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

[Degadus]

I'm very interested to learn if this is possible, as well. I'd really like to remove the address bar for the classic theme.

 

[Anixx]

Anyway, I've done a little more research/messing around, and the address bar is internally called ReBarWindow32. I used a program called Zero Dump to find this out, and I also found out that 'Travel Band' is actually the back/forward buttons. But still, changing the 'Travel Band' registry keys doesn't seem to do anything.

Great tool! Using it I was able to set the classic 3D border around File View!

Do u know how to make this change permanent?

 

[Anixx]

 

[Anixx]

I wrote a feature request for 7+ Taskbar Tweaker. Please add possibilities to change the style of some explorer ... / General forum / 7+ Taskbar Tweaker

 

[Butters]

Great tool! Using it I was able to set the classic 3D border around File View!

Do u know how to make this change permanent?

I wish, that Explorer window in your screenshot looks awesome. That would be great if we could find a way to make that permanent.

I've noticed it will let you hide the Address Bar, but doing so will leave an empty white space where it's supposed to be.

I'll keep looking for a solution. Hopefully I can figure out a mod for ExplorerFrame.dll or something.

 

[Butters]

I kind of doubt 7+ Taskbar Tweaker will add controlling Explorer elements as a feature (as it is meant to modify just the taskbar) but I have thought about creating an application to do that. The problem is, I don't know how to program, so I wouldn't be able to do it myself.

 

[Anixx]

I kind of doubt 7+ Taskbar Tweaker will add controlling Explorer elements as a feature (as it is meant to modify just the taskbar) but I have thought about creating an application to do that. The problem is, I don't know how to program, so I wouldn't be able to do it myself.

There are some other taskbar-related things that Zero Dump can do. So it can be useful for taskbar as well (one thing is that theme disabler under Win8/10 makes taskbar look wrong).

I posted the request to 7+TT because it seems they do somewhat similar "hacking" things and have necessary knowledge. The Classic Shell, ShellFolderFix and Old New Explorer seem to avoid such direct hacking.

 

[Butters]

I posted the request to 7+TT because it seems they do somewhat similar "hacking" things and have necessary knowledge. The Classic Shell, ShellFolderFix and Old New Explorer seem to avoid such direct hacking.

Makes sense. Although I would still expect to see this as a separate application.

 

[Butters]

I'm very interested to learn if this is possible, as well. I'd really like to remove the address bar for the classic theme.

That's great! If you have any input, thoughts, or ideas, feel free to post them here.

 

[Degadus]

Well, something happened. I logged on and clicked on the "My Documents" special folder on my desktop (which I believe you posted about at: http://www.sevenforums.com/customization/247693-special-documents-folder-shortcut-desktop-windows-7-a, thanks BTW). Next thing I know, the "My Documents" folder pops up and has no address bar! The menu bar is top-most! Next, I opened up a different window... but the address bar was visible.

I changed the theme from Aero to Classic and back again, the address bar was still missing on the "My Documents" folder I had open. I finally closed the folder and opened it back up again... and the address bar was visible once again, unfortunately. I could not duplicate the effect.

I don't know how much this helps.

 

[Butters]

Well, something happened. I logged on and clicked on the "My Documents" special folder on my desktop (which I believe you posted about at: http://www.sevenforums.com/customization/247693-special-documents-folder-shortcut-desktop-windows-7-a, thanks BTW). Next thing I know, the "My Documents" folder pops up and has no address bar! The menu bar is top-most! Next, I opened up a different window... but the address bar was visible.

I changed the theme from Aero to Classic and back again, the address bar was still missing on the "My Documents" folder I had open. I finally closed the folder and opened it back up again... and the address bar was visible once again, unfortunately. I could not duplicate the effect. It happened right after I had logged on, and the first thing I did was open up a folder.

I don't know how much this helps.

This happened to me once when I was fixing a relative's computer. The thing is they were actually using the classic theme (actually it was a high contrast theme, but that's still a classic theme) but it was in a folder on the desktop. And couldn't repeat the effect either, unfortunately.

Also, I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the My Documents desktop icon.

Edit:
Wow, how did this thread get to be 10 pages long?

 

[Degadus]

Yeah, I think I read your post about it happening to you.

There has to be a reason for it happening, otherwise it wouldn't have happened. For some reason, those incidents were limited to only the address bar being hidden. My laptop was sluggish at the time that this happened, so maybe Windows was trying to pull the address bar element from a file but it failed to load it for that specific window. It seems to me what we are trying to achieve is indeed possible, given the events we have described.

The people who might actually care about this are probably in the minority, but there have to be at least a handful of people out there that are wondering about this too... many have probably given up on it, though. I care about it because ever since Vista I've been wanting the menu bar at the top, since I prefer the classic layout of explorer.

I really do appreciate that special folder thing. It's getting me closer to what I want to do with my system. I'm very nostalgic, and Windows XP is pretty much retired. Most of the bases have been covered as far as tweaking Windows goes, but it's the little tweaks like this that really make me happy.

 

[Butters]

Degadus, I completely agree with you. I still love the classic versions of Windows, and I am also trying to get a lot of the old behavior in the modern versions. I too am very nostalgic, but I also feel that a lot of customization features have been disappearing over the years. I began to notice this in Windows Vista, and Windows 8, well, I don't think I even need to say anything about Windows 8.

I would also like to have a shell extension (similar to Classic Shell) that could add an address bar that is more compact like in XP, and can also be moved around. But that wouldn't happen anytime soon, as I don't know how to program.

 

[Anixx]

Try this, it automates what Zero Dump does:

 

[Anixx]

I also found a way to hide the AddressBar, but it restores upon window resize.

 

[Anixx]

And, I think, the same way one can change the layout of the taskbar so to fix it on Win8, but I cannot test it.

 

[Anixx]

 

[Callender]

Classic Shell

Degadus, I completely agree with you. I still love the classic versions of Windows, and I am also trying to get a lot of the old behavior in the modern versions. I too am very nostalgic, but I also feel that a lot of customization features have been disappearing over the years. I began to notice this in Windows Vista, and Windows 8, well, I don't think I even need to say anything about Windows 8.

I would also like to have a shell extension (similar to Classic Shell) that could add an address bar that is more compact like in XP, and can also be moved around. But that wouldn't happen anytime soon, as I don't know how to program.

Looks like Microsoft are attempting to remove Classic Shell from Windows 10.

Microsoft Blocks Classic Shell in Windows 10 Build 9879 - Softpedia

 

[Butters]

Looks like Microsoft are attempting to remove Classic Shell from Windows 10.
Microsoft Blocks Classic Shell in Windows 10 Build 9879 - Softpedia

Oh, that's really some bad news. At least there's a fix for it in that article. Hopefully that will last.

 

[Butters]

Amazing! Too bad for the window resize thing.

Also, the window border thing seems to have a few issues too. Whenever I navigate to a new folder, the border seems to disappear, and some folders don't have it at all when I open them. But great work!