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:

1. Go into Settings from your start menu:

   

2. Click personalization:

   

3. 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

1. Start10tweak.exe is located in the Start11 install folder (typically C:\Program Files (x86)\Stardock\Start11 ).

   

2. Once run, uncheck the following:

   

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Jump lists are not working

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.

1. Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Stardock\Start8

   (Start8 is not a typo, its a carry-over from that version)

   

2. 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.

3. 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

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.

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

How do I get the 'Shutdown' option in Start in an RDP session?

 Instructions

Download and run this regEdit fileStart Menu Is Empty:

https://sd.stardock.com/Support/uploads/Start10Shutdown.zip

Registry change:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Stardock\Start8\Start8.ini\Start8\]
"RDPShowShutdown"="1"

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How can I unload Start from a command prompt?

 Instructions

From the install directory, use:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Stardock\Start11\Start11.exe UNLOAD

To load again, just run Start10.exe from the same path.

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Start11 Clean Boot

Performing a Clean Boot

A "clean boot" starts Windows with a minimal set of drivers and startup programs, so that you can determine whether a background program is interfering with your game or program. This is similar to starting Windows in Safe Mode, but provides you more control over which services and programs run at startup to help you isolate the cause of a problem.

Creating a new Windows Administrator Account

For testing, please create a new Windows Administrator account.

Windows 7 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-user-account#create-user-account=windows-7

Windows 8

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-user-account#create-user-account=windows-8

Windows 10 & 11

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/create-a-local-user-account-in-windows-10

Log in under that account and try.  If it fails, and while still under that account, please click the link below for performing a 'clean boot' under it:

Windows Clean Boot Documention

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929135

Enable Stardock Software

After you've loaded Windows in a clean state, please download this file:

https://cdn.stardock.us/support/uploads/StartStart10_11.zip

Run the batch file in it to start the Start10 service.

See if your issue persists

Start Menu purging and re-installing

Settings back-up

Prior to purging and reinstalling, you may wish to back-up your settings.

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

Double-click the downloaded purge file and select "Run as Administrator" if you're on Windows 7/8/8.1/10.

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.