When the UAC (User Account Control) in Windows 7 Beta is disabled or set to no notify, the gadgets stop working (happens in at least build 6956 and 7000). Other error symptom is that when right click on Desktop to select “Gadgets” won’t bring up dialog window with list of gadgets, and any added gadgets won’t be showing or displaying, even after restarting or rebooting computer.
Suicide Solution on My Digital Life Forum has managed to develop a fix that allows various gadgets to be used on desktop even when UAC is turned off. The trick is to make use of Windows Sidebar components from Windows Vista, which supports original style of Windows Sidebar (pin to the side of desktop together with gadgets) that can be run even if UAC is disabled or turned off.
Follow these steps to perform the hack:
- 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.exe
And 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.
Tip: There is better trick to disable UAC while allowing gadgets to continue working without replacing any files.
When using Windows Sidebar from Windows Vista, the sidebar bar will be shown on the left or right side of desktop as in Windows Vista. Users who prefer to have everything relate to Windows 7 can try to use Windows Sidebar modules from Windows 7 Build 6801 (download Win7-7801-Sidebar.zip) instead. However, in our testing, it’s not working too.
Tip and Trick