Workaround to Run Windows Vista Bar Style Sidebar in Windows 7
In Windows 7, Windows Sidebar gets a major overhaul. The gadgets no longer restricts to need to pin to the bar of sidebar anymore, which normally located at the side of the desktop. Gadgets can now roam free and locate anywhere on desktop in Windows 7. Some people may prefer gadgets that stick to Sidebar, or Windows Sidebar that actually runs and exists, and can be closed once to hide all gadgets, there is a workaround to implement such Windows Sidebar system in Windows 7.
The workaround is to install Windows Vista Sidebar into Windows 7, replacing the new version of sidebar component, as similar with resolution to fix gadget not working when UAC is turned off in Windows 7. After the hack found as found by Suicide Solution, Windows 7 gadget will have to run in the sidebar area, which is a bar that can be located on the side of the desktop.
- Close all gadgets on desktop.
- Take ownership and grant full control permissions for Administrators user group of the following files located in C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar folder:
settings.ini
sidebar.exeAnd inside the en-US Folder:
sbdrop.dll.mui
Sidebar.exe.mui - Rename to backup the 4 files listed above.
- Download Win7-Sidebar-Fix.zip.
- Extract and copy the contents of the ZIP file to their corresponding folders in C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar folder, overwrite and replace existing files if applicable.
- Re-add gadgets to desktop.
Voila, now Windows 7 has the sidebar program, which can be opened, closed, and exited, together with all gadgets added to it.
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Entries (RSS)
November 6th, 2009 23:02
Thanks, worked great for me. I now have my nice sidebar on my W7 desktop.
Few notes:
1. Make sure the sidebar.exe is not running in the processes.
2. I used msconfig.exe to uncheck the Windows Operating System sidebar.exe from loading automatically.
3. rebooted the PC then I could change the ownership/permissions on those files.
4. The sidebar.ini was not in my folder. Only the other 3 files were present on my system.
5. then copying the 4 files as instructed and running the sidebar.exe from that folder worked.
Hope this will help some users with this access denied issue.
Thanks.
November 6th, 2009 14:57
There are too many bugs doing this – big one is RSS feeds don’t work. A workaround is to use a program like SplitView (www.splitview.com). It is designed to split the screen into multiple parts for Remote Desktop, but it works well to protect a row of gadgets placed on the side of the screen much like the old sidebar did. Just check the “Split in two parts with” and fill the box with your horizontal resolution -150 pixels, then check the first two checkboxes in the Multi-monitor setting. This is not its intended purpose, but it works really well. Only bad thing is it’s not free. If someone knows a free program that does something similar, please comment.
November 2nd, 2009 05:49
I have followed the instructions but i get a denied message when trying to add or change permissions. any know why or how to change this?
many thanks
October 11th, 2009 18:06
I lost my backup of sidebar files, could you send me those 4 changed files please? Anyone? (Win7_PRO_EN_32bit)
August 22nd, 2009 00:39
I tried this, the sidebar works, but things like the RSS feed gadget only show the feeds, if you try to click on a headline it doesnt open up a page..
Anyone run into this?
August 14th, 2009 18:33
This is great. The tip in the comments about copying the program files and running it as a separate sidebar was even better. Altho I also like to point out that Vista had the same possibility to undock the gadgets so Win7 has reduced the functionality of the sidebar which is sad.
August 12th, 2009 18:22
awesome work!
I’m looking such instruction, and do with my old vista sidebar with no success.
thanks a lot!
August 11th, 2009 01:24
[...] Workaround to Run Windows Vista Bar Style Sidebar in Windows 7 [...]
August 9th, 2009 06:46
Tnx works like a charm
Final RTM here
July 14th, 2009 22:57
Don’t know whether this is right or not. Had the same problem with no gadgets in Windows 7. Sidebar.exe has very little systems permissions. I just added system to the security properties of the file and gave it full control. Up came the gadgets after clicking on the gadgets shortcut. Dragged them to where I wanted on the desk top and voila. I might try reducing some of the permissions to find out exactly which one is needed to make it work. Hope you can follow what I’ve done. Cheers.
Trevor W.
June 22nd, 2009 20:11
I found a simpler solution … create a new folder on your Windows 7 drive – call it \program files\vista sidebar – copy all the files from your Vista install (\program files\ windows sidebar) to this new folder – run Sidebar directly from this new folder and it works fine. Once Sidebar is running if you want you can select the option “Start Sidebar when Windows starts”.
The only downside I’ve found is that the new style Calendar available in Windows 7 (where you can view both the current day AND the month) doesn’t work
Other than that, a whole lot easier than trying to change permissions etc!
June 19th, 2009 23:15
This hack works, but that ZIP file link is plagued with popups, etc. I couldn’t download it with work security. Anyway, I just grabbed the necessary files off a Vista machine and that worked. I have Windows 7 x64, so I made sure to grab the files of a Vista x64 machine. That may help people having issues… make sure they correlate the right version of the files (x86 vs. x64). Don’t know. /shrug
June 2nd, 2009 14:39
great…works 100%
thanks
May 4th, 2009 21:42
WTF? Windows 7 Sidebar LACKS the functionality of Vista Sidebar. Vista Sidebar never NEEDED its gadgets pinned to the Sidebar, it was just there for those who wanted. You could float each gadget anywhere on the desktop just like Windows 7 PLUS you could lock them into the sidebar if you wanted, protecting them from maximized windows. Why did MS take Sidebar backwards?
Anyway, I’ve done this hack to get Vista Sidebar back in W7 and it all works great, but found one side-effect. The RSS Feed gadget no longer works properly. Clicking on a headline does nothing but change the font from bold to normal. There is no way to preview or view an RSS item. Replacing the RSS Feed gadget with the one from Vista allows a double-click to view the article, but preview still doesn’t work. Does anyone have a solution?
March 21st, 2009 21:43
MS sucks
February 10th, 2009 01:10
Thanks for the tip! It worked just as you said, however I am not allowed to install any new gadgets! Anyone else have this problem?
January 14th, 2009 01:00
can somebody please upload the original sidebar.exe and settings.ini ?? i stupidly overwrote those two files without backing them up first, now i’d like to use the original windows 7 side bar and upper my UAC.
the hacked one works but i can’t zoom on the weather gadget
thanks a lot
January 12th, 2009 07:47
Gadget were already free to move in vista, and when you unpin them you can close the sidebar…
January 10th, 2009 19:46
[...] gadgets persist but the sidebar does not. Possibly a wrong decision, though apparently there is a hack to restore it. It’s not too late – Microsoft, how about an option to have the old sidebar [...]
December 30th, 2008 08:35
any ideas on when a disarm will be available for the 7000build (given it’s the last beta)
December 30th, 2008 03:31
This makes me sick.