Get Back The Classic MsConfig On Windows 8.

In my last post I showed you how to get the old Task Manager from Windows NT4 and Windows XP on Windows 8. See this post here.

Today I am going to show you how to get the old MsConfig, which is System Configuration from Previous versions of Windows on 8. And this also works on Windows 8.1.

So you have replaced the Windows 8 Task Manager with that from Windows XP or NT4, but there is one small problem. When you open System Configuration,also called MsConfig,it does not display the start up programs. Because Microsoft have changed this in the Windows 8 MsConfig and you now have to go to the Windows 8 Task Manager to see and manage your start up programs. But the Windows 7,Windows XP and Windows NT4 Task Manager does not have this.





In Windows 7 and previous versions of Windows start up programs were managed in System Configuration but this was changed in Windows 8. But there is a way to get back the old System Configuration from previous versions of Windows so you can access the Start Up Programs menu again. But it's the one from Windows XP that we will be installing on 8, as the Windows 7 one did not work. And also the Windows XP one works best, so here is how to restore the Classic MsConfig on Windows 8.

But before we do this just one word of warning. DO NOT delete or edit the MsConfig Exe in System 32 on Windows 8. To do so may make Windows stop working. The Windows 8 MsConfig must remain where it is and the Windows XP MsConfig will run along side it.

So to install the Windows XP System Configuration you just need to copy the MsConfig Exe and hlp file from a computer running XP. Or if you don't have it installed you can extract both files from a Windows XP installation CD. See this post here on how to do this.

Copy both files onto Windows 8 and rename the XP MsConfig Exe to some thing such as MsConfig2.  So that it does not conflict with the Windows 8 MsConfig. Once you have done that place both files in the C/Windows/System32 folder on Windows 8. You to run the program as administrator in order for it to work. To do this right click on the renamed MsConfig exe from XP, click Properties and select change settings for all users then select Run as administrator, save settings by clicking apply then OK then close.

The System Configuration from Windows XP will now work on Windows 8. As you can see in my screenshot. And you can use it to view and manage your start up programs from it the same way you could in Windows 7 and XP. If you need to edit the boot options you can still use the Windows 8 System Configuration for this.

See also my video on how to do this step by step.