Vista Windows Sidebar - Reinstate on Windows 7

Sidebar - Vista Sidebar on Windows 7

How to Reinstate the Vista Sidebar on Windows 7​

   Information

This will show you how to reinstate the Vista Windows Sidebar on Windows 7.

METHOD ONE

Reinstate Vista Windows Sidebar on Windows 7

1. First Close all running Gadgets and Check Task Manager to Make sure it is not running and then go to C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar.
2. Download the Take Ownership shortcut to add it to the right click context menu by going here http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1911-take-ownership-shortcut.html

3. Right click on the Sidebar folder and select Take Ownership

4. Rename the Original Folder to Windows Sidebar (2)

5. Go to the Windows Sidebar Programs folder in Vista and copy it.

6. Now just paste the Vista folder in the Programs folder on your Windows 7 partition.

7. Right Click on the screen and select Gadgets and now you should have the Vista sidebar.
8. To close the sidebar just go to the icon in the system tray, right click and select exit.

METHOD TWO

Reinstate Vista Windows Sidebar on Windows 7

1. First Close all running Gadgets and Check Task Manager to Make sure it is not running and then go to C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar.
2. Right click on a file and select Properties.
3. Go to the Security Tab and click on Advanced.
4. Go to the Owner Tab and select Edit.
5. Select your user name and hit OK.
6. Go back to step 3 now and instead of Advanced select Edit.

7. Select your user name and tick the box with Full control and hit OK.

• OK now you have done that for every file in the Windows sidebar folder except the Gadgets Folder, you can now delete or replace the files.

8. Copy the Windows Sidebar Folder and Paste it somewhere for a backup if you want to Revert your changes.

9. Go to the Sidebar Folder in Vista and copy all the files except the Gadgets Folder and Paste it in the Windows 7 Sidebar folder and overwrite the existing files and folders.

10. Right Click on the screen and select Gadgets and now you should have the Vista sidebar.

STEP TWO

Add Vista Sidebar Gadgets to Windows 7

   Note

This is an optional extra for getting all of your Gadgets from Vista to use in Windows 7

1. First close your sidebar and check Task Manager to make sure it is not running.

2. Go to folder options and select Show Hidden Files.

3. Now go to your Vista Drive and go to folder Users\your user name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets and copy all of the folders in that folder.
4. Now go to the same folder on your Windows 7 drive and Paste the files in that folder.

5. Start your sidebar again by Right Clicking on the Desktop and selecting Gadgets and now you should have all the gadgets you were using on Vista, Enjoy!

STEP THREE

Add NEW Gadgets to the Vista Sidebar

There is a problem installing new gadgets when using the Vista sidebar and you will need to follow this workaround to be able.

1. Download new Gadget

2. Download 7-Zip and install

3. Right click on the Gadget.exe and go to the 7-Zip tab and Extract Files.
4. Now you have the folder on your desktop you will need to add .Gadget to the folder name and move it to the Gadgets folder as mentioned in Step Two.


TO UNDO CHANGES FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS

1. Opening the Start Menu and then type: cmd and Open as Administrator

2. Type: sfc /scannow

3. Let it complete and restart and all changes will undone.

For more information on scf /scannow look here.

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Add or Remove Desktop Gadgets in Windows 7
• How to Allow or Prevent User Installed Gadgets in Windows 7
• How to Enable or Disable Gadgets in Windows 7
• How to Turn Windows 7 Gadgets Feature On or Off
• How to Allow or Prevent Installation of Unsigned Gadgets in Windows 7
• How to Restore the Default Windows 7 Gadgets
• Trick to Moving Gadgets in Windows 7 Closer Together
• How to Import Windows Calendar from Vista into Windows 7
• How to Create a Gadgets Shortcut in Windows 7
• How to Change the "Get more gadgets online" Link in Windows 7
• How to Fix Gadgets not Displaying Correctly in Windows 7
• How to Add or Remove "Gadgets" from Desktop Context Menu in Windows

 

[whs]

OK, that is easy.

1. Go to COMPUTER in Vista.
2. double click on C partition
3. go to PROGRAM FILES
4. there go to WINDOWS SIDEBAR folder
5. now copy that to a place where you can access it from your Win7 system. That could be an external disk, a USB stick, an SD card or a shared folder (I don't know what your setup is). For copying it, you can use Copy/Paste or Copy to Folder... ( Add Copy To / Move To on Windows 7 or Vista Right-Click Menu - the How-To Geek )

Now you take the same path to your Win7 Program Files (Computer > double click on C > Program files) and again double click on Program Files.

1. Rename the Windows Sidebar folder in there Windows Sidebar (2). You first have to take ownership as described.
2. Then Copy the Vista Sidebar folder from the device (or whatever) where you have saved it and Paste it into the Win7 Program files folder. You can also put the "device" folder and the Win7 Program Files folder side by side and drag it over.

Now you should have 2 folders in your Program Files: Windows Sidebar (2) and Windows Sidebar. Now follow the rest of the instructions.

 

[DAS001]

OK, that is easy.

1. Go to COMPUTER in Vista.
2. double click on C partition
3. go to PROGRAM FILES
4. there go to WINDOWS SIDEBAR folder
5. now copy that to a place where you can access it from your Win7 system. That could be an external disk, a USB stick, an SD card or a shared folder (I don't know what your setup is). For copying it, you can use Copy/Paste or Copy to Folder... ( Add Copy To / Move To on Windows 7 or Vista Right-Click Menu - the How-To Geek )

Now you take the same path to your Win7 Program Files (Computer > double click on C > Program files) and again double click on Program Files.

