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How to disable Microsoft Teams from running at logon

If you landed on this page you are probablly working on packaging Microsoft Teams and have been banging your head against a desk trying to figure out how to disable it from loading at startup. Fortunately for you, I figured out a solution that works 100% of the time.

What do you need?
Node.JS
Microsoft Teams
Notepad++

Where to download?
Node.JS – https://nodejs.org/en/
Microsoft Teams – https://teams.microsoft.com/downloads
Notepad++ – https://notepad-plus-plus.org/

Brief background
Essentially, Microsoft Teams is a webpage in the background. It was developed with Electron which is a framework that lets developers create cross-platform desktop apps with web front-end technologies. Some other popular applications such as Skype, and Visual Studio Code were also built with using this technology.

With Electron apps, most of the source files for the application will be packaged into a file named app.asar. You can open the file in Notepad but you cannot save it since it is a READONLY file. From my experience, any changes made to it via Notepad will crash the app and prevent it from loading.

How do you do it?

Download and install Microsoft Teams
Download and install Node.JS
Open the CMD prompt as an Administrator
Run: npm install -g asar
Run: asar extract "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Teams\current\resources\app.asar" C:\Temp\asar
Note – Try running “C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Node.js\Node.js command prompt.lnk” if the command prompt does not recognize the ASAR command.
Navigate to C:\Temp\asar\lib
Locate desktopConfigurationManager.js and open the file with Notepad++
Search for OPENATLOGIN (There should be two references) and set the value to FALSE as shown below in the screenshots:

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Last but not least, it is time to repackage everything!
Run: asar pack "C:\TEMP\asar" "C:\TEMP\app.asar" --unpack *.node

Now that you have a customized app.asar, you can silently install Teams and also not worry about it launching at startup. See the install script below for an example:

# Install Microsoft Teams
Start-Process "$PSScriptRoot\Teams_windows_x64.exe" -ArgumentList "-s" -Wait

# Copy customized app.asar
Copy "$PSScriptRoot\app.asar" "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\Teams\current\resources\app.asar" -Force

Add a new custom Powershell module path

You can use the following script to add a new module path to the PSModulePath environmental variable. Adding modules to this path will allow you to use them in your own scripts and if you have Powershell 3.0+ these modules will be automatically loaded when you call one of the custom CMDLET’s.

Notes:
Please replace the $ModulePath variable with the path that you would like to use.

$ModulePath = "YOUR PATH HERE"
$Path = (Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Session Manager\Environment").PSModulePath
$NewPath = "$ModulePath" + ";" + $Path

If($Path -notlike "*$ModulePath*") {
    Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Session Manager\Environment" -Name PSModulePath -Type String -Value "$NewPath"
}

AC Power Check For Laptops

The following script can be used in an SCCM or MDT upgrade task sequence to check if a laptop is connected to a charger. If the script detects that the laptop is not connected to a charger, it will prompt the user to connect the laptop to AC power.

$ChassisTypes = (Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_SystemEnclosure).ChassisTypes

Switch($ChassisTypes) {

    3 { $Chassis = "Desktop" }
    4 { $Chassis = "Desktop" }
    5 { $Chassis = "Desktop" }
    6 { $Chassis = "Desktop" }
    7 { $Chassis = "Desktop" }
    8 { $Chassis = "Laptop" }
    9 { $Chassis = "Laptop" }
    10 { $Chassis = "Laptop" }
    11 { $Chassis = "Laptop" }
    12 { $Chassis = "Laptop" }
    14 { $Chassis = "Laptop" }
    15 { $Chassis = "Desktop" }
    16 { $Chassis = "Desktop" }
    18 { $Chassis = "Laptop" }
    21 { $Chassis = "Laptop" }
    23 { $Chassis = "Server" }
    31 { $Chassis = "Laptop" }

}
If($Chassis -eq "Laptop") {

    Do {
      $PowerStatus = (Get-WmiObject -Class BatteryStatus  -Namespace root\wmi -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).PowerOnLine

        If($PowerStatus -ne $True) {

            $TSEnv = New-Object -ComObject "Microsoft.SMS.TsProgressUI"
            $TSEnv.CloseProgressDialog()
            $wshell = New-Object -ComObject Wscript.Shell
            $wshell.Popup("Please Connect AC Power - Click OK to Continue",0,"AC Power Check",0)
    
        }
    }
    Until($PowerStatus -eq $True)

}

Troubleshooting Script for Windows 10 Start Menu Issues

Since a lot of people are having issues with the start menu tiles in their images, I decided to create the following script to help others troubleshoot some common issues that may occur.

