Start Menu Order on Windows Mobile Standard

4/8/2010

On Windows Mobile Standard, the Recent Programs section of the Start menu displays the most recently accessed applications as icons in a grid view. You can change the order of the shortcuts in this section.

Recent Programs appears as the first page of the Start menu. The maximum number of items displayed in this section depends on the screen orientation (portrait or landscape), screen size, and the number of items in the Programs/Settings/Help section.

The first time a user accesses Recent Programs, the list contains the following by default, in this order: Messaging, Contacts, Calendar, Internet Explorer, ActiveSync, Settings, Getting Started, Clock & Alarm, and Solitaire. This is reflected in the following registry key:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Shell\StartMRU]
    REG_MULTI_SZ {Games\Solitaire.lnk,
    Clock & Alarm.lnk,
    WelcomeCenter.lnk,
    Settings.lnk,
    ActiveSync.lnk,
    Internet Explorer.lnk,
    Calendar.lnk,
    Contacts.lnk,
    Messaging.lnk}

Note that the order in which the icons are displayed in Recent Programs is the reverse order that they are listed in the StartMRU registry key. The icon order runs from left to right and from top to bottom, so the top left position is the first icon position.

You can configure the initial order of the Recent Program list using the StartMRU registry key as follows:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Shell\StartMRU]
    "InitialOrder" = multi_sz:"<application>.lnk","<application>.lnk"

For example, you could specify an actual list of applications as follows:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Shell\StartMRU]
    "InitialOrder"=multi_sz:"Games\\Solitaire.lnk",
    "Internet Explorer.lnk",
    "Calendar.lnk",
    "Contacts.lnk"

The user has the option to hide or show the Recent Programs list. In the Settings menu, the user selects More, then Start Menu. In Start Menu, a checkbox called Show Recent Programs is selected by default.

The Recent Programs list can only be displayed in grid view. Therefore, the Start menu is displayed in grid view by default, with the Recent Programs list as the first page. The Start menu appears as the next page of the Recent Programs list. The following registry key controls grid view display in the Start menu:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Shell\Rai\:MSStart]
    "GridView" = dword:1

You can also set a custom background image on the Recent Programs view, using the MSMRULauncher registry key:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Shell\Rai\:MSMRULauncher]
    "BKDefaultGradient" = DWORD
    "BKBitmapFile" = REG_SZ
    "BKBitmapTransparent" = DWORD
    "BKFlag" = DWORD

The following table describes the values for the MSMRULauncher registry key:

See Also

Concepts

Customizing the Background for Start Menu Views for Windows Mobile Standard

Other Resources

Start Screen and Start Menu
Shell OS Design Development