Start Menu - Hide default apps

[Chuckster]

So, I finally created shortcuts for the start menu using GPP. Currently, shortcuts are stored in a shared folder and in a GPO the start menu is redirected to this folder. We also use OpenShell.

I want to now get away from this and implicitly use GPP.

 

The GPP is working to some degree; however, the start menu shows all the default apps, e.g. Camera, Cortana, the folders Windows Accessories, Windows PowerShell, Windows Ease of Access etc.

 

How do I hide them?

 

Under user config > policies > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar I have enabled the following:

• Remove "Recently added" list from Start Menu
  
• Remove All Programs list from the Start Menu
  
• Remove common program groups from Start Menu
  
• Remove frequent programs list from the Start Menu
  

 

With the above enabled the default apps still appear.

 

Any ideas how I can hide them?

[TechMonkey]

The UWP apps, like Camera, I'm not sure there is a way to hide them. They are automatically sucked into the start menu by Windows.

[MicrodigitUK]

UWP apps I think you need to either remove the AppX package, or hide it via FSLogix App Masking. Some AppX are required for the OS to function so I wouldn’t remove them all just the bulk. And if you want them to show for specific user groups E.g admin you can’t remove them and FSLogix App Masking rules are your only option to hide them for specific user groups.

 

Read up on FSLogix App Masking.

 

And remove all the AppX packages from OS you really don’t need. E.g. Candy Crush soda.

Edited November 17, 2022 by MicrodigitUK