Custom Windows Button

[p2]

This littel Tutorial is about getting  custom  Windows/Start Icon just like this one:
Plase note that this only works for windows10, 8.x and 7(btw 10 and 8 really suck)
Edit: I'm having some issues lately which seem to be caused by this. Recommend NOT to use this anymore. (at least not on windows10)




Step 1 - The image
At first you need your Icon. Mine looks like this:

(click to show/hide)

As you can see it consists of 3 frames:
The first one is the normal mode - this picture is usually displayed instead of the  Windows/Start button.
The second one is displayed when hoovering the Windows/Start button
The third one is only shown when you clicked it or pressed teh windows key.
(btw if I press Windows multiple times it looks like my walrii is animated) 

Mind that all three images must have the same height/width and must be put together into one picture.
JPEG, PNG and BMP files are fine but i'd recommend using PNG to get rid of the white background.

The computer automatically crops the image and displays it at original size (if not too large) in a centered position instead of the original button.
So if you use a 1x3px image, you'l get a 1x1 pixel image shown. If the image is too big it's just scaled down to the height of the taskbar.
You should probably add an empty border at the left side of your picture because else it's gonna bet directly at the edge of teh screen.
It's also possible to use images that are width but not very high - so you could get your old WinXP start button back


Step 2 - The software
Once you got your image you need the software:
I used a program called "Classic Shell" to set the image as my new StartButton. Classic shell is a really cool too lthat lets you modify most of the layouts in your system.
So if you (just like me) think this new Start Menu is bulls***, you can just make it look like  the Win7 version of it

It's main purpose once was to let you modify the skin of your entire windows system.
Since windows 8 and 10 were released, it's minly used to back the good old "Classic" design from Windows7 since many users dont like the win8 and win10 design.
You can get the tool at http://www.classicshell.net/ for free.

Please note that it's impossible to go and disable everything except the new start button layout.
You will for example get a different start menu since you cant disable that option. If you don't like that, don't install the software.
(Except of cause you are already using windows7)


To set the icon, open Classic Shell Menu Settings and go to "Start Menu Style".
At the bottom of the page you can then select the option "Replace Start Button" and click "PICK IMAGE..." to load your new icon file.

(click to show/hide)

Once you chose the file it should immideately replace it

If you chose to play around with ClassicShell a little more you can get almost all of the old windows7 theme back:

(click to show/hide)

As you can see I sadly haven't found any wiy to replace the window bar... But the rest looks ust like my good old windows7 

If I missed anything or maybe wrote some nonsense feel free to tell me
Have fun <3

[DarkestEx]

Nice tutorial

From what I know now from your tutorial, your first name is (challenge left to the reader) and you like Walrusses and DragonballNaruto.
Amiright?

[p2]

Should've cencored that  MAy you pls edit ut post? xD I'll cencor it right away xD
*aaand actually it's naruto not dragonball ^^

[DarkestEx]

Should've cencored that  MAy you pls edit ut post? xD I'll cencor it right away xD
*aaand actually it's naruto not dragonball ^^

OOps, f***ed up there. Sure, I'll censor it.

[xlibman]

Nice, I didn't know we could do that. I will probably go with a Walrii or a 8-bits icon.

[c4ooo]

Whats the file path of the image on windows 7 (Sorry, but i dint see how this tutorial applies to windows 7 )

[p2]

the point is that this software, "Classic Shell", is for Windows7, too.
So you can use that tool just like you would on windows8 or windows10.
At least that's what it says on the website

Start button for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10

[c4ooo]

the point is that this software, "Classic Shell", is for Windows7, too.
So you can use that tool just like you would on windows8 or windows10.
At least that's what it says on the website

Start button for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10

It would be nice if i could change the icon without changing my current shell

[p2]

I know it's really sad the tool doesn't provide such an option sorry
What OS are you using btw?

[c4ooo]

Windows 7 (Thats why i dont use classic shell )

[p2]

since classic shell makes windows10 look like windows7... shouldnt a windows7 just stay the same 
I never tried it out but I thought it'd work this way >.<

[xlibman]

Wait, does @p2 tutorial absolutely require installing Classic Shell or is it possible to replace the images without it?

[p2]

I use ClassicShell to replace the image so it's required, yes. There are other tools tho but ome of them are just as risky and buggy as custom boot animations... :/

[xlibman]

Ah, bummer. I don't see the need to install ClassicShell so I'll have to pass on this I guess, unless there's a way to use ClassicShell without changing anything in Windows 10 other than the start menu icon as above.

[p2]

IMPORTANT: I recomment NOT to use the clasic shell tool as I'm having massive problems with system instability lately (especially explorer.exe freezing from time to time). I'm not certain classic shell is the reason but the laptop using it is even more buggy than the other windows10 laptops without it.
To me it looks like classic shell triggers even more bugs and failures in the already pretty buggy windows10 operating system. I dont recomment not to use it on other windows versions as I dont know about them, just make sure not to use it on windows10 ^^ (ideally don't use windows10 at all...) ^^

Should probably delete the whole topic since almost noone uses it and it's causing problems...