How to get rid of Candy Crush Soda Saga and other Windows 10 Start Menu junk for good!

[Arthur]

I thought I would post this since I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else on this forum.

 

One of the most annoying 'features' of Windows 10 are the tiles that are automatically added to your Start Menu for apps such as Candy Crush Soda Saga, Twitter, Minecraft, Flipboard etc. Since the apps aren't installed until a user clicks on the tile you can't run the usual PowerShell commands to uninstall them since they aren't present in Microsoft's Windows 10 images.

 

Thankfully there is a surprisingly simple solution to prevent these tiles from appearing in the first place. In the group policy templates for build 10586 (a.k.a. 1511) there is a new policy called "Turn off Microsoft consumer experiences". After the policy has been enabled the aforementioned tiles will no longer appear (unless of course you have intentionally installed Candy Crush or any of the other apps).

 

[b]Computer Configuration » Administrative Templates » Windows Components » Cloud Content » [color="#FF0000"]Turn off Microsoft consumer experiences[/color][/b]

 

 

Before

 

 

After

 

 

To prevent the tiles from appearing without using group policy add the registry value below.

 

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CloudContent]
"DisableWindowsConsumerFeatures"=dword:00000001

 

or

 

REG ADD "HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CloudContent" /v DisableWindowsConsumerFeatures /d 1 /t REG_DWORD /f

 

or

 

   Disable consumer features (Candy Crush etc.)
   1
   REG ADD HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CloudContent /v DisableWindowsConsumerFeatures /d 1 /t REG_DWORD /f

Edited March 20, 2017 by elsiegee40

[dblight]

Nice one! This is one of the issues leading me to shelve our Win 10 deployment across our schools

[sparkeh]

Awesome work as always @Arthur

[sparkeh]

Just to note that, at least for me during testing this setting, this only seems to effect the initial login. Users who login before this setting is applied continue to get the tiles in their Start Menu.

 

Of course YMMV

[Hybrid]

Just to note that, at least for me during testing this setting, this only seems to effect the initial login. Users who login before this setting is applied continue to get the tiles in their Start Menu.

 

Of course YMMV

 

This did indeed stump me this morning. I found that the tiles were simply 'deactivated' on a user that had already logged in.

[gshaw]

Nice find, now if the Start Menu would deploy nicely from GPO (hopefully import during MDT Task Sequence workaround method will do for now)

[garethEds]

Nice find, now if the Start Menu would deploy nicely from GPO (hopefully import during MDT Task Sequence workaround method will do for now)

 

Ooooo that's interesting - how do you do that?

[gshaw]

@garethedmonson was looking at this OS|DC: Windows 10 : Deploying a customized start menu

 

Sounds like it will edit the default profile so any new users should get the template Start Menu, not tried it yet though

[garethEds]

I've had a quick read. Not sure I get it, but it would be great if we could get a powershell script than ran for either staff or pupil upon logon and did the work. I'll read some more tomorrow and go from there.

 

Gareth

[free780]

Good good. If only I could work out what's blocking file explorer on the start menu.

[j224]

This doesn't seem to be working for me. I've enabled the 'Turn off Microsoft consumer experiences' policy but I'm still seeing the Candy Crush and Minecraft tiles when I login as a student.

 

Any ideas?

[Arthur]

Any ideas?

Are your students using mandatory profiles?

[j224]

Are your students using mandatory profiles?

 

No, roaming.

[Arthur]

Unfortunately I think the only way to get the tiles to disappear permanently would be with a new profile (now that the "Turn off Microsoft consumer experiences" policy has been enabled).

 

Any profiles that have already had the CandyCrush etc. tiles add to their Start Menu seem to ignore the policy.

[RLR]

Any way of removing the default apps like New, Solitaire, Get Office, People etc, from the All Apps menu?

[Arthur]

Any way of removing the default apps like New, Solitaire, Get Office, People etc, from the All Apps menu?

You would need to use PowerShell (Get-AppxProvisionedPackage / Get-AppxPackage etc.) to remove those apps.

 

Here's a example script...

 

www.edugeek.net/forums/o-s-deployment/167714-windows-10-task-sequence.html#post1436869

[garethEds]

Still seems like Windows 10 is a pita to deploy(I mean configure) so I'm sticking with Windows 7 which works great.

 

:-( - Shame really.

