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Exper1mental — Start Menu for Rainmeter v1.5.7
by-nc-sa
Published: 2014-01-02 16:28:01 +0000 UTC; Views: 145294; Favourites: 94; Downloads: 25201
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Description
Build InformationRelease: v1.5.7
Download: Click the download button to your right.
Development Status: Discontinued
I simply do not have to time to continue work on this project at any reasonable rate. If anyone else would like to pick up where I left off they are welcome to as long as they give credit where credit is due (not just to me but to all those whose works I used).
Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, or 10 with Rainmeter 3.0.2 or later ( rainmeter.net/cms/) installed.
Note: Internet Explorer sometimes renames .rmskin files to .zip files. If this happens you will need to go to the file location and rename it back to a .rmskin before running it.
Important: Using With a Portable Installation of Rainmeter
If you want to be able to launch the Start Menu from your windows taskbar using a portable installation of Rainmeter, a little tweaking is required.
1. In the Menu and MenuSmall folders there are subfolders called Link and LinkSmall. Contained in these are the .LNK shortcut files used to launch the menu from your taskbar.
2. Right click on the .LNK shortcut, select properties, and go to the shortcut tab
3. Replace the current folder paths for the Target and Start In parameters. Be sure not to delete the !ToggleConfig bang.
If you followed the steps correctly the taskbar Start Menu shortcuts should now run without problem on a portable installation of Rainmeter. If you have any further questions feel free to leave a comment below.
1.5.7
- More bug fixes
- Added six new icon packs
1.5.5
- Various bug fixes including to the broken Rainmeter update checker
- Compatibility improved for portable Rainmeter installations
- Added ability to check for Rainmeter beta releases
- Added confirmation popups when pressing shutdown, log off, and restart buttons
- Performance and appearance have been optimized
- Added auto-update checker to start menus (can be disabled in settings menu)
- Added new icon pack
1.5.1
- Fixed a bug in the update checker incorrectly displaying a new version available.
1.5.0
- The overall UI has been refined and updated and should have a much more metro feel
- There are now arrows above the power buttons that allow you to view the weather and wifi status in addition to the app list.
- Settings menus have been polished and simplified
- The outdated small Classic start menu has been updated with the new features (Metro still not available)
- There is now a guide accessible from the settings menu that will step you through the process of importing old application tile settings
- You can now search directly into Windows Explorer
- You can now use Locate32 to search your computer. Locate32 creates a search database in its folder to allow for near instant searches of anything on your computer. When selected as search engine there will be a button by the search bar to refresh its database (it does not update automatically.)
And Much more!
1.3.0
- New Start Menu variant, the Metro Menu, which is only currently available in standard size.
- A separate settings menu has been added for the Metro Menu, including the abilities to change metro icons, the metro app background color, and the metro app icon tint.
- Several minor improvements to the Setup menu
- Improved flow of settings menus (not finished however)
- Fixed a text error in the setup section
- Moved part of the Change Log to a txt file in the ZIP folder
- File size reduced by deleting unused images
Please visit this Rainmeter forums thread for information about pre-v1.3.0 release builds ( rainmeter.net/forum/viewtopic.…).
Questions & Answers
What is this?
A skin for Rainmeter supported Operating Systems (excluding Win XP) to bring back the start menu and orb.
Do I have to have Rainmeter v3.0.2 or newer installed to use this?
Yes, you MUST have Rainmeter v3.0.2 or newer installed to use this Start Menu. It won't work with older versions, period.
How do I manually change one of my Apps icon, name, or path?
If you want to change that stuff manually, those variables (like the 7th app name) are in a file called VariablesApps.inc
Its location should be this:
Go to %USERPROFILE% then Documents then Rainmeter then Skins then Start Menu and finially resources
How do I access the settings menu?
For the Classic start menu, click the black settings icon in the lower right-hand corner of the start menu.
For the Metro start menu, click the title called "Settings".
The credits section has grown too large and is now viewable as a popup from the Settings display of the skin.
Questions, thoughts, and feedback are welcome and encouraged.
Related content
Comments: 47
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I do not know English, but how to install Icons in Win10 ??
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You mean the start menu won't open? Are you using the Start orb or the shortcut .lnk files to open the start menu? It helps if I have specifics to work with.
What version of Rainmeter are you using?