Note: This script is compatible with Windows 10 1709 and above.

The script will run through the following checks:

Checks to see if C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\LayoutModification.xml exists
Checks if the current user’s LayoutModification.xml matches the default profile’s LayoutModification.xml.
Opens C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\LayoutModification.xml so you can confirm whether or not this is the XML file that you imported in your OSD process.
Checks to see if HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CloudStore\Store\Cache\DefaultAccount\$start.tilegrid$windows.data.curatedtilecollection.root is causing the issue.

Download The Script Now!

$CurrentUserStartMenu = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\LayoutModification.xml"
$DefaultStartMenu = "C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\LayoutModification.xml"


If((Test-Path "$DefaultStartMenu") -eq $False) {

    Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red "$DefaultStartMenu does not exist!"
    Write-Host -ForegroundColor Green "Possible Solution - Use Import-StartLayout to import your start layout (You will need to login as a new user to see the changes)"
    
    $Prompt = Read-Host -Prompt "Press any key to exit"
        
    If($Prompt -ne $Null) {

        Return

    }

}
Else {

    If((Get-FileHash $CurrentUserStartMenu).hash -ne (Get-FileHash $DefaultStartMenu).hash){

        Write-Host "The default profile layoutmodification.xml and the current user's layoutmodification.xml do not match!" -ForegroundColor Red
        Copy-Item "C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\LayoutModification.xml" "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\LayoutModification.xml" -Force
        Remove-Item 'HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CloudStore\Store\Cache\DefaultAccount\$start.tilegrid$windows.data.curatedtilecollection.root' -Force -Recurse
        Get-Process Explorer | Stop-Process

        $Prompt = Read-Host -Prompt "Is your custom start layout visible when you launch the start menu? (YES, NO)"

        If($Prompt -like "Y*") {

            Write-Host "Solution - Copying the default profile's layoutmodification to $env:LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\LayoutModification.xml fixed the problem" -ForegroundColor Red
        
            $Prompt = Read-Host -Prompt "Press any key to exit"
        
            If($Prompt -ne $Null) {

                Return

            }

        }
        Else {

            Write-Host "Unable to determine a solution" -ForegroundColor Red
        
            $Prompt = Read-Host -Prompt "Press any key to exit"
        
            If($Prompt -ne $Null) {

                Return

            }

        }


    }

    Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red "Confirm that the default start layout is the same start layout that you imported"
    Start-Process Notepad -ArgumentList "$DefaultStartMenu"

    $Prompt = Read-Host -Prompt "Is this the same layout that you imported? (YES, NO)"

    If($Prompt -like "Y*") {

        Remove-Item 'HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CloudStore\Store\Cache\DefaultAccount\$start.tilegrid$windows.data.curatedtilecollection.root' -Force -Recurse
        Get-Process Explorer | Stop-Process
        
        $Prompt = Read-Host -Prompt "Is your custom start layout visible when you launch the start menu? (YES, NO)"

            If($Prompt -like "Y*") {

                Write-Host 'Possible Solution - Delete Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CloudStore\Store\Cache\DefaultAccount\$start.tilegrid$windows.data.curatedtilecollection.root from C:\Users\Default\NTUser.dat' -ForegroundColor Green
                
                $Prompt = Read-Host -Prompt "Press any key to exit"
        
                If($Prompt -ne $Null) {

                    Return

                }

            }
            Else {

                Write-Host "Unable to determine a solution" -ForegroundColor Red
                
                $Prompt = Read-Host -Prompt "Press any key to exit"
        
                If($Prompt -ne $Null) {

                    Return

                }

            }

    }

    Else {
        
        Write-Host "Possible Solution - Replace C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\LayoutModification.xml with your custom LayoutModification.xml(You will need to login as a new user to see the changes)" -ForegroundColor Green
        
        $Prompt = Read-Host -Prompt "Press any key to exit"
        
        If($Prompt -ne $Null) {

            Return

        }

    }

}

How to prevent the Edge shortcut from appearing on a desktop after the Windows 10 1803 upgrade

During my early testing of the Windows 10 1803 upgrade, I have noticed that Microsoft is now creating an Edge shortcut on the desktop.

