Manage Windows 10 Start Screen with Group Policy

Windows 10 has a way to manage the Start Screen with Group Policy. Use this how-to to quickly set it up and manage the start screen today. That being said, the "Pro" version of this would be to use PolicyPak Start Screen & Taskbar manager. A video link is at the 4:42 mark. Watch both videos for best results. Thanks !

[dbeav]

Actually it can be made partially "changeable". Add this to the XML file <DefaultLayoutOverride and make sure you are using build 1151

[anjosva]

This is exactly what we already have on Windows 8.1. In my point of view this isn't enough cause you can provide a start screen template to the end user..you force something and don't let the end user perform some changes. We should have the ability to pin apps on specific groups on start screen..that would be useful. Lets wait for the gold image..

[Gunnie]

It is possible to access the W10 policies from a Windows 7 computer in group policy manager in a domain environment?

[edenlincoln]

Hi Jeremy, First of all, thank you for your video. I have a question regarding Start menu layout on Windows 10 LTSB. On my Windows 10 LTSB Test, there is only two Tiles (One that I want to get rid of is Microsoft Contact Support.
What I did;

Objective: Remove all tiles from start menu, leaving only the "Most used", "Recente Added", in summary, I dont want tiles.
Cleaned up my Windows 10 LTSB Start menu, (remove all tiles), leaving only the first default column.

I created the GPO, used the User scope properly, finally pushed the GPO which got applied properly, however when logging with a proper user, the Microsoft Contact support was still there.

when I opened my extracted XML, that is what was inside.

<?xml version="1.0"?>



-<DefaultLayoutOverride>


-<StartLayoutCollection>


</StartLayoutCollection>

</DefaultLayoutOverride>

</LayoutModificationTemplate>


Would you be able to tell me how I could get rid off all my remaining tiles on my Windows 10 LTSB?

Regards,

Eden Oliveira

[Cedria]

Hi Jeremy, great information, but as you have the Windows 10 imported ADM in the GPL or where did you get this ?! I have a Win2012R2 landscape and I am missing the entry "Start Menu" completely.

[webcomment]

Can you just set a customized default start menu instead and allow users to change it if they wish?
We want new users to all have the same starting layout that we customize to make their required applications easier to find, but we don't care ff they edit it later.

[simontaylorjones]

Hi, Thank you for the video. I followed your steps and it work as expected. However I want to force out a start menu by GPO but also enable the users to be able to edit the start menu as well

Is this possible?

[nickhinz]

i removed all the tiles and moved the right side all the way over to eliminate the empty space, exported the startmenu layout to and xml, entered a UNC path to the file that ALL users have access to. Setting doesn't work. gpupdate /force and a restart do not work. this is the latest windows 10 with anniversary update talking to a windows server 2012 for GPO settings.

[TravisYoumans]

Hello! I followed the directions exactly but I'm having some major issues...
I want the start screen to have no tiles displayed, so I unpinned everything and then created my XML file and put it in the same directory as per instructions, but when I switch users everything is still there... and since a group policy is in place now I can't even unpin the tiles manually. Is there anything I could be missing? Does it matter if the user is domain or local?
Thanks!

[zerorow]

your menu is 2 columns after applying the GP to the user its only one... how do you keep it 2 columns?

[mrnut]

Best video on this. Nicely done, and for once, your voice isn't annoying on one of these videos *cough CBT*

[RobertoRodriguez-dezz]

Does this work after a certain Win Server version? Can I do the same on a local group policy?

[Tmartinez]

Is there a way to configure the Taskbar for all users as well? Been looking for tutorials on Youtube and they only show the startmenu configuration.

[FelixV]

Hi, thanks for the video but I can't find Start Layout on Server 2008 R2. Is there a .admx for Server 2008 R2?

[samwang]

same question here ~ Windows 10 imported ADM and customized default start menu instead and allow users to change it if they wish

[Nobody]

I only works for enterprise edition, well it did with windows eight

[jasontillman]

I cant see why you would want users to be able to change the layout. The whole point of the feature is to standardise it so everyone has the same look and feel. If users decide that they need access to something that the IT Department hasn't provided for then they could pin to the taskbar or put a shortcut on the desktop. The tile area should be the same for everyone showcasing the main programs on the network that staff should be using.

[jeremymoskowitz]

Nope. When the GP is set, that's it. Its unchangeable.

[jeremymoskowitz]

See the previous comment. When the GP is set .. it's "unchangeable."

[whydosentanynamework]

I guess this may be ok in some situations but i would much rather my users be able to make there own customizations to the menu layout..