If your skins folder is not in the default location (which is the case if you changed the skins folder location or use a portable version of Rainmeter) then you need to edit the .lnk shortcuts in order for them to work. To do that please refer to the System Requirements section of the description above. If that isn't your problem or it doesn't solve it you can try downloading and reinstalling the skin.
Sometimes .rmskin files get corrupted when being downloaded but that is pretty rare.
Best Regards
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Doesnt work.... the d Link and LinkSmall folders are not there...
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Can you provide more information about your situation? Is your skins folder not in the default location?
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an thank you for the skink good work on it 
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i wish i can choose what is put on the start menu and also i dont really like how by startbutton is invisible till i pass mouse over it. lastly, the startmenu should automatically close when not in use . other than that, good design
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I'm not sure I understand exactly what you mean by you wish what is put on the start menu
I originally had the start menu close like you suggested but due to limitations in Rainmeter it would cause issues with some of the functionality of the skin, so I removed it.
You can change the start button visibility by opening the skin in a text editor (right-click on it and select "Edit skin"). Within that you will want to delete every line of code that starts with MouseOverAction= and MouseLeaveAction. After that look for the meters called StartOrbb and StartOrbArrow (surrounded by brackets) and under ImageTint change the zero to 255 . Save the skin in the editor, refresh the skin, and voila!
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Seems cool.. I haven't tried yet though, because when I downloaded my Avast anti-virus said "suspicious item" and cancelled the downloading. How can that even be? I been downloading several skins that have this end filetype name, so something in this file the anti-virus detects, even if avast got wrong about it, it's different from another skins.
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Sorry for the delayed response, I've been busy with school so I haven't had much spare time for my hobbies.
A RMSKIN is basically a renamed ZIP file. Its not the RMSKIN itself that Avast is finding suspicious but something in it that is. Avast might be getting false positives from one of the contained EXE files that the skin uses (for a color palette, update checker, search engine, etc.). I downloaded and scanned the RMSKIN (in addition to the original copy on my computer) with F-Secure and it comes up clean.
You might try redownloading the RMSKIN, the file might have been corrupted. If its not a corrupt file or false positive from one of the EXE files I'm not sure what would be causing it.
Hope that is helpful!
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I get the following error when trying to install. This is my first time using rainmeter so im considered newb lol.
i.imgur.com/gfU1Dds.png
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Is this consistently happening to you? Have to tried redownloading the file? It works fine for me when I test it so my best guess is that part of the skin got corrupted when downloading it.
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I have a question. Can you put the start orb on the task bar?
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Sorry for the delay, been busy with school...
Yes u can, since u already have setup the skin the easiest way is to go to your Rainmeter skins folder (which unless u have changed it to something else will be in your documents folder, which should have the directory "C:\%USERNAME%\Documents". Open the "Rainmeter" folder and look for a folder by the name of "Start Menu".
If you use the larger size menu open the folder "Menu" and then "Link". Right click on the shortcut contained in this folder and click "Pin to Taskbar".
-OR-
If you use the smaller size menu open the folder "MenuSmall" and then "LinkSmall". Right click on the shortcut contained in this folder and click "Pink to Taskbar".
Hope that helps!
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Wow thank you! I don't even know why I didn't notice this.
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I really like this I use the windows 7 version.The only problem I have is that the windows 8 orb doesn't show up when I set it up.
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This is due to how the setup process is currently designed. I am redoing the setup to fix this and some other stuff.
Until then, you can open the start menu, go to settings and click "Return to Start Menu Setup." Confirm and select the metro start menu in the setup window (or small hybrid menu if you use that size). Go through the steps and when done open the start menu go to settings settings, start menu format, and select classic/win7. This will allow you to use the win 8 orb with the classic styled menu.
Let me know if you have any other questions or issues! Hope that helps!
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I was browsing the skins to nominate something for the Skin of the season in Rainmeter group and your skin has won it
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There is no button for this because you (should be to) open the Rainmeter manager by right-clicking on the skin (some parts of the settings menu use this for restoring default settings so be careful when right-clicking there) and hover over Rainmeter and then you should see a button in bold called Manage.
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Of course I know I can open the Rainmeter manager by right button. Don't get me wrong. I think your skin is pretty amazing and complex piece of work, only (just from my point of view) it seemed to me it could have also this function. I know it is supposed to amend for missing start menu in Win 8 and there has never been a possiblity to manage the Rainmeter from the start menu but why not go there and be better?
