Anyone got the start menu to customize yet?

[robjduk]

Has anyone managed to get this working yet? I've been following the guides on the following sites...

 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/configuration/customize-start-menu-layout-windows-11

 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/customize/desktop/customize-the-windows-11-start-menu

 

https://ccmexec.com/2021/10/customizing-windows-11-default-start-menu-during-osd-using-layoutmodification-json/

 

however I can not get anything to change using the json in the default user's shell folder approach.

 

Taskbar is easy enough but I just can't get anything at all to change.

[BOOT]

I've only had it working using "desktopAppId"

 

example:

"secondaryOEMPins": [

{ "desktopAppId": "{6D809377-6AF0-444B-8957-A3773F02200E}\\Microsoft Office\\root\\Office16\\EXCEL.EXE" }

]

 

Not found a way to unpin all the other junk yet.

[robjduk]

I get the impression you can not remove Edge at all and possibly only add things onto the end. So far though I'm failing at getting even 1 thing to appear. Would you be able to paste your entire .json here please so I can put that in and see what happens?

 

Also on an unrelated note, does anyone know why there are double backslashes in the lines? Every guide has that but not seen it before.

 

Thank you

[BOOT]

I get the impression you can not remove Edge at all and possibly only add things onto the end. So far though I'm failing at getting even 1 thing to appear. Would you be able to paste your entire .json here please so I can put that in and see what happens?

 

Also on an unrelated note, does anyone know why there are double backslashes in the lines? Every guide has that but not seen it before.

 

Thank you

 

Backslashes are special characters in .json files, so double backslashes are used instead.

[BOOT]

This is what I'm using for testing Office 2019 pins:

{
   "primaryOEMPins": [
           { "desktopAppId": "{6D809377-6AF0-444B-8957-A3773F02200E}\\Microsoft Office\\root\\Office16\\WINWORD.EXE" }
   ],
   "secondaryOEMPins": [
           { "desktopAppId": "{6D809377-6AF0-444B-8957-A3773F02200E}\\Microsoft Office\\root\\Office16\\EXCEL.EXE" }
   ],
   "firstRunOEMPins": [
           { "desktopAppId": "{6D809377-6AF0-444B-8957-A3773F02200E}\\Microsoft Office\\root\\Office16\\POWERPNT.EXE" }
   ]
}

[thimon]

I've got a custom start menu, but using the old Windows 10 style menu by deploying a registry change.

[robjduk]

Out of interest, do you have any other files in your shell folder such as the original XML (I removed mine) ? I just pasted your code into my json then adapted it with some local shortcuts but it just hangs when making a new profile and I'm at a loss to where the issue could be.

 

Just once, could they release a way of doing this which doesn't cause problems?

 

{

"primaryOEMPins": [

{ "desktopAppId": "{%ProgramFiles%\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe" }

],

"secondaryOEMPins": [

{ "desktopAppId": "{%ProgramFiles%\\Windows Media Player\\wmplayer.exe" }

],

"firstRunOEMPins": [

{ "desktopAppId": "{C:\\windows\\system32\\mstsc.exe" }

]

}

[BOOT]

I've never had it working with shortcuts starting with:

%ProgramFiles% or C:\Windows etc.

Always needed to replace those with their "KnownFolder" GUID equivalents.

 

Like:

{ "desktopAppId": "{6D809377-6AF0-444B-8957-A3773F02200E}\\Windows Media Player\\wmplayer.exe" }

or

{ "desktopAppId": "{1AC14E77-02E7-4E5D-B744-2EB1AE5198B7}\\mstsc.exe" }

[robjduk]

I've never had it working with shortcuts starting with:

%ProgramFiles% or C:\Windows etc.

Always needed to replace those with their "KnownFolder" GUID equivalents.

 

Like:

{ "desktopAppId": "{6D809377-6AF0-444B-8957-A3773F02200E}\\Windows Media Player\\wmplayer.exe" }

or

{ "desktopAppId": "{1AC14E77-02E7-4E5D-B744-2EB1AE5198B7}\\mstsc.exe" }

 

Thank you for replying. I'm still getting nowhere so may give it a rest until Monday.

 

Thanks

[robjduk]

Just a final update, I changed the policy to...

 

{

"primaryOEMPins": [

{ "desktopAppId": "Chrome" }

],

"secondaryOEMPins": [

{ "desktopAppId": "Chrome" }

],

"firstRunOEMPins": [

{ "desktopAppId": "Chrome" }

]

}

 

Then made a new local user and it applied. Guessing it does not like something in my group policy which is causing grief so at least I know where to start looking. Should have started there really.

 

Thanks

 

Edit: now my taskbar pins have stopped working..... sigh

Edited October 15, 2021 by robjduk

[BOOT]

Found this method much more flexible:

 

https://oofhours.com/2021/10/27/customize-the-windows-11-start-menu/

 

Gets rid of the extra pinned junk too.