If you want to customize your start menu without using any 3rd party tools/apps, you`ve come to the right place.
Below is a quick and easy way of customizing start menu for your users.
Logon to any windows server machine.
Configure your start menu as desired by opening it and pinning/unpinning shortcuts
When done, export it as per following commands
THIS will place an xml file in the working directory which is represented by the path before (to be) executed command
Or you can use it like this
Export-StartLayout -Path C:\LayoutModification.xml
IMPORTANT!!!!
Append the file LayoutModification.xml to the already existing DefaultLayouts.xml, do not rename/replace existing one with the exported one in the following location.
Tiles/Shortcuts can be later pinned/unpinned in start menu using this method
It only applies for fresh users, it does not apply for existing user. For existing users, you would need to reset the profile for this to take effect.
Reference paths:
Default user xml file path (right side of start menu):
C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell
Individual user xml file path:
C:\Users\banana\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell
Default apps file path (left side of start menu):
c:\programdata\microsoft\windows\start menu\programs
Customized (locked, cannot be changed by user) start menu right side GPO. This can be stored locally or on a share, path should be specified in gpo
User Configuration/Administrative Templates/Start Menu and Taskbar
Reference articles:
https://virtualwarlock.net/the-windows-server-2019-start-menu-is-playing-nice/
Creating a custom default user profile in Windows 10
