Start Menu - Roaming Profiles Fix

[raephi]

Did somebody get this working on the new Creators Update 1703? It seems that it doesn't work anymore there On 1607 it works perfectly!

[victory2015]

Did somebody get this working on the new Creators Update 1703? It seems that it doesn't work anymore there On 1607 it works perfectly!

 

I havent had chance look at the new update so i cannot comment i am afraid, personally i will wait for it to be available on the Volume licencing portal before i look at it.

 

what happens on the new update?

[raephi]

In the Creators Update it ignores the Appdata\Local\TileDataLayer what you have on the server and always uses the default layout under "C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\DefaultLayouts.xml" or if you modified it, it uses "C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\LayoutModification.xml" when you have a roaming profile on the server and logon to a new machine.

 

Maybe good to know if you want to use a LayoutModification.xml file you have to always use DesktopApplicationID instead of DesktopApplicationLinkPath otherwise the Start Tiles don't get displayed.

[kRiNKiE]

In the Creators Update it ignores the Appdata\Local\TileDataLayer what you have on the server and always uses the default layout under "C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\DefaultLayouts.xml" or if you modified it, it uses "C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\LayoutModification.xml" when you have a roaming profile on the server and logon to a new machine.

 

So this works only when you log in on a new computer? Did you manage to get this working on user profiles that are already known on the system?

I have roaming profiles in my domain and want to implement this solution. But a few computers have already the Creators Update and lost their Start Layout. I want to preserve the layout before the update effects more computers.

 

How do I proceed?

[Arthur]

as soon as a user logs on a second computer the start menu tiles disappear or the start menu is broken completely.

Microsoft posted an article on thier "Ask PFE" blog yesterday with an issue that sounds almost exactly like the one you describe.

 

Mysteriously Disappearing Start Menu Tiles and Roaming User Profiles

 

Are you still using Roaming User Profiles in your environment? Are you running Windows 10? Do your Start Menu Tiles keep disappearing or become unstable? Then, you have come to the right blog. I’m going to explain a new hotfix and registry key setting which was released in the 14 March 2017 CU that fixes just that.

 

[...]

 

Per the Deploying Roaming User Profiles there is a new step to using Roaming User Profiles in Windows 10, which is Step 7. You need to enable the SpecialRoamingOverrideAllowed key for the Start menu to display and work correctly. I didn’t pick the name for the registry key, I just work here. Below are the steps mentioned in the hyperlink. It does state mandatory start menu layouts; however, if you are not using mandatory start menus, you can still test it out in a DEV environment and make sure it works for you.

 

If you have enabled the "Delete cached copies of roaming profiles" GPO then it would be similar to the non-persistent VDI environment they mentioned in the blog post.

[victory2015]

Microsoft posted an article on thier "Ask PFE" blog yesterday with an issue that sounds almost exactly like the one you describe.

 

Mysteriously Disappearing Start Menu Tiles and Roaming User Profiles

 

 

 

If you have enabled the "Delete cached copies of roaming profiles" GPO then it would be similar to the non-persistent VDI environment they mentioned in the blog post.

 

Thanks for this i hadnt seen it, i shall be given this a test as sometimes my users still have to have profiles reset.. though i should really start looking at moving away from roaming profiles..

[chrisjako]

Followed all the above with no joy, for me the TileDataLayer folder just doesn't appear in the .v6 profile folder

[chrisjako]

Followed all the above with no joy, for me the TileDataLayer folder just doesn't appear in the .v6 profile folder

 

Edit I have managed to get the .v6 folder to just show the tiledatalayer folder now under appdata\local however my start menu has just gone back to the "Life at a glance" layout

 

Are you all redirecting the start menu and app data folders in the folder redirection GPP? Mine are currently set to not configured/use local profile location

Edited September 19, 2017 by chrisjako

[victory2015]

Hi this method is now old, microsoft have fixed this issue so you need to be following this guide

 

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/askpfeplat/2017/05/08/mysteriously-disappearing-start-menu-tiles-and-roaming-user-profiles/

[Trev_LCHS]

Thank God for Victory2015, I have got this working a treat in Win 10 LTSB 1607, we had an issue where it took ages for the start menu to populate and pinned items would not follow users from PC to PC. I haven't used the double back slash in the path, but pretty much followed the Reg edit details apart from the double back slash, can anyone tell me why you would need the double back slash in the route to files and folders? We don't need the script as we don't have tiles in this edition. Thanks again Victory2015.

[Javik]

The original Microsoft blog post URL from September 2017 has disappeared. However I have found two alternate copies of the blog post to keep this information available.

 

https://argonsys.com/microsoft-cloud/library/mysteriously-disappearing-start-menu-tiles-and-roaming-user-profiles/

 

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Core-Infrastructure-and-Security/Mysteriously-Disappearing-Start-Menu-Tiles-and-Roaming-User/ba-p/259048

 

The content of these are the same. In the future if one does not work, try the other.