Windows 10: White icons when new user signs in after coming out of audit mode on windows 10.

I am having trouble with several machines that have white icons and the inability to use windows file explorer after a new user signs in. The admin accounts I use are all fine and work. It seems non admin users get white icons and can not use many features inside windows 10. I have deleted the profile and had the user sign back in to create a new profile and this does not fix the problem. Cortana and EDGE do not work. I have ran the SFC scan and still have not found a fix. These are all new machines with windows 10 and running version 1903. Please help.

:)

 

Audit mode

Hi Diane,

Windows boots into Windows Welcome Mode and Audit Mode. Windows Welcome Mode
is the first user experience while the Audit mode is used to add customization to Windows images. Sometimes, Windows keeps running in Audit Mode and user has no idea about it, just like in your case. While your machine is running Audit
Mode when upgrading or reinstalling Windows 10, the upgrade won’t progress.

Here's how to exit from Audit mode to reinstall Windows 10:

• Open the administrative or elevated Command Prompt. Type cmd in the
  Search field at the taskbar.
• Type the following command and press Enter key: sysprep /oobe /generalize
  DISCLAIMER: Running sysprep command each time resets Windows licensing state to default. So if your Windows is activated and you run this command, you’ll need to reactivate Windows after executing this command.
  
  
• Once the command IS successfully executed, you’ll be out of Audit Mode. Now you can re-try to upgrade to Windows 10 and it should work.

Let us know if the steps above worked for you.

 

Updating Windows 10 in Audit Mode

Thanks - I was unaware of the search issue as I rarely use it anyway, or I search from from file explorer (force of habit).

 

Updating Windows 10 in Audit Mode

Deleting existing user accounts when returning to Audit Mode after a build or feature upgrade as mentioned in that post I quoted is of course not necessary if and when the image is for your personal use only. The thread where I posted that is however about how to do this in corporate network environment, deploying to 100 laptops and possibly re-deploying an upgraded image when next LTSB version will be released.

When doing this for your own private deployment image keeping existing user accounts there are additional steps required because when sysprepping Windows installation with existing user accounts, active user accounts lose Start and Cortana / Search functionality due Windows SID / GUID being changed. Therefore for you and other private users, disabling all user accounts before sysprep is strongly recommended:

1. Upgrade Windows in normal mode
2. Run net user Administrator /active:yes in elevated Command Prompt
3. Sign out from all user accounts
4. Sign in to built-in admin
5. Run net user USERNAME /active:no in elevated Command Prompt to disable each existing user account
6. Restart to Audit Mode with %windir%\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe /audit /reboot
   [*]When in Audit Mode, change / add / remove what you want to / need to
7. Run Disk Clean-up
8. Place your answer file unattend.xml in %windir%\system32\sysprep\ folder
9. Run %windir%\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe /generalize /oobe
   [*]Boot from WinPE, capture the image
10. Boot from HDD, let Windows go through OOBE
11. In OOBE you must create a new admin user, use any temporary name (can't use names of existing users even when they are disabled)
12. When on desktop activate your old existing users with net user USERNAME /active:yes in elevated Command Prompt
    [*]Sign out from temporary admin user, sign in to your old admin user
13. Remove the temporary admin user

Repeat steps 13 through 16 on each machine you deploy this image. Steps 2 through 5 and 13 through 16 are not required if all existing users will be removed in Audit Mode.

Sounds and looks more complicated than what it is