer to load (and it seems kind of buggy) I want to do this with Windows 7's explorer. I might create a new thread just about that.

 

[Slartybart]

try Classic Shell - Start menu and other Windows enhancements

It can be customized in many ways.