Remove Start-Menu Layout Modification from all users

Question

_{Tuesday, June 26, 2018 5:05 PM}

Good afternoon, all!

I have what may be a weird question.  We have a group here that runs our workstation operation and decided to, at some point, distribute a start menu layout via group policy.  The policy worked, and the XML went out to machines.  Unfortunately, the layout was horrible, users hate it, and now that we've gotten complaints from 90% of the company, they want to eradicate this customization from existence.  Removing the GPO doesn't revert the start menu back to defaults, but that is the end-goal of what we're trying to accomplish.  I've found everything on the internet but how to remove a start menu layout entirely - we want to revert, for now, the entire modification back to system defaults.

That being said, is there a smooth way to do this?  The group did a partial lock option so users could add.  I just want existing users to get whatever the default Start Menu should be.

Thanks in advance for any guidance!

All replies (2)

_{Tuesday, June 26, 2018 6:21 PM}

As a note, we have:

1) Attempted to remove the GPO.  Found that doesn't remove the XML settings that were applied.

2) Attempted to update the start menu layout to default by pushing a blank update file.  Found that this didn't apply for some reason.

3) Attempted to use powershell to remove the modification, with a replacement XML, but while we can modify the layout, we can't get it to revert to default.

Any assistance would be greatly, greatly appreciated. 

Thanks.

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_{Wednesday, June 27, 2018 7:05 AM}

Hi,

You can run this registry entry which reset the start layout for all users:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/3087-reset-start-layout-windows-10-a.html

Please Note: Since the website is not hosted by Microsoft, the link may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information.

Note: Problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore please remember to backup the related entry before any operation.

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help.
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