Windows 10 Start Menu Problems

[lmrogers]

Hey Everyone,

 

I've got a couple of really annoying issues at the minute. So I'm working on my Windows 10 deployment and am running into issues with the Start Menu.

 

1. The start layout GPO just doesn't work.

2. How can I get rid of those stupid Apps from the start menu?

3. Start menu redirection is only working for staff and not for students. I have tried various different ways of getting it to work but no joy.

 

Any help on these would be greatly appreciated!

 

Cheers,

[sted]

1 in what way and which bit? ive just decided to let people pin their own stuff there as managing it seems more hassle than its worth

2 candy crush and minecraft theres a gpo but you need a win10 pc to see /edit it Computer Configuration » Administrative Templates » Windows Components » Cloud Content » Turn off Microsoft consumer experiences

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/windows-10/165029-how-get-rid-candy-crush-soda-saga-other-windows-10-start-menu-junk-good.html

3 we have found start menu redirection works much better with local profiles just seems more reliable

[lmrogers]

I was trying to just deploy a standard start menu layout with just icons for things like Office and SIMS or just get rid of the metro part completely.

 

Ah I will give that policy a try.

 

Thats the strange thing, our staff are on roaming profiles and that seems to work but students do not have roaming profiles and it doesnt work. The seems to be some strange AppData redirection going on though which was set up by my predecessor, how would that effect the start menu redirection?

[abaxter2]

The Windows 10 start layout GPO is inconsistent to say the least but after a lot of playing around this what I have working:

1. I do not redirect the AppData (Roaming) via folder redirection

2.All my users have roaming profiles and folder redirection.

3.I created a test user for staff / students / admin staff in their own OU and then copied the GPO that applies the folder redirection and Start Layout for each user type - renamed and edited the start menu folder redirection to my network share where I wanted the shortcuts stored - I have one share for staff / one share for students / one for admin staff and one for 32 bit version of Office 2016 (I run the 64 bit version of Office across my site apart from the computers that have Sage installed as Sage will not work with the 64 bit version of Office) within these GPO's under folder redirection -Start Menu - properties - settings untick 'Grant the user exclusive right' and Also apply to windows 2000 but leave a tick in move the contents of the Start Menu to the new location (for now)

4. Sign in with the test accounts so that the content of the start menu gets copied over to the new location and then go back to the GPO and untick 'Move the contents of the Start Menu to the new location'

5. Go to the network share that holds the start menu shortcuts and remove any that you do not want the user to have access too and of course add any that are need that are not already there.

6. Create a test accounts that can run powershell and make sure the GPO with the new start menu redirection are applied to those users.

7. Create the start layouts that I want my users to have and export the xml file.

8. Push the newly created .xml files out to all computers via GPO

9. Edit my test GPOs that have the new Start menu redirection and apply the the start layout to point to the new .xml file.

10. Sign in with the test accounts that have the test gpo of start menu redirection and the start layout .xml - At the point I can see all is working and as I have pushed the .xml out to all computers I can test this on any device.

11. Now I know this was working for my test accounts I edited my GPO that applies basic settings to all computers and edited - Computer Configuration - Policies - Administrative Templates - System - User Profiles and enabled 'Delete cached copies of roaming profiles' and of course warned my users that the network would run slow

12. Edited the GPO settings that apply to my users to match the ones that that I created for my test accounts - just edited the Start menu redirection (unticking all boxes under settings) and pointed the start layout to the newly created .xml file

13. Because i had move from Windows 8.1 in user GPOs under 'Start Menu and Taskbar' I had enabled 'Remove All Programs list from the start menu' but now I set this to 'Not configured' so that if the start layout fails my user can still get access to the programs via 'All apps' but only have access to shortcuts that are stored in the redirected folder.

14. Set 'Delete cached copies of roaming profiles' to not configured in my GPO that applies basic settings to all computers.

 

So far after do this I am finding the start menu to be working.

 

I have also found / working on proving that Impero causes problems with start layout on laptops because it queries Win32_Product class when a device starts (https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/kb/974524) and as we know in Windows 10 the shortcut are stored in database. It strange that it only affects the laptop but the only reason I can think of is because my desktop devices are turned on via power management before they are used it gives the device time to sort the database where the laptops are turned on when and off when needed but what I am seeing is any laptop that does not have Impero installed are getting the correct start layout and any with Impero are not. I'm not saying for sure that it is Impero - just sharing my findings as I have found with the above Start menu redirection and the new .xml all users who sign in to any desktops get the correct start menu but still have a few issues on the laptops.

 

You may also want to have a look at this great thread about using Classic Shell: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/windows-10/163286-windows-10-start-menu-working-solution.html

[lmrogers]

Thanks, I'll give it a go and keep trying. I have looked at Classic Shell which i was really wanting to keep going with but for some reason it just kept becoming unresponsive and causing issues with the computers.

[mulderite]

Thanks, I'll give it a go and keep trying. I have looked at Classic Shell which i was really wanting to keep going with but for some reason it just kept becoming unresponsive and causing issues with the computers.

 

I'm glad someone else was having difficulty with Classic Shell, as I also gave it a try and found it to be unresponsive. So I'm now back to doing the Start Menu for roaming profiles without any third-party software assistance... Have you had any luck with the method described in this thread?

Edited June 8, 2016 by mulderite

[SHimmer45]

if you look in eventvwr it might be grumbling about the startmenu database being damaged and recreating it which causes the start menu to stop appearing or be laggy as hell.

 

imo microsoft have added alot of complexity to something that was straight forward (i am not a luddite) to add things to and control.

the fact that a 3rd party app is proving a popular and effective way of providing a good start menu experience i think is appalling.

 

Microsoft should have included an option to install a different shell for users who want a more traditional user experience.