How to get desktop gadgets and sidebar back in Windows 8

As you may have noticed, Desktop Gadgets and Sidebar are missing in Windows 8 RTM. Personally, I don't miss gadgets since I did not use them. But a lot of people have been missing them. If you can't live without desktop gadgets, there is good news for you: desktop gadgets and sidebar can be made to work in Windows 8.

My friend PainteR has created an unofficial installer which allows you to get gadgets back in Windows 8 with just a few mouse clicks. Just follow the white rabbit setup wizard.

Note that it supports all possible Windows 8 languages,  so you will get gadgets and sidebar's interface with your native language!

Wait for the installer to finish and right click on the desktop after that. You will see the familiar "Gadgets" item in your desktop context menu. Enjoy:

Before you download

  1. I am not sure that this is legal. Check the license agreement of Windows 7 and Windows 8 before you use this installer.
  2. All credits goes to PainteR. No one from Winaero is associated with this installer.

Download Desktop Gadgets for Windows 8

 

Support us

Winaero greatly relies on your support. You can help the site keep bringing you interesting and useful content and software by using these options:

If you like this article, please share it using the buttons below. It won't take a lot from you, but it will help us grow. Thanks for your support!

Author: Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

25 thoughts on “How to get desktop gadgets and sidebar back in Windows 8”

  1. Большое спасибо! Это то, чего мне не хватало. Приходилось вручную копировать гаджеты от Release Preview и запускать какие-то сомнительные командные файлы, а тут всё и сразу! :)

    1. Файл лежит на серверах PainteRа, я не могу обновить его, это должен сделать он сам.

  2. There is also an alternative installer here:
    http://8gadgetpack.bplaced.net/

    It also includes a bunch of 3rd party gadgets and a sidebar gadget

  3. Hi!

    Using Build 9200 of WIndows 8 and it does not work. Nothing happens when trying to open the gadget program.

    ToddeSwe

  4. Installed but cant use it. When i drag the widget to my desktop screen, it just doesnt work. Any solution? and if i wanted to uninstall it, how am i suppose to do it?
    Thx

    1. You must right click the desktop and choose Show Desktop Gadgets from the View menu. To install a gadget, double click it, don’t drag it to the desktop screen. To uninstall, go to Programs and Features in Control Panel. It is present as ‘Windows 8 Desktop Gadgets’.

  5. Hello. After latest updates (about 20 of them) on Windows 8 PRO x64 via windows update, sidebar crashes…

    Podpis težave:
    Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
    Application Name: sidebar.exe
    Application Version: 6.2.9200.16384
    Application Timestamp: 4ce7a1c7
    Fault Module Name: ntdll.dll
    Fault Module Version: 6.2.9200.16420
    Fault Module Timestamp: 505ab405
    Exception Code: c0000005
    Exception Offset: 00000000000115d0
    OS Version: 6.2.9200.2.0.0.256.48
    Locale ID: 1060

    What to do?

  6. I used this installer on Windows 8 and it worked really well.
    However, I can’t get the installer to work on Windows 8.1 Preview 64-bit.

    I was wondering if PainteR can check if the installer needs updating.

    Cheers

  7. Hallo,
    it´s perfect work! Thx a lot. But i have problem in last time. Have error stop working nad will close in start windows. I wanted uninstall and install again…but i can´t find where to uninstall. Or have some different solution for my problem pls?

  8. Hey, Thanks for sharing this informative post with us. We are looking for the exact thing. Keep Updating with such more posts.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Exit mobile version
Using Telegram? Subscribe to the blog channel!
Hello. Add your message here.