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Ah, you mean like a way to browse Rainmeter skins and then "open" one (with Rainmeter)? That should be possible using RainFile but you'd be browsing skins in an external window, not the start menu. I'm not sure if its possible to browse skins inside Rainmeter such that when you click on a skin .ini file it loads it in Rainmeter. FileView won't work because when you click on the file it would only open the default program (which is usually a text editor).
The closest thing I know of that is possible that doesn't not use an external window is an user-created list of variables with skin names and skin "file paths" (not full file paths, just the path under the Skins folder. Example: "Start Menu/Setup/Setup.ini"). When a given skin's button is clicked the skin sends a !ToggleConfig bang (this allows the skin to be used to open AND close skins) and opens the skin. The downside with this is it requires the end user to configure and add information for each Rainmeter skin they want to use before they can use the skin. In addition, it cannot detect if a skin is open.
EDIT: I just remembered Rainmeter stores skin information in a file in %APPDATA%\Roaming\Rainmeter. Being able to use this would allow a skin to know what other skins are running. However, I have no idea how to retrieve and convert this into useable variables...
Anyways, its an interesting idea and I'll definitely look into this to see if its feasible (although I don't see this becoming part of the Start Menu unless I can figure out how to display which skins are active).
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No, no, no, I ment just a simple usual button to opent the Rainmeter manager. However, your idea sound much more fun
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Oh
I might add a Rainmeter button but I gotta find a good place to put it.
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Quick Question how would i change the Start Menu Taskbar Target location for rainmeter? for example:i want to change %programfiles%\Rainemter to My other hard drive where i installed rainmeter which is G:\Program Files\Rainmeter, but when i do that it says location not valid.
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You need to change both target and the start in settings in the properties menu.
Current
Target: %ProgramFiles%\Rainmeter\Rainmeter.exe !Toggleconfig "Start Menu\Menu" "StartMenu.ini"
Start In: %ProgramFiles%\Rainmeter
Modified
Target: "G:\Program Files\Rainmeter\Rainmeter.exe" !Toggleconfig "Start Menu\Menu" "StartMenu.ini"
Start In: "G:\Program Files\Rainmeter"
Make sure you add the quote signs around the file path as shown above, else the link probably won't work.
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Excellent! Thank you! A couple of quick questions...How did you get the multi-colored windows (start) icon on the bottom/middle of the screen? Once I figure out how to get that to appear, is it now a "pop-up" type menu? Thanks!
P.S. I am using Windows 8.1 as well and this is a will be a life saver (not the candy, lol)
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Your welcome
You mean the one attached to the taskbar? First I got StartIsGone which removed the windows start button from my taskbar and then I pinned a shortcut that launches the rainmeter start menu from my taskbar.
To do that on your desktop, you first need to install StartIsGone winaero.com/comment.php?commen… and let it run at startup.
Once you have done that, assuming you have a standard installation of rainmeter and want to keep the on-screen start orb there are two options.
Option One
Go to your skins folder, which should be %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Skins and open the folder named Start Menu. Open the folder named Menu or MenuSmall based on which sized menu u use and then go to the folder named Link or LinkSmall (there will only be one folder or the other there). Finally, right click on the shortcut in that folder and click Pin to Taskbar
Option Two
Right-click on the start orb or start menu and in the popup menu navigate to Start Menu then Setup and click on Setup.ini. From there choose the classic/win 7 style menu of your size and go through the setup process. When done go to settings and if wanted change your Start Menu Format back to metro/win 8.
I'm working on redoing the Setup menu so that it will be easier to do stuff like this but for now the two options above should work ok.
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Great idea.
Suggestion: maybe you could toggle StartMenu from StartOrb?
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Thanks!
When I was making the start orb I toyed with using Toggle, but I decided against it for two reasons:
1. If someone double clicks on the start orb it would open only to immediately close, since the first click would open the skin and the second would close it.
2. The start menu can already easily be closed simply by pressing the X button in the upper-right hand corner of the start menu.
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If you have any suggestions feel free to share them.
Bear in mind I use windows 8.1 now so I don't have a start menu to directly compare this rainmeter skin to for adding missing features.
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