Open-Shell Menu 4.4.200 Hits the Nightlies, Adds Code Signing and Windows 11 Startup Fixes
The volunteer-run Start Menu restorer gets its first signed binaries alongside support for Automatic Restart Sign-On.
Open-Shell Menu 4.4.200 is now available as a pre-release build, bringing its first digitally signed binaries alongside two targeted Windows 10 and 11 compatibility tweaks. Released on July 19, 2026, this nightly snapshot from lead maintainer ge0rdi (Richard) marks a quiet but meaningful shift in how the project distributes updates.
Classic Shell first showed up in 2009 as a personal project. It quickly became the go-to workaround when Windows 8 dropped the traditional Start Menu entirely. When original developer Ivo Beltchev stepped down in 2017, the MIT license kept the code alive. Volunteers on GitHub took the reins, rebranded it as Open-Shell, and have been chasing Microsoft’s moving target ever since.
The Signing Milestone
The biggest headline in 4.4.200 isn’t new features. It’s code signing. The project has integrated SignPath.io to generate digital signatures for every pre-release build. That means Windows SmartScreen will stop flagging the installer during fresh installs.
IT admins who verify software hashes will also get a cleaner experience. That stops those nagging warnings without forcing users into admin approval workflows. The SmartScreen flag used to pop up every time someone grabbed a nightly build. IT departments spent months fielding tickets about it. Open-Shell finally sidesteps it.
What Actually Changed
On top of the signature pipeline, the pre-release brings two functional updates. PR #2500 adds support for Automatic Restart Sign-On, the Windows feature that remembers which apps were open before a restart and relaunches them. Open-Shell was previously skipping over this signal.
PR #2503 patches a broken "properties" command in the Start Menu search. Type it in, hit enter, and the dialog actually opens this time.
Keeping a third-party start menu viable against Microsoft’s updates is no small feat. Open-Shell now supports Windows 7 through 11, including ARM64 builds since version 4.4.196. The project sits at roughly 9,200 GitHub stars and sits on 681 open issues. That’s a lot of moving parts to balance.
Classic Shell raked in nearly 40 million downloads before the handoff. That kind of user base doesn’t just fade overnight, even if the UI gets dragged into modern Windows.
If you want to test the pre-release, the binaries are up on GitHub. Head here to grab the release. For a stable install, stick with the latest tagged release or the stable channel. The project has been around for over a decade, and it’s still free, open-source, and completely void of telemetry.