 

I do wonder whether Microsoft actually listen to schools and those on the coalface when it comes to making their products configurable.

 

Gareth

[sted]

Still seems like Windows 10 is a pita to deploy(I mean configure) so I'm sticking with Windows 7 which works great.

 

:-( - Shame really.

 

I do wonder whether Microsoft actually listen to schools and those on the coalface when it comes to making their products configurable.

 

Gareth

im going to suggest we are a pretty small part of their business model. To me windows is less and less about a managed system and more and more about byod so you run your work applications in rds/azure and use work folders etc to get data onto peoples "pcs" but the organisation dosent own them. When you look at it that way newer versions of windows/server make more sense. its all about the personal experience not the applied from above consistent one

[garethEds]

im going to suggest we are a pretty small part of their business model. To me windows is less and less about a managed system and more and more about byod so you run your work applications in rds/azure and use work folders etc to get data onto peoples "pcs" but the organisation dosent own them. When you look at it that way newer versions of windows/server make more sense. its all about the personal experience not the applied from above consistent one

 

Okay. I think. Still doesn't help schools that want to use the latest tech but cannot configure it. Software companies really do need to realise that our children are their future. Adobe are another example - stupid pricing for software that could in theory be given at a HUGE discount.

 

Gareth

[sted]

Okay. I think. Still doesn't help schools that want to use the latest tech but cannot configure it. Software companies really do need to realise that our children are their future. Adobe are another example - stupid pricing for software that could in theory be given at a HUGE discount.

 

Gareth

 

i dont disagree but i just dont think schools are enough of a market for them to care much and they expect them to go the same way as others which like it or not (and im not a fan) seems to be byod

[v01d]

i dont disagree but i just dont think schools are enough of a market for them to care much and they expect them to go the same way as others which like it or not (and im not a fan) seems to be byod

 

'Lovingly' referred to as Bring Your Own Disaster here.

[timbo343]

I've found out that if anyone is planning on running Education or Enterprise then we need to remove all the Apps again as the upgrades / updates re-installs the bloatware apps. I have looked at using "DISM /online /remove-provisionedAppxPackage /Packagename:{Packagename_string}" with each package on a line but after the upgrades and updates have been installed the packagenames change therefore the powershell script needs changing. It would be nice to have a DISM script which loops through each app a bit like the Get-AppxPackage which can have the app name such as *microsoft.bingfinance". Here is the one i use to remove the icons from the environment (get-appxpackage -allusers | remove-appxpackage | where {$.name -notlike "*store*|calculator*|*Recorder*"}) however it doesn't totally remove the apps, DISM does this but i cannot find a script that loops or even looks at part of the packagename.

[Arthur]

It would be nice to have a DISM script which loops through each app a bit like the Get-AppxPackage which can have the app name such as *microsoft.bingfinance".

I have created a PowerShell script you might find useful. It's based on the script I linked to above, but I have modified it to work with an offline Windows image (i.e. the install.wim from a Windows 10 ISO).

 

All you need to do is to save it in the same folder as an install.wim, add or remove any apps you want to keep from the section highlighted in red (use the DisplayName, not the PackageName) and then run the script from an elevated PowerShell prompt.

 

What you should end up with is a Windows image that only contains the apps you want. I have tested it with several of the Anniversary Update builds and it works perfectly with those too.

 

 

#Requires –Version 5.0
#Requires -RunAsAdministrator
#Requires –Modules Dism

# Get script directory
if ($myInvocation.MyCommand.CommandType -ne [system.Management.Automation.CommandTypes]::Script) {
$ScriptDir = [system.IO.Path]::GetDirectoryName($myInvocation.MyCommand.Definition)
} else {
$ScriptDir = [system.IO.Path]::GetDirectoryName($psISE.CurrentFile.FullPath)
}
Set-Location "$ScriptDir"

# Create mount folder if it doesn't exist
if (!(Test-Path -path "$ScriptDir\Mount")) {
New-Item "$ScriptDir\Mount" -Type Directory -Force | Out-Null
}

Get-WindowsImage -ImagePath "$ScriptDir\install.wim" -ErrorAction Stop | ForEach-Object {

   # Mount image(s)
   "{0} {1} {2}" -f "Mounting image", $($_.ImageIndex), "`n"
   Mount-WindowsImage -Path "$ScriptDir\Mount" -ErrorAction Stop -Index $_.ImageIndex -ImagePath $_.ImagePath | Out-Null

