Start10 Support FAQ
Stardock Forums
How can I get my registration / product key information
Table of contents
Activation Issues and Questions
Please click here
Information and Usage
Upgrading from Start8 to Start10
Corporate Pricing for Start10
Clearing the recently used apps list
How can I disable Start10 for an individual user?
Jump lists not working
Adding Jump list items
Disable Auto Update
Why is my Steam version (purchased there) asking for a product key?
Customizing the start button
Backing up Start8/10 settings
Start8/10 Group Policy
Start 8/10 not searching everywhere
How to activate from a command prompt
How to deactivate from a command prompt
I have reached maximum activations
How do I get the 'Shutdown' option in Start10 in an RDP session?
How can I unload Start10 from a command prompt?
Start menu is empty
Remove / Hide Universal Applications Folder from All Programs
Self Support Options
The Start10 Installer Failed And Sent Me Here
I can't change the Start10 button
Clean Boot - Start10
Purging and re-installing
Upgrading from Start8 to Start10
At this time, there are is not upgrade pricing for Start10 for Start8 clients.
If you still have Windows 8, and you only needed to reinstall Start8, you can obtain it from here:
https://forums.stardock.com/484254/
Corporate Pricing
For orders of 10 seats or less, normal checkout processes and pricing apply and can be seen from the main site:
https://www.stardock.com/products/
To view purchasing information for larger deployments, including volume discounts, or to contact the sales team, please click here:
https://www.stardock.com/corporatesolutions/
How do I clear the recently used apps list?
Instructions
To clear out your recently used programs, do the following:
Go into Settings from your start menu:
Click personalization:
Click Start and then turn off Show most used apps, click Themes, then click Start again, and then turn it back on:
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How can I disable Start11/Start10 for an individual user?
Disabling Start11 for an individual user can be done via the Start10tweak.exe application.
Instructions
Start10tweak.exe is located in the Start11 install folder (typically C:\Program Files (x86)\Stardock\Start11 ).
Once run, uncheck the following:
This will need to be done from each user account you wish to have Start10 disabled on.
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How do I add jump list items?
Adding jump lists for Windows 7 style menu
Instructions
The below is a reg file that will increase the jump list to a higher count, you can change it if you like:
https://cdn.stardock.us/support/uploads/EveryOneJump.zip
Unzip it, run it, accept all the warnings and it should look like this (Notepad example):
If you need to change it more, it is better to edit the reg file and rerun it unless you are comfortable with editing your own registry.
What you want to edit is:
"Start_JumpListItems"=dword:00000015
Changing the 15 to something else (doing so in Notepad is fine).
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How do I disable Start11 auto updates?
Stardock Version:
Please download, and run, the following to stop Start11 from doing an update check:
https://cdn.stardock.us/support/uploads/Start11AutoUpdateStop.zip
The batch sets:
HKCU\Software\Stardock\Start8\Start8.ini\Start8
AllowAutoUpdateCheck=0
Steam Version:
For our software products sold via Steam the update check is handled differently than the versions sold via Stardock directly
If there is an update available, the update check would look like this:
You can disable these checks by disabling the scheduled tasks, to do so:
Run Task Scheduler via Windows
Look for the product you are looking to disable (they will all start with Stardock)
Right-click on the item, and select Disable
If you do, you will have to use the Steam client to manually update.
Customizing the start button
For detailed button creation instructions, please see:
https://forums.stardock.com/486081/start10-using-a-custom-start-button-image
For selecting alternate existing buttons, open Start10's configuration by right clicking your start button and selecting Configure Start10.
Then click the pick image button:
From here, a browse window will open and you can select any default icon for the start button. You can also browse any start buttons you've stored here from WinCustomize (As the example displays):
It's best to store these icons in this location for ease of us:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Stardock\Start10\StartButtons
Back-up Start Settings
Start11 v1
Please use the manual registry export method.
Start11 v2
Available in Start11 v2, is the “Settings backup” area of the configuration menu.
