Start Menu Button - Change

How to Change the Start Menu Button in Windows 7​

   Information

This will show you how to change the Start Menu button orb in Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit.

   Warning

REMEMBER TO BACK UP EXPLORER.EXE!

Here's How:

For custom made start buttons, and further information, please visit this thread: http://www.sevenforums.com/customization/2002-custom-themes-icons-start-buttons-92.html

   Information

The explorer.exe you want to edit is:

C:\Windows\explorer.exe

and not C:\Windows\SysWOW64\explorer.exe (for those running x64)

And for those who use the larger DPI's i.e 125% , 150% you need to change:

6806 - 66 x 198
6807 - 81 x 243
6808 - 106 x 318

NOTE: The start orb replacement always HAS to look like this:
1 orb: Orb when not in use (when not clicked or mouseover'ed)
2 orb: mouseover
3 orb: When start orb is clicked

1. Download Restorator (Shareware) (Restorator 2007 Resource Editor - Restorator - Bome Software)

2. Take ownership of the whole Windows folder (see these links for more info: Take Ownership of file - Vista Forums and http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1911-take-ownership-shortcut.html)

3. Open explorer.exe with restorator



4. Go to the folder called "Bitmap"

5. Replace 6801.bmp, 6805.bmp, and 6809.bmp (as seen on the picture, you will need to right click and click assign, and then click assign to, then select your file.)



6. Go to "file" and Save as explorer.exe on your desktop

7. Go to the windows folder and rename explorer.exe to explorer.exe.bak and then copy-paste the new explorer, Kill the process in task manager and start it again.
Now you have a new start button!

Please comment, if you have something to say

Related Tutorials

---

• Download a Shortcut that Opens the Start Menu in Windows
• How to Create Custom Start Orb Image
• How to Create a New Rectangular Windows 7 Start Menu Button

 

[Rockets]

I have a problem. Ihave two accounts under Win7. One admin and one standard. Admin will not change the orb. The orb changer program shows modified orb, but it is standard orb visible under admin account. Any suggestions? Standard account is ok.

 

[Wael90]

I have a problem. Ihave two accounts under Win7. One admin and one standard. Admin will not change the orb. The orb changer program shows modified orb, but it is standard orb visible under admin account. Any suggestions? Standard account is ok.

It's probably because the admin account uses the normal explorer.exe while your usual account uses the edited one? Not sure as I don't know how you edited your files.. That's what I came up with anyway. Hope it helps.

 

[Rockets]

Just started Task Manager, found explorer.exe, right clicked, found file location. It's C:\Windows. And the file highlighted is explorer.exe.

 

[Rockets]

Solution found. I have changed DPI under Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Display. Was 125%, now is 100%.

 

[ZaLiTH]

Solution found. I have changed DPI under Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Display. Was 125%, now is 100%.

Well, that is an interesting one... Thinking about it now I can see why; Win7's explorer.exe contains three different sized Start orb images (you'll see them if you edit it with ResourceHacker), but I think the changer application mentioned in the first post only updated the smaller of the three corresponding to the normal 100% DPI setting.

Anyway, thanks for letting us know what it was.

 

[AClockWorkLemon]

So that's what it was! All fixed now, thanks a bunch!

 

[skizo]

Would someone please make this so that it is usable?

I put it in Photoshop and added a black background and saved it as a BMP but Windows doesn't see it. I must be leaving something out...

 

[ZaLiTH]

Would someone please make this so that it is usable?

I put it in Photoshop and added a black background and saved it as a BMP but Windows doesn't see it. I must be leaving something out...

What program did you make the orb image in? Could you maybe attach the PSD file in a ZIP file? That'll make it much easier to get it right for you.

Otherwise, have a look at this tutorial here: How to Create Custom Start Orb Image, that should help a bit.

 

[skizo]

What program did you make the orb image in? Could you maybe attach the PSD file in a ZIP file? That'll make it much easier to get it right for you.

I didn't make it; I found it online just like that.

 

[ZaLiTH]

What program did you make the orb image in? Could you maybe attach the PSD file in a ZIP file? That'll make it much easier to get it right for you.

I didn't make it; I found it online just like that.

Ah... I see. No problem, just means I'll have to play around with getting the button onto a separate layer to the background. No big deal. Let me see what I can do with it.

While I do that though, when you say it didn't want to work, what happened when you tried? Did the button just not change, or did you get any errors...?

Edit: That was actually easier than I though; the image was already a PNG with transparency, so it ended up being dead simple. Try the attached one... The ZIP file contains the BMP that you need to set as the button.

 

[themoomoo]

Hi , i do have a question which a bit related to this, when i placed my taskbar on the side (left in this case), is there any way for my startup menu to appear like this..

note: its edited with paint


instead of this .. (original)

 

[sergiogarcia9]

Most likely is a mistake somewhere in your theme, or a fail within Windows. Try rebooting and see if it fixes it

 

[themoomoo]

i see that my message wasn't made clearly, the theme was set to make the taskbar transparency, as you can in see in the 2nd screenshot, the menu is covering a part of the taskbar, is there any way ( be it script or tutorials) to help my startup menu appearing in screen shot 1, so that it doesn't clash with the taskbar?

 

[maranello]

@ ZaLiTH - that's good to know because i don't always have the time or the patience to wait for the take ownership process that takes a few good 8-10 min

 

[Starneox]

Great tutorial, I'll give it a shot.

 

[Strobes]

So I don't know what I did wrong, but when I tried to change the start orb, I couldn't do anything with explorer. I figured a restart would fix it, so I did that, bad idea! Now when I logon all I have is a black screen with the mouse pointer! I can open task manager and whatnot, but I don't know how to get explorer working again. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[ZaLiTH]

So I don't know what I did wrong, but when I tried to change the start orb, I couldn't do anything with explorer. I figured a restart would fix it, so I did that, bad idea! Now when I logon all I have is a black screen with the mouse pointer! I can open task manager and whatnot, but I don't know how to get explorer working again. Any help is greatly appreciated.

I had the exact same problem recently, perhaps the fix I found would help for you as well? All depends on whether or not you can still use Ctrl+Alt+Del to log out of your profile when you hit that black screen.. But try it and see.

It's a bit of a two part thing; here is the process I used initially (link), and I found later I needed to perform one more step to get it working properly (link). Hope that helps a bit...

 

[Strobes]

So I don't know what I did wrong, but when I tried to change the start orb, I couldn't do anything with explorer. I figured a restart would fix it, so I did that, bad idea! Now when I logon all I have is a black screen with the mouse pointer! I can open task manager and whatnot, but I don't know how to get explorer working again. Any help is greatly appreciated.

I had the exact same problem recently, perhaps the fix I found would help for you as well? All depends on whether or not you can still use Ctrl+Alt+Del to log out of your profile when you hit that black screen.. But try it and see.

It's a bit of a two part thing; here is the process I used initially (link), and I found later I needed to perform one more step to get it working properly (link). Hope that helps a bit...

Thanks for the help, I was able to get it working again today just after a restore point. I feel like an idiot for not thinking about that sooner. Panicked too early haha.

 

[ZaLiTH]

Thanks for the help, I was able to get it working again today just after a restore point. I feel like an idiot for not thinking about that sooner. Panicked too early haha.

It happens like that sometimes, for some reason I always seem to go for the most complex solutions first, pretty much expecting the worst.. Guess it's my pessimistic side showing through hey. Anyways, glad you got it sorted.

 

[ALIENWARE]

Add a beautiful experience Gary

thanks