Solved Script to Clean up Windows 10 Start Menu?
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What do you present to the end user as the start menu when you roll out (non Deployment scenario) Windows 10 to them? And how do you do it?
There has to be a way to scrub all that garbage with a quick scrip. Especially the links to the Online Office and Office 365 stuff. (We deliver desktop versions with the machine).
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@JasGot said in Script to Clean up Windows 10 Start Menu:
Only if you want to play, else I'll do that this weekend. I was just hoping someone would say they have already experimented with it.
I'll report back with my findings.....I'm reporting back. I spent the day upgrading from Windows 7 Pro to Windows 10 Pro, testing with Win10crAPPRemover.ps1 in a variety of ways. Rinse, Repeat, many times with many different variations of approach.
I can say definitively that the Start Menu items and Tiles come with the first Windows 10 login even if you have an already existing profile. Meaning, I can now reliably achieve my goal of a clean Windows 10 interface with an existing profile.
Here are my reproducible steps to achieve my goal:
- Login to Windows 7 Pro machine as Domain or local admin.
- Upgrade to Windows 10 Pro
- Log in to Windows 10 Pro as the same domain or local admin you started the upgrade with
- VERY IMPORTANT - install all Windows updates to get you at least as far as the Windows 10 1807 build.
- Reboot
- Run Win10crAPPRemover.ps1 with your choice of settings.
- Reboot
Log in as another existing (but not yet logged in under windows 10) account and you will see your DeCrapped GUI.
This means I can do an in-place upgrade from Win7 Pro to Win10 Pro and de appify the existing user accounts as long as I de appify the computer before those already existing accounts log in to the Window 10 Pro install.
I did not test with any version other than Pro. I don't care about Home and Enterprise is de-appified from the OOBE.
If you feel the need to argue about what I have done, please ask for clarification before doing so, I'm sure I have left room in my words for misunderstanding.
This experiment is a success and it allows me to achieve my goal with great reliability. -
There is a decrapifier script that someone posted on ML that I use for both deployment and non-deployment scenarios.
In the case of non-deployment, You need to run this script as the first user on the system, preferably an account that won't actually be used.
https://community.spiceworks.com/user-groups/windows-decrapifier-group
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@JasGot I have not found a good solution to this yet. We have been just living with it. It hasn't caused any problems I'm aware of but it sure is annoying. I have run scripts for this before but periodically all the settings get reset on every pc. Pretty sure its when Windows updates come through, when things get reset.
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Here is the link to the actual script (version 1809).
https://gist.github.com/gvlx/b4d4c5681900ca965276fc5c16fe8520
I usually use the switches -allapps and -clearstart. Does a nice job until the OS updates, then it's time to run it again.
edit: changed link. screw sending traffic to shiteworks.
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https://timothygruber.com/scripts/powershell/win10-crapp-remover-powershell-script-gui/
This one let's you get granular and has a GUI where you can import and export a start menu.
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@Dashrender said in Script to Clean up Windows 10 Start Menu:
There is a decrapifier script that someone posted on ML that I use for both deployment and non-deployment scenarios.
In the case of non-deployment, You need to run this script as the first user on the system, preferably an account that won't actually be used.
https://community.spiceworks.com/user-groups/windows-decrapifier-group
I checked this out. Lot's of talk about it, mostly about how it is intended to be run prior to sysprep, and how it will not remove anything from the user profile it is being run under.
How are you running it for stand alone and more importantly, the user you are logged in as?
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@JasGot said in Script to Clean up Windows 10 Start Menu:
@Dashrender said in Script to Clean up Windows 10 Start Menu:
There is a decrapifier script that someone posted on ML that I use for both deployment and non-deployment scenarios.
In the case of non-deployment, You need to run this script as the first user on the system, preferably an account that won't actually be used.
https://community.spiceworks.com/user-groups/windows-decrapifier-group
I checked this out. Lot's of talk about it, mostly about how it is intended to be run prior to sysprep, and how it will not remove anything from the user profile it is being run under.
How are you running it for stand alone and more importantly, the user you are logged in as?