1. Rename the Windows Sidebar folder in there Windows Sidebar (2). You first have to take ownership as described.
2. Then Copy the Vista Sidebar folder from the device (or whatever) where you have saved it and Paste it into the Win7 Program files folder. You can also put the "device" folder and the Win7 Program Files folder side by side and drag it over.

Now you should have 2 folders in your Program Files: Windows Sidebar (2) and Windows Sidebar. Now follow the rest of the instructions.

Thank you so much for your patience. I have one more stupid question to ask.... Does this assume that I am running both Vista and Windows 7? I originally had Vista, then did the Windows 7 upgrade. So I'm still not 100% sure of where the "Vista" part of my computer is vs. the Windows 7 part, if that makes any sense. Everything else seems straightforward. Thanks again!

 

[whs]

There is no need to run Vista. But you have to have access to a Vista system in order to "steal" the Vista sidebar folder - and that is pretty big (7MB). If you have Vista on another computer or from a friend, you can copy the folder to a USB stick or an SD card and "import" it from there into Win7.

 

[DAS001]

HAHA

Ok! I finally get it! Will try and do in the morning and post back how it goes. Thanks!

 

[whs]

OK, I'll look for your success posting tomorrow. It should be no problem. And the sidebar works really well in Win7. My best gadget there is the Application Launcher. It is not easy to find on the web, but if you like to install it, you can download it from my Skydrive.

 

[DAS001]

Ok....still working on it!

I think I know what to do, but I need to get the Vista sidebar. Is there a place on the web that might have it??

 

[whs]

I think I know what to do, but I need to get the Vista sidebar. Is there a place on the web that might have it??

I uploaded my Vista sidebar folder for you (see link below). Just download it and unzip the .zip folder and you find the folder that you need to drag into the Win7 Program files. Make sure you first renamed the one that is in your Win7 program files folder now.

Windows Sidebar.zip - Windows Live

 

[DAS001]

I did it!

Thank you so much! It worked! One wierd thing....the weather and the calendar icons both have a funky pink border....any ideas why/how to fix?

 

[whs]

I am glad you got it working. Piece of cake - was'nt it?

I have "weather bug" and that is normal - no border. And calendar I don't use. Being retired, I don't need it - LOL. If it bothers you, look for another gadget doing the same. Especially for those two you have a vast selection. Sometimes it also helps if you jut pull them out of the sidebar and stick them back in. Or if you click on the little wrench on the side and then say "cancel".

 

[Ex_Brit]

Sometimes deleting the gadgets, rebooting and then reinstating them helps.

 

[severedsolo]

sorry i might be reading the tutorial wrong, but it seems to imply you need an install of VIsta first? any way of getting it back without one?

 

[whs]

sorry i might be reading the tutorial wrong, but it seems to imply you need an install of VIsta first? any way of getting it back without one?

You can download my copy from here: Windows Sidebar.zip - Windows Live Unzip the Zip folder and then you have to use the complete Sidebar folder as explained.

 

[severedsolo]

sorry i might be reading the tutorial wrong, but it seems to imply you need an install of VIsta first? any way of getting it back without one?

You can download my copy from here: Windows Sidebar.zip - Windows Live Unzip the Zip folder and then you have to use the complete Sidebar folder as explained.

thank you, otherwise i would have had to grab a dodgy copy of vista from the inernet just to get the sidebar folder

 

[whs]

No problem, any time.

 

[mainenotarynet]

OK, I have read all the posts but...

My Vista is 32-bit and my desktop 7Pro is 64-bit so can I even do this or do I need to find a vista 64-bit version before attempting.

I hesitate to do this as I use a skype gadget (works fine on 7Pro 32 but) when tried on my 64 DT it sent skype4Com.dll into an endless open and froze my computer to the point I had to reinstall pro64 and do not want to go through that again.

I have the Take ownership sc already as I used that to get WindowsMail on pro64 to work.

Any guidance would be great and thank you.

 

[whs]

OK, I have read all the posts but...

My Vista is 32-bit and my desktop 7Pro is 64-bit so can I even do this or do I need to find a vista 64-bit version before attempting.

I hesitate to do this as I use a skype gadget (works fine on 7Pro 32 but) when tried on my 64 DT it sent skype4Com.dll into an endless open and froze my computer to the point I had to reinstall pro64 and do not want to go through that again.

I have the Take ownership sc already as I used that to get WindowsMail on pro64 to work.

Any guidance would be great and thank you.

The 32bit Vista version works perfectly on the 32bit Win7 - including all gadgets I tried. The 32bit sidebar itself also works on the 64bit Win7 but not all the gadgets work. So I think it is not a matter of the sidebar but rather a problem with the gadgets that do not run in 64bit.

 

[mainenotarynet]

OK that makes sense but there is the part that 64 bit has 2 program files folders and the tutorial seems to assume you use 32 bit. Is it safe to assume that the vista files (32bit laptop) should actually be copied to the Program files (x86) folder instead of the Program files (which is for 64 bit programs) or are the truely identical and it doesn't matter.

As I said with skype4com.dll I tried putting it in the 64 and 32 folders and it continually opened the 64 bit and wouldn't stop. I really am cautious on this now as I do not want to have to reinstall Win7Pro again and loose what I have again.

Thanks again

 

[whs]

I tweaked the Vista sidebar into my 64bit program files. But there is also one in the x86 Program files which I have not tried (maybe I should). Because the way I set it up works for the sidebar but not for all the gadgets. My weatherbug and AppLauncher do not work. Later I will try to play with the x86 sidebar. Maybe that works better.

 

[whs]

In my 64bit system, I moved the sidebar from the x64 program files to the x86 program files with better results. There are still a couple of gadgets that do not work, but the situation has improved. No problems though in 32bit Win7.

 

[WindowsVienna]

thanks, it's very helped me.