Windows 10: Set Default Start Layout for Users in Windows 10

How to: Set Default Start Layout for Users in Windows 10

How to Set Default Start Layout for Users in Windows 10


The Live Folders.

If you like, you can specify a default Start layout in Windows 10 for users and prevent them from changing it.

*note This policy doesn't affect users from being able to resize the Start menu.

This tutorial will show you how to set a default Start screen layout for specific or all users in Windows 10.

*Warning You must be signed in as an administrator to set a default Start layout.


CONTENTS:

• In Preparation: To Export a Start Layout
• Option One: Set Default Start Layout for All Users in Local Group Policy Editor
• Option Two: Set Default Start Layout for Specific Users in Local Group Policy Editor
• Option Three: Set Default Start Layout for All Users in Registry Editor

EXAMPLE: Start layout in Windows 10








In Preparation [/i] To Export a Start Layout
1. Set the Start layout to Live Folders for how you want it to be applied to users.

2. When finished, open PowerShell.

3. Copy and paste the command below into PowerShell, and press Enter to export the Start layout as a StartLayout.xml file on your desktop. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow Export-StartLayout -Path "$env:UserProfile\Desktop\StartLayout.xml"




4. You can close the PowerShell window if you like.

5. Move this StartLayout.xml file from your desktop to where you want to keep it saved at (ex: "C:\Start Layout"). (see screenshot below)



6. Make note of the full path of this StartLayout.xml file (ex: "C:\Start Layout\StartLayout.xml"). You will need to know this in Option One,
Option Two, or Option Three below.






OPTION ONE [/i] Set Default Start Layout for All Users in Local Group Policy Editor

*note The Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions.

All editions can use Option Three below.
1. Open the Local Group Policy Editor.

2. In the left pane of the Local Group Policy Editor, click/tap on to expand Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, and Start Menu and Taskbar. (see screenshot below)



3. In the right pane of Start Menu and Taskbar, double click/tap on the Start Layout policy to edit it. (see screenshot above)

4. Do step 5 (set) or step 6 (unset) below for what you would like to do.


5. To Set Default Start Layout for All Users
A) Select (dot) Enabled. (see screenshot below)

B) Enter the full path of the StartLayout.xml file (ex: "C:\Start Layout\StartLayout.xml") from In Preparation above into the Start Layout File field in Options.

C) Click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below.

6. To Unset Default Start Layout for All Users
A) Select (dot) Not Configured or Disabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)

*note Not Configured is the default setting.




7. Close the Local Group Policy Editor.

8. Restart the computer to apply.





OPTION TWO [/i] Set Default Start Layout for Specific Users in Local Group Policy Editor

*note The Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions.

All editions can use Option Three below.
1. Open the all users except administrators Local Group Policy Editor for how you want this policy applied.

2. In the left pane of the Local Group Policy Editor, click/tap on to expand User Configuration, Administrative Templates, and Start Menu and Taskbar. (see screenshot below)



3. In the right pane of Start Menu and Taskbar, double click/tap on the Start Layout policy to edit it. (see screenshot above)

4. Do step 5 (set) or step 6 (unset) below for what you would like to do.


5. To Set Default Start Layout
A) Select (dot) Enabled. (see screenshot below)

B) Enter the full path of the StartLayout.xml file (ex: "C:\Start Layout\StartLayout.xml") from In Preparation above into the Start Layout File field in Options.

C) Click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below.

6. To Unset Default Start Layout
A) Select (dot) Not Configured or Disabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)

*note Not Configured is the default setting.




7. Close the Local Group Policy Editor.

8. Restart the computer to apply.





OPTION THREE [/i] Set Default Start Layout for All Users in Registry Editor
1. Press the Win+R keys to open Run, type regedit into Run, and click/tap on OK to open Registry Editor.

2. Navigate to the key below in the left pane of Registry Editor. step 5 (undo) below. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer

*note If you do not have an Explorer key, then right click on the Windows key, click/tap on New, click/tap on Key, type Explorer for the name, and press Enter.




3. Do step 4 (set) or step 5 (unset) below for what you would like to do.


4. To Set Default Start Layout for All Users
A) In the right pane of the Explorer key, double click/tap on the LockedStartLayout DWORD value to modify it. (see screenshot below step 2)

*note If you do not have a LockedStartLayout DWORD, then right click on an empty area in the right pane of the Explorer key, click/tap on New, click/tap on DWORD (32-bit) Value, type LockedStartLayout for the name, and press Enter.