I don't - for standalone I do an audit mode setup pre giving it to the user - then all created uses have the script against the accounts.
If you have an existing machine and aren't willing to wipe and start over with audit mode - looks like some others have posted other options.
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@JasGot said in Script to Clean up Windows 10 Start Menu:
@Dashrender said in Script to Clean up Windows 10 Start Menu:
There is a decrapifier script that someone posted on ML that I use for both deployment and non-deployment scenarios.
In the case of non-deployment, You need to run this script as the first user on the system, preferably an account that won't actually be used.
https://community.spiceworks.com/user-groups/windows-decrapifier-group
I checked this out. Lot's of talk about it, mostly about how it is intended to be run prior to sysprep, and how it will not remove anything from the user profile it is being run under.
How are you running it for stand alone and more importantly, the user you are logged in as?
I have always run it under my own account, not in audit mode. If you use the -allusers switch, it works on all existing profiles. But the link that @Obsolesce posted looks like a much better solution. I haven't had time to try it out yet.
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@RojoLoco said in Script to Clean up Windows 10 Start Menu:
@JasGot said in Script to Clean up Windows 10 Start Menu:
@Dashrender said in Script to Clean up Windows 10 Start Menu:
There is a decrapifier script that someone posted on ML that I use for both deployment and non-deployment scenarios.
In the case of non-deployment, You need to run this script as the first user on the system, preferably an account that won't actually be used.
https://community.spiceworks.com/user-groups/windows-decrapifier-group
I checked this out. Lot's of talk about it, mostly about how it is intended to be run prior to sysprep, and how it will not remove anything from the user profile it is being run under.
How are you running it for stand alone and more importantly, the user you are logged in as?
I have always run it under my own account, not in audit mode. If you use the -allusers switch, it works on all existing profiles. But the link that @Obsolesce posted looks like a much better solution. I haven't had time to try it out yet.
And it cleaned out the installed junkware? in the past it did not clean out many things for the account you ran it in (a real account, not the audit account).
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@Dashrender said in Script to Clean up Windows 10 Start Menu:
@RojoLoco said in Script to Clean up Windows 10 Start Menu:
@JasGot said in Script to Clean up Windows 10 Start Menu:
@Dashrender said in Script to Clean up Windows 10 Start Menu:
There is a decrapifier script that someone posted on ML that I use for both deployment and non-deployment scenarios.
In the case of non-deployment, You need to run this script as the first user on the system, preferably an account that won't actually be used.
https://community.spiceworks.com/user-groups/windows-decrapifier-group
I checked this out. Lot's of talk about it, mostly about how it is intended to be run prior to sysprep, and how it will not remove anything from the user profile it is being run under.
How are you running it for stand alone and more importantly, the user you are logged in as?
I have always run it under my own account, not in audit mode. If you use the -allusers switch, it works on all existing profiles. But the link that @Obsolesce posted looks like a much better solution. I haven't had time to try it out yet.
And it cleaned out the installed junkware? in the past it did not clean out many things for the account you ran it in (a real account, not the audit account).
It sometimes leaves blank icons on the start menu, but it does remove crapware. I bet the whole audit mode thing makes it work better though.
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@Obsolesce said in Script to Clean up Windows 10 Start Menu:
https://timothygruber.com/scripts/powershell/win10-crapp-remover-powershell-script-gui/
This one let's you get granular and has a GUI where you can import and export a start menu.
I'm checking this out right now. It looks like it has promise. Too bad the author doesn't explain things a bit more.
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If you just want to clean out the start menu, you can use layoutmodification.xml files to have a "blank" start menu. https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/deploymentguys/2016/03/07/windows-10-start-layout-customization/
USe the above blog as your starting point. We had to tweak it a bit. Im trying to find my notes becasie when we re-imported the start layout we have to use a different mount path than what is mentioned in the blog.
I'll try and find the other script I used to remove all the bloatware. I foudn one that actually worked; removed all the junk but left what was needed for Windows Update to work -
@Obsolesce said in Script to Clean up Windows 10 Start Menu:
https://timothygruber.com/scripts/powershell/win10-crapp-remover-powershell-script-gui/
This one let's you get granular and has a GUI where you can import and export a start menu.
