Windows 10 Start Menu removal

[cursixx]

I'm deploying Windows 10 this summer and I have one problem keeping me from it. I want to remove all of the apps from the start menu. I already have an xml file working for the Start Layout but cant seem to get everything removed from the left start menu. See the picture attached. I want to remove Connect, Contact Support, Cortana etc

 

[angrycomputingteacher]

I was wondering exactly the same thing

[cursixx]

Turned on basically every remove start menu GPO listed and ended up with this. The Cortana icon is the major problem because it gives access to the search "aka run" and defeats most of the other GPO in place. Cortana is off and its still there. Why does MS force things like this on us. If they added something they should give the admin away to fully control it.

[mrbios]

This frustrated me for a while, the only one i really wanted to get rid off was the contact support one....to do that i've deleted the "ContactSupport_cw5n1h2txyewy" folder from C:\Windows\SystemApps. It just shows up at the very bottom of the start menu as a broken apps link now, i can't get rid of that though. Don't do the same thing with cortana though or you'll break the start menu. (You could do this to cortana in 1607 and earlier without breaking the start menu, and it would remove all the start menu search functionality, but not in 1703) Edited July 11, 2017 by mrbios

[3s-gtech]

There are many, many threads on here about this. You can either remove the apps from your base WIM which you use to build the image, or you can remove them post deployment with Powershell. You shouldn't try removing them from an image you wish to deploy (if building one that way) as that can stop sysprep from working.

[cursixx]

There are many, many threads on here about this. You can either remove the apps from your base WIM which you use to build the image, or you can remove them post deployment with Powershell. You shouldn't try removing them from an image you wish to deploy (if building one that way) as that can stop sysprep from working.

 

I'm using kace and I do remove all of the apps after imaging but this still says in the start menu. I think its a different problem from just removing Cortana or disabling it. When you click the Cortana icon it opens the search box and this allow you to run commands etc. I'll review my uninstall powershell script again but this seems to be built into the start menu. I also attached a picture of what happens when you click the Cortana icon. You can see Cortana is disabled

 

[cursixx]

Found something that worked and its related to what mrbios said about the SystemApps folder. Check out this utility called install_wim_tweak.exe it has a command set that can be used to remove the apps. I tested this on build 1607 and it worked but removing Cortana fully does stop the search box from working for all users. In my case for students this is what I wanted

 

Here is what it looks like now

 

commands I used

 

install_wim_tweak.exe /o /c Microsoft-Windows-ContactSupport /r

install_wim_tweak.exe /o /c Microsoft-Windows-Cortana /r

 

I'll test this on a clean install of 1703 and patch to 1703

[Arthur]

install_wim_tweak.exe /o /c Microsoft-Windows-ContactSupport /r

"Contact Support" can also be removed using a built-in PowerShell command...

 

www.edugeek.net/forums/windows-10/181788-tip-removing-contact-support-app-easy-way.html

 

There isn't any need to do what @mrbios did or use a third-party app for that.

 

Btw, WimTweak works by changing the visibility of a CBS package in the registry so that it can be removed by DISM (after doing a few extra things like taking ownership of the related registry keys). There's a PowerShell script that does the same thing here...

 

https://github.com/MrNuggelz/Win10HiddenPackages

 

WimTweak is simpler to use though.