How to enable the redesigned Windows 11 Start menu

This week, Microsoft started testing a big redesign for Windows 11's Start menu. It is now rolling out to Windows Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels, addressing quite a few pain points in the original Start menu, which was shipped in late 2021. Nearly four years later, we finally have the long-anticipated redesign (announced earlier this year).

The updated menu now features a single-page view, with all your pins and apps on one scrollable page. You can change the list of all apps between three variants: list, grid, and category. More importantly, you can now hide the recommended section in the Start menu settings (one of the most requested Start menu-related changes).

The new Start menu is available in this week's Dev and Beta update. However, like always, Microsoft is rolling out changes gradually, which means you might not have the lucky ticket even on the latest build. If you do not want to wait, you can force-enable the new Start menu and its Phone Link button using a few commands in the ViVeTool app. Here is how to do that:

1. Download ViveTool from GitHub and unpack the files in a convenient and easy-to-find folder.
2. Run Command Prompt as Administrator and navigate to the folder containing the ViveTool files with the CD command. For example, if you have placed ViveTool in C:\Vive, type CD C:\Vive.
3. Type vivetool /enable /id:47205210,49221331,49381526,49402389,49820095,55495322,48433719 and press Enter.
4. Restart your computer.

As usual, keep in mind that stuff in preview builds is less stable, so be aware of the risks of running preview builds. While Microsoft is not saying when the new Start menu will be available to all users, it will probably not take too long before it shows up in Release Preview and non-security updates.

By the way, if you are curious, check out some of the prototypes that Microsoft considered when designing the new Start menu.

Credit for the IDs goes to @phantomofearth on X.

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