Methods that work to bypass or disable Metro UI in Windows 8 Developer Preview do not work in Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Also, methods based on using the Task Manager and methods that are based on a showdesktop.scf don’t work either.

However, I discovered that overriding the default registry value:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionWinlogon]
“Shell”=explorer.exe

with

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionWinlogon]
“Shell”=”explorer.exe /select,explorer.exe”

does in fact automatically skip past Metro UI (under most circumstances).

One can also do this override on a per-user basis with:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionWinlogon]
“Shell”=”explorer.exe /select,explorer.exe”

In this latter case, you could dip your toe in the water by creating a new login id to experiment on before applying the change system-wide with the first case.

Note that in either case, after one logs on, it takes a couple of seconds for the desktop background to appear after the initial root folder for the user appears.

Also, note that this method leaves a vestigial explorer.exe process that remains in the background until a logoff occurs.

I also made two .reg files, one for the HKLM change and one for the HKCU change, which can be used to apply the desired change. These are in a zipped folder that can be downloaded from:

http://www.reliancepc.com/menu/tips/Downloads/GoToClassicDesktopRegFiles.zip

(Needless to say, if you decide to give this a try, be careful, do a system restore point, and be prepared to enter Safe Mode [if you can figure out how], or understand how to bring up the Task Manager with Ctrl-Alt-Del and start regedit.exe with Administrative privileges if you happen to get in real trouble.)

I also recommend that you disable the hateful lock screen via gpedit.msc by going to:

Local Computer Policy -> Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Control Panel -> Personalization -> “Do not display the lock screen” and setting that to “Enabled”.

Finally, download and install ViStart to get the Start Menu back. Once you’ve done all three of these things W8 starts to become usable for actual enterprise-level work as opposed to pointlessly farting around with a toy interface that badly emulates a credit-card sized personal communication touch-screen interface like Android.

everytime I start up Windows 8 (am usually on OS X Lion) the Metro UI hits me in all it´s 27″ glory ;)

it´s sure might look nice on a tablet but in this size it´s just too much

again, thank you!