Manual Registry Export
You can manually export the registry to be reimported on any other PC.
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Stardock\Start8
(Start8 is not a typo, its a carry-over from that version)
Importing would need you to have that export on the other PC (the desktop is fine) and double-click it. It will prompt you that it is about to edit the registry.
Pinned items for all the Start11 menu styles are carried over as well with the exception of the Windows 7 style after a reboot.
For expediency, this batch file will do the export and place it in the current user's Documents folder:
https://cdn.stardock.us/support/uploads/StartRegExport.zip
Manual registry export process works with all current versions of Start11/Start10
Windows 7/Modern Start11 Menu Style Shortcuts
For pinned items to be carried over for the Win7 and Modern menu styles, you can copy all the shortcuts located here:
%appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\StartMenu
(copy \ paste that into Windows Explorer)
Reboot and it should be as it was for settings.
For any of the exported shortcuts to render on a PC that imported them from another, those apps\folder\documents would need to exist on it and be in the exact same location.
Start8/10 Group Policy
Templates for configuring Start8 via Group Policy can be found in the GroupPolicy folder:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Stardock\Start8\GroupPolicy
These should be placed in .\Windows\PolicyDefinitions on your domain controller and can be accessed [on Server 2012] via Server Manager / Tools /
Group Policy Management. The adml file should be placed in the proper language directory. For English, for example, the adml file would be placed under PolicyDefinitions\en-US.
Right click on your domain, and select "Create a GPO in this domain, and
Link it here..." to create a new GPO, name it, then right click and select
"Edit". You can also edit an existing GPO depending on your setup.
The Start8/10 policies will be located under User Configuration / Policies /
Admin Templates / Start8 in the domain Group Policy editor.
Once you are done, you may need to right click the GPO you created and select
"Enforced" for the policies to start being put into use.
You can see a full list of Start8/10 GPO options here:
What options are available for Start8/10 group policy? » Forum Post by Island Dog (stardock.com)
Start 8/10 not searching everywhere
Make sure these are checked \ not checked with how you want searches returned:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Stardock\Start10\Start10Tweak.exe
Indexing Locations:
Please ensure the locations you would like to search in have been added to the Windows search index:
- Click the Start button
- In the search field, please type "Index" and select "Indexing Options" when it appears in the list of results
- Select "Modify"
- In the "Indexed Locations" window that appears, please add the additional search locations by checking the associated boxes: http://screencast.com/t/2eXONoANOx4
- Select OK when you've added the desired locations
Rebuilding the search index:
https://www.onmsft.com/news/how-rebuilding-your-search-index-windows-10
Start Menu purging and re-installing
Settings back-up
Prior to purging and reinstalling, you may wish to back-up your settings.
It is important to not immediately restore backed up settings before you confirm that a fresh install works as expected.
Obtaining the purge file
Please follow this link:
https://cdn.stardock.us/support/uploads/Purge_StartALL.zip
Save the file to your downloads folder.
Purging the application
**IMPORTANT** Please save any open documents/work and close out all of your applications including browsers. Your PC may restart after running this .bat file.
Double-click the downloaded purge file and select "Run as Administrator" if you're on Windows 7/8/8.1/10.
For Windows 11, you need to select, ‘Show more options’ to get to the menu.
If you are running Windows 8/10/11, you may be notified that Windows is protecting your PC. Select "More info" and then "Run anyway".
Reboot the computer and reinstall the application. It is important to get the most recent version of the application.
Reinstalling
For trials:
Please ensure you have the most recent trial available:
https://www.stardock.com/products/
For Stardock direct purchases
For getting your product and key, please see the following:
https://www.stardock.com/support/productkeyretrieval
For Steam Purchases
Even after using the purge file, you still need to use the 'uninstall' option in the Steam client:
After, re-Install from Steam and Steam only.
Please DO NOT change any of the default settings until you verify that the application is running as expected in its default state.