Well. I had high hopes for this. Or, better yet, my expectations were too high. After testing for two minutes, I've decided the app is not for me. Maybe I'll use it just to clear out the start menu with the Start Menu> Empty Start Menu XML template (I'll try that in a minute...).
The first thing I did was Check All on the Win10 crAPPs page and then Check All on the App & Privacy Settings page. Ran both removers and was left with this:
That's hardly a cleanup.
Oh, and I just tried the Empty Start Menu template....You can only apply it to new users.Darn, I was so excited.
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I use the xml templates and apply via GPO. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/configuration/start-layout-xml-desktop
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Cleaning up existing users for a script can likely be challenging without making all kinds of assumptions or asking a million questions of the users.
That's why I think you see all of these scripts designed for new setups, not existing ones.
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Tis blog post points to a PowerShell script you can use to remove most of the built in apps.
https://www.scconfigmgr.com/2018/11/27/remove-built-in-apps-for-windows-10-version-1809/ -
@JasGot said in Script to Clean up Windows 10 Start Menu:
@Obsolesce said in Script to Clean up Windows 10 Start Menu:
https://timothygruber.com/scripts/powershell/win10-crapp-remover-powershell-script-gui/
This one let's you get granular and has a GUI where you can import and export a start menu.
Well. I had high hopes for this. Or, better yet, my expectations were too high. After testing for two minutes, I've decided the app is not for me. Maybe I'll use it just to clear out the start menu with the Start Menu> Empty Start Menu XML template (I'll try that in a minute...).
The first thing I did was Check All on the Win10 crAPPs page and then Check All on the App & Privacy Settings page. Ran both removers and was left with this:
Reboot after you run it. Whatever you are left with after that has to be done in audit mode pre initial user login. That's not a limitation of the script, but a limitation of how Windows does it.
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@JasGot said in Script to Clean up Windows 10 Start Menu:
That's hardly a cleanup.
Oh, and I just tried the Empty Start Menu template....You can only apply it to new users.
Darn, I was so excited.Start menu layout can only be changed in that way for new users that haven't logged on to the system yet.
Again, not a script limitation, but how Windows makes it.
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@Obsolesce said in Script to Clean up Windows 10 Start Menu:
@JasGot said in Script to Clean up Windows 10 Start Menu:
That's hardly a cleanup.
Oh, and I just tried the Empty Start Menu template....You can only apply it to new users.
Darn, I was so excited.Start menu layout can only be changed in that way for new users that haven't logged on to the system yet.
Again, not a script limitation, but how Windows makes it.
Pretty sure you can get powershell to tell you all the store installed crap - and then uninstall it, on a user by user basis...
And as mentioned, a reboot might show much of that stuff gone.
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After three days of exploring this. I'm giving up. I can remove the tiles faster by hand.
I chose to forego all the existing scripts because they either don't work, or they uninstall items. There are too many hooks between too many apps to be confident in uninstalling apps without potential consequences.
With all the failures in modifying Start Menu items coming from Microsoft changes, I just can't take the chance that a production machine won't have an issue later (mostly with updates) because an app was removed.
I have also found that there is either no way (or the process is broke) to use XML to control the Start Menu for an existing user (without GPO).
And to top it all off, it appears the ability to modify the Taskbar is broke in 1803 or only works intermittently. Further, in all of the 100's of posts I've read, no one can actually provide a working example. It seems as though every time someone says "I got it working", some else says "post your XML", and they can't because it suddenly isn't working again.
I had narrowed the choices down to one:
Website: TimothyGruber.com
GitLab: https://gitlab.com/tjgruber/win10crappremover
but I was unable to make it work 100% of the time. I did not check to see if the unreliability was caused by varying levels of updates; I need it to work across all updates, because I need the start menu modification to work after the upgrade to 10 and before all the updates have taken place. I need to be able to go from 7 to 10 with a custom start menu in under an hour. If I have to wait for certain updates to apply, it could take two full days.I'll keep searching for a solution, but for now, the Windows 10 upgrades are on hold.
