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

 

[spankky]

It would work IF

If i hade the ultimate sidebar for vista i then might could make it work But what if i dont have the vista folder to put in my windows seven?Any help would be apprechated

 

[Ex_Brit]

I'm doing this in my new RTM Win 7 x64 and can activate the sidebar from a shortcut but right-clicking the desktop and selecting Gadgets merely starts the gadgets and not the sidebar. I seem to have missed something here.

Addendum: I later realised that I had to do the procedure on the Program Files folder item, NOT the Program Files (x86) one...DOH!

 

[spankky]

no help

i stiil never had the sidebar to begin with just doing onership on the sidebar gadget folder doent help what so ever. my thoughts are if you never had a sidebar you wont get one unless the xp hack will work on 7?

 

[Ex_Brit]

It has absolutely nothing to do with XP. Read the tutorial again.

 

[WartHog]

Another awesome tutorial that made me do my happy dance. Thanks.

 

[Spiffy]

Brilliant Grim, great tutorial.
I've been having the same problem as ciad602. Fly-out menus don't work at all. Everything else works perfectly fine. If anyone finds a solution to the problem please leave a reply.
Thanks again Grim!

 

[duckson]

Sorry for sounding thick but how do you copy your side bar folder from Vista when you dont have Vista installed?!

Do you have to d/l Vista sidebar (if you can d/l it...) and install it and then copy the files?

 

[duckson]

Well someone very kindly sent me the relevant files and i now have the Vista sidebar in W7...thanks, great tutorial.

 

[whs]

Works like a charm. In addition I suggest to put the newly aquired sidebar .exe into the startup folder. Else you have to start the sidebar gadgets manually each time.

 

[Ex_Brit]

Works like a charm. In addition I suggest to put the newly aquired sidebar .exe into the startup folder. Else you have to start the sidebar gadgets manually each time.

If you've set it up correctly it should be an option just like in Vista where you can tell it to start with Windows or not, whatever you want.

With Sidebar open right click the taskbar icon and select Properties.

 

[whs]

Works like a charm. In addition I suggest to put the newly aquired sidebar .exe into the startup folder. Else you have to start the sidebar gadgets manually each time.

If you've set it up correctly it should be an option just like in Vista where you can tell it to start with Windows or not, whatever you want.

With Sidebar open right click the taskbar icon and select Properties.

Of course. I just have this habit of using the startup folder. Then I don`t have to crawl all over the system to see where to put the checkmarks. It is just a more generic way - I think.

 

[Ex_Brit]

Force of habit...I know...!

 

[TechN9Ne1730]

I did this on my previous install of Win7 no problem. However I cant delete the entire folder this time around. It seems windows has hold of a few files and says there in use. I dont see anything in task manager related to sidebar or gadgets. I have ownership of all files and folders.

I even tried in safe mode and had no luck.

Any ideas what process to look for?

EDIT: Ok so i tried safe mode again and was able to delete both the win sidebar folder in program files x86 and program files. I then tried copying over my Windows sidebar folders from my old install but only gadgets work. No sidebar.

 

[whs]

You were not supposed to delete the Sidebar folder in program files - just rename it. You should end up with Windows Sidebar (2) from Win7 and Windows Sidebar from Vista.

 

[TechN9Ne1730]

What difference does it make since windows no longer reads the original files? Anyways I got it working myself. Thanks anyways.

 

[whs]

Good, even the hard way sometimes works - LOL.

 

[DAS001]

Help!

Hello! I'm a bit of a newbie here....
I was going along well with trying to get my old Vista sidebar back, but didn't understand your directions for steps 8 and 9. Can you please help with some screen shots or something for the less savvy users like me? I'm not sure where the Vista folders are...

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[whs]

Hmm, suggest you use Method1 - there is no step9 and step8 is only for closing the sidebar. You can also right click on the sidebar itself and close it. Then when you want get it back up, just click on the icon in the tasktray.
But if that was not what you were looking for, plse post back. Method1 is really easy and should be no problem at all - but if there are steps you dont understand, I'll be glad to make pictures.
And tell me how far you got without problems.

 

[DAS001]

Thank you!

Thanks for your reply--will try method one and see how it goes....

I was confused about the folders in the method two.

 

[DAS001]

Ok...here's my problem

I figured out why I didn't use method one:

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.

What exactly is meant by the sidebar programs folder in vista vs the programs folder on my windows 7 partition??? This is what confused me and why I tried to use method two.