This shortcut is not in the default profile but you can disable the functionality by running the following command:

reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer /v "DisableEdgeDesktopShortcutCreation" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f

How to programmatically configure file associations in Windows 10 and Server 2016 without DISM

If you are reading this, you are most likely aware that Microsoft has changed how you can configure file associations. Pre-Windows 8, we were able to configure file associations by manipulating the registry but now this method does not work because Microsoft verifies a hash key to determine if the change was made by the user.

Until recently, the only way to configure file associations in Windows 10 was to use DISM to import your file associations XML or use a GPO which would lock down your associations. Using the DISM method only worked for new users so any existing users would have to manually configure their file associations. Luckily someone named Christoph Kolbicz has reverse engineered the algorithm used by Microsoft to create the hash key so now we can programmatically configure file associations!

You are probably wondering how you can do this. Well.. Christoph has been kind enough to share a command line tool that he has created and that you can download from his website http://kolbi.cz/blog/?p=346.

How do you use it?
It’s easy! You can just run the following command to make Adobe Reader DC the default pdf reader for the current logged in user:

SetUserFTA.exe .pdf AcroExch.Document.DC

For more information about SetUserFTA.exe goto http://kolbi.cz/blog/?p=346!

How to capture a Windows 10 image like a boss with MDT!

In this guide we are going to create a brand new Windows 10 1709 reference image with MDT 8450.
Read more

Workaround for missing start menu tiles after a Windows 10 1709 upgrade

I have noticed recently that some users that have upgraded from 1607 to 1709 have lost their Start Menu tiles during the upgrade. I did a lot of research on the Start Menu topic and could only find one article from Microsoft stating that they were replacing the TileDataLayer feature with something called the TileStore. You can see the list of features that are removed or deprecated in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update here.

I’m suspecting that there is an issue migrating the tiles to this new feature and it is causing the start layout to become corrupt during the upgrade for some users. I even have a ticket open with Microsoft concerning this issue but unfortunately it does not look like it will be fixed anytime soon.

So here is my workaround and hopefully it can help someone else.

First you will need to make sure to export every user’s start layout. I am doing this with a scheduled task that will run the following Powershell command:

Export-StartLayout –path $env:LOCALAPPDATA\LayoutModification.xml

This will export the user’s existing start layout and it will copy it to their %LOCALAPPDATA% folder.

Once you have given the scheduled task enough time to export everyone’s start layout, you can start the upgrade and run the following script at logon to bring back the user’s customized start layout:

If((Test-Path $env:LOCALAPPDATA\LayoutModification.xml) -eq $True) {
    Copy-Item $env:LOCALAPPDATA\LayoutModification.xml $env:LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\LayoutModification.xml -Force
    Remove-Item 'HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CloudStore\Store\Cache\DefaultAccount\$start.tilegrid$windows.data.curatedtilecollection.root' -Force -Recurse
    Get-Process Explorer | Stop-Process
}

Note: If you are experiencing this issue with 1809, you can run the following script to bring back the user’s customized start layout:

If((Test-Path $env:LOCALAPPDATA\LayoutModification.xml) -eq $True) {
    Copy-Item $env:LOCALAPPDATA\LayoutModification.xml $env:LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\LayoutModification.xml -Force
    Remove-Item 'HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CloudStore\Store\Cache\DefaultAccount\*$start.tilegrid$windows.data.curatedtilecollection.tilecollection'  -Force -Recurse
    Get-Process Explorer | Stop-Process
}

How to fix Outlook 2016 search issues after a 1709 upgrade

Are you getting “Something went wrong and your search couldn’t be completed.” after you have upgraded to Windows 10 1709? As of right now Microsoft has not released an update to specifically address the issue but there is a workaround that you can add to your 1709 post clean up script. All you have to do is run a repair on Office 2016 after your computer has been upgraded to 1709.