   # Get a list of all apps
   $AppArrayList = Get-AppxProvisionedPackage -Path "$ScriptDir\Mount" | Select-Object -Property DisplayName,PackageName | Sort-Object -Property DisplayName

   # Loop through the list of apps
   ForEach ($App in $AppArrayList) {

       # Exclude essential Windows apps
       if (($App.DisplayName -in "[color="#FF0000"]Microsoft.WindowsCalculator[/color]","[color="#FF0000"]Microsoft.WindowsStore[/color]","[color="#FF0000"]Microsoft.Appconnector[/color]","[color="#FF0000"]Microsoft.WindowsSoundRecorder[/color]")) {
           Write-Output -InputObject "Skipping: $($App.DisplayName)"
       }
       # Remove everything else
       else {
           $AppProvisioningPackageName = Get-AppxProvisionedPackage -Path "$ScriptDir\Mount" | Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -like $App.DisplayName } | Select-Object -ExpandProperty PackageName

           # Attempt to remove AppxProvisioningPackage
           try {
               Write-Output -InputObject "Removing: $AppProvisioningPackageName"
               Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -PackageName $AppProvisioningPackageName -Path "$ScriptDir\Mount" -ErrorAction Stop | Out-Null
           }
           catch [system.Exception] {
               Write-Warning -Message $_.Exception.Message
           }
       } # Else
   } # ForEach

[color="#4B0082"]    #region Customise Default User Profile
   Write-Output -InputObject "`nCustomising the default user profile"
   REG LOAD "HKLM\_USER" "$ScriptDir\Mount\Users\Default\NTUSER.DAT" | Out-Null
   REG LOAD "HKLM\_SOFTWARE" "$ScriptDir\Mount\Windows\System32\config\SOFTWARE" | Out-Null

   & REG ADD "HKLM\_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced" /v LaunchTo /d 1 /t REG_DWORD /f
   & REG ADD "HKLM\_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search" /v BingSearchEnabled /d 0 /t REG_DWORD /f
   & REG ADD "HKLM\_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search" /v SearchboxTaskbarMode /d 1 /t REG_DWORD /f
   & REG ADD "HKLM\_SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CloudContent" /v DisableWindowsConsumerFeatures /d 1 /t REG_DWORD /f

   REG UNLOAD "HKLM\_USER" | Out-Null
   REG UNLOAD "HKLM\_SOFTWARE" | Out-Null
   #endregion[/color]

   "{0} {1}" -f "`nUnmounting image", $($_.ImageIndex)
   Get-WindowsImage -Mounted | Dismount-WindowsImage -Save -ErrorAction Stop | Out-Null

} # Get-WindowsImage

 

The section highlighted in purple is optional, although it's probably worth keeping so that the "DisableWindowsConsumerFeatures" registry value mentioned in the very first post is added and to avoid the issue described in post #11. The other three registry values above it can be deleted if they aren't required.

 

Removing the apps offline has several advantages...

 

• It’s faster. By removing the apps offline, the provisioned apps won’t install when the OS boots up for the first time, so the first logon is faster and there’s no need to remove the installed apps either.
  
• It avoids potential issues with the installation of provisioned apps. All apps provisioned in the image install asynchronously on Windows 10 with the first logon. So it’s possible that the task sequence starts removing apps while they are still being installed. As a result, a script may fail to remove the app because it’s not there yet, and removing the provisioned app may not prevent the pending install from completing. It’s a timing issue – your results may vary based on what happens in your specific task sequence.
  
• It avoids potential issues with Windows Update. Sometimes while building an image, the Windows Update agent can update the apps while you’re trying to remove them. That can cause the removal to not work, and later if you try to sysprep and capture the image, that can fail. (This is not a problem if you build your image on an isolated network with no internet access)

Edited May 23, 2016 by Arthur

[garethEds]

Winds me up that we even have to consider resorting to this sort of thing.

 

It should be configurable at an easier level. Moan moan.

 

GJE.

[sted]

Winds me up that we even have to consider resorting to this sort of thing.

 

It should be configurable at an easier level. Moan moan.

 

GJE.

its not like ms cant do it i remember on windows 95/98/me you could create a sysprep file that did/diddnt install solitaire/minesweeper etc