B) Type 1, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

*note This prevents users from being able to change the Start layout. Setting this to 0 instead, will allow them to.



C) In the right pane of the Explorer key, double click/tap on the StartLayoutFile REG_EXPAND_SZ value to modify it. (see screenshot below step 2)

*note If you do not have a StartLayoutFile REG_EXPAND_SZ, then right click on an empty area in the right pane of the Explorer key, click/tap on New, click/tap on Expandable String Value, type StartLayoutFile for the name, and press Enter.

D) Enter the full path of the StartLayout.xml file (ex: "C:\Start Layout\StartLayout.xml") from In Preparation above, click/tap on OK, and go to step 6 below. (see screenshot below)




5. To Unset Default Start Layout for All Users
A) In the right pane of the Explorer key, select and right click on the LockedStartLayout DWORD StartLayoutFile REG_EXPAND_SZ values, and click/tap on Delete. (see screenshot below step 2)

B) Click/tap on Yes to confirm, and go to step 6 below. (see screenshot below)



6. Close Registry Editor.

7. Restart the computer to apply.

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Enable or Disable Changing Start Layout in Windows 10
• How to Backup and Restore Start Menu Layout in Windows 10
• How to Reset Start Menu Layout to Default in Windows 10

:)

 

How to change default WIN10 start menu for ALL Users?


Hello Fanzal, and welcome to Ten Forums.

Once you have the Start layout how you like it, you can pick up at step 2 in the tutorial below to specify a Start layout for all users in Windows 10 as well.

Start Screen Layout - Specify Default in Windows 8.1

Hope this helps.

 

Reset Start Layout in Windows 10  


This is ridiculous. Why does it have to be so hard to return the start layout of existing users to the default layout or update a custom layout? I have attempted the process describe above. But it didn't work.

In summary, I have created a new user which gets the default layout. Then, using the Administrator account, copied the c:\Users\NewUser\AppData\Local\TileDataLayer\Database folder to the Olduser's TileDataLayer folder. There was no change to the Olduser's start layout.

I am trying to get a handle on how this start layout works and the idiosyncrasies of it. I'm working on deploying Win 10 to a number of systems in a business environment and I want to deploy a customized start layout. But I came across the issue where it is difficult to change the layout of existing users (without deleting the entire user profile).

More detail of what I've done: I created a user called RefUser, and modified the Start Layout. Then used the Export-StartLayout, then the Import-StartLayout cmdlets to set a new default layout. I deleted the profile of Refuser and re-logged on and the RefUser got the new start layout as expected. So that works.

Then I returned the system to the default layout by renaming the file: C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\LayoutModification.xml

I created a user 'NewUser' and this user was created with the default layout. Refuser still had the modified layout. I used the procedure above and the layout did not change. As a guess, From the Admin acct, I renamed the Database folder and didn't replace it. When I log on, the list of all programs on the left has only system tools, the start tiles only has some of the custom layout display. The active tiles are missing.

So I haven't gotten to the bottom of how the the start layout is maintained in the user's profiles. And I don't know how to return the existing users to the default or a new layout.

Any added thoughts would be welcome.

 

Keyboard layout switches to non-default layout/language after resume from sleep

Hi,

You can try these steps on changing your keyboard layout:

• 
  On the
  Start
  menu, click
  Settings
  
• 
  Select
  Time & language
  
• 
  Click
  Region & language
  
• 
  Select
  Add a language
  
• 
  Under
  Languages, click the language you want as a default and click
  Set as default.
  

NOTE: In changing your keyboard layout, you can also try changing your computer's primary language.
Your keyboard layout may also change in doing so. However, make sure to use the right keyboard layout for
entering your password. You might not be able to sign in since the layout has been change.

Let us know how it goes.

Regards.

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.

 

Unable to set default browser

• Does this issue happens while you try to set other browser as default too or is it specific to specific browser?

Any browser.

Already did the steps you suggested. It's some kind of bug where it's impossible to set a default browser at all.

I heard elsewhere from one other user that it seems to be a problem with upgrading to 10 on the SP3. Sounds very specifc.