You can do this automatically by running the following command:

MSIEXEC.exe /f {90160000-0011-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE} /qn

UPDATE 3/21/2018:
According to a few reports, running the following script after the 1709 upgrade will fix the search issue so you do not have to run a repair on Office!

REG ADD “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search\Preferences” /v “{0077B49E-E474-CE11-8C5E-00AA004254E2}” /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
REG ADD “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search\Preferences” /v “{4154494E-BFF9-01B8-00AA-0037D96E0000}” /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
REG ADD “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search\Preferences” /v “{70fab278-f7af-cd11-9bc8-00aa002fc45a}” /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
REG ADD “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search\Preferences” /v “{C0A19454-7F29-1B10-A587-08002B2A2517}” /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
REG ADD “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search\Preferences” /v “{c34f5c97-eb05-bb4b-b199-2a7570ec7cf9}” /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

How to automatically configure your default profile in Windows 10

Ever since Windows 10 was released, COPYPROFILE has been a major issue for administrators. It causes your default profile to be extremely large and it constantly causes issues with the Start Menu and other items in the Windows 10 OS. While developing a Windows 10 image, I found that injecting OS settings into C:\Users\Default\NTUser.dat has been the best way to configure the default profile. A year after upgrading over 2000 computers to Windows 10, I can now confidently say this method works 100% of the time and I really hope others start to use it more often.

Luckily for you, I have done the dirty work and can provide you with a starting point that can automatically configure settings for you. Keep in mind that you will need to run this script before running SYSPREP and it will change the settings for any new users. Good luck and please feel free to leave any questions in the comments below.

reg load HKLM\DEFAULT c:\users\default\ntuser.dat

# Advertising ID
reg add "HKLM\DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AdvertisingInfo" /v Enabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

#Delivery optimization, disabled
reg add "HKLM\DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DeliveryOptimization" /v SystemSettingsDownloadMode /t REG_DWORD /d 3 /f

# Show titles in the taskbar
reg add "HKLM\DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced" /v TaskbarGlomLevel /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

# Hide system tray icons
reg add "HKLM\DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer" /v EnableAutoTray /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

# Show known file extensions
reg add "HKLM\DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced" /v HideFileExt /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

# Show hidden files
reg add "HKLM\DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced" /v Hidden /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

# Change default explorer view to my computer
reg add "HKLM\DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced" /v LaunchTo /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

# Disable most used apps from appearing in the start menu
reg add "HKLM\DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced" /v Start_TrackProgs /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

# Remove search bar and only show icon
reg add "HKLM\DEFAULT\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search" /v SearchboxTaskbarMode /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

# Show Taskbar on one screen
reg add "HKLM\DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced" /v MMTaskbarEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

# Disable Security and Maintenance Notifications
reg add "HKLM\DEFAULT\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Notifications\Settings\Windows.SystemToast.SecurityAndMaintenance" /v Enabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

# Hide Windows Ink Workspace Button
reg add "HKLM\DEFAULT\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PenWorkspace" /v PenWorkspaceButtonDesiredVisibility /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

# Disable Game DVR
reg add "HKLM\DEFAULT\System\GameConfigStore" /v GameDVR_Enabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
reg add "HKLM\DEFAULT\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\GameDVR" /v AppCaptureEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

# Show ribbon in File Explorer
reg add "HKLM\DEFAULT\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Ribbon" /v MinimizedStateTabletModeOff /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

# Hide Taskview button on Taskbar
reg add "HKLM\DEFAULT\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced" /v ShowTaskViewButton /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

# Hide People button from Taskbar
reg add "HKLM\DEFAULT\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\People" /v PeopleBand /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

# Hide Edge button in IE
reg add "HKLM\DEFAULT\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main" /v HideNewEdgeButton /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

# Remove OneDrive Setup from the RUN key
reg delete "HKLM\DEFAULT\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" /v OneDriveSetup /F

reg unload HKLM\DEFAULT

If you would like to customize the Start Menu Tiles, please refer to my earlier post:
https://www.joseespitia.com/2016/06/27/customized-a-windows-10-start-layout/

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