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
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!
In this guide we are going to create a brand new Windows 10 1709 reference image with MDT 8450.
Read more
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$windows.data.curatedtilecollection.tilecollection' -Force -Recurse
Get-Process Explorer | Stop-Process
}
The following short script will reset your start menu layout back to it’s default configuration.
Remove-Item 'HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CloudStore\Store\Cache\DefaultAccount\$start.tilegrid$windows.data.curatedtilecollection.root' -Force -Recurse Get-Process Explorer | Stop-Process
Are you trying to reset the start layout for Windows 10 1809? Click here to find out how.
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
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/
We recently purchased quite a few Dell XPS 13 9365 laptops and while testing our image; I noticed that the list of Windows Boot Manager entries in the BIOS was growing each time I would image the laptop. In order to get around this, I had to create the following script that would automatically scan through the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store and remove all of the duplicate GUID’s that appear after running the image.
# CONFIGURE MDT LOGGING
$TSenv = New-Object -COMObject Microsoft.SMS.TSEnvironment
$LogPath = $TSenv.Value("LogPath")
$LogFile = "$LogPath\WindowsBootManagerRemoval.log"
Start-Transcript $LogFile
# LOCATE GUID
$Identifiers = BCDEDIT /ENUM FIRMWARE | Select-String "identifier" | ForEach-Object { $_ -replace "identifier" }
If($Identifiers -ne $Null) {
$IdentifierList = $Identifiers.Replace(" ","") | Where-Object {$_ -notcontains "{fwbootmgr}" -and $_ -notcontains "{bootmgr}"}
Write-Host ""
Write-Host "--------------------------------------------------------------------------------"
Write-Host "PREPARING TO REMOVE DUPLICATE WINDOWS BOOT MANAGER ENTRIES"
Write-Host "--------------------------------------------------------------------------------"
Write-Host ""
# REMOVE GUIDS
ForEach($Identifier in $IdentifierList) {
BCDEDIT /Delete $Identifier
Write-Host "DELETED $Identifier"
}
}
Else {
Write-Host "SKIPPING - COULD NOT LOCATE DUPLICATE WINDOWS BOOT MANAGER ENTRIES"
}
Once you are ready to use the script, go ahead and copy it over to your Deployment Share and add it to your State Restore group in your MDT Task Sequence.
Since this was not happening to all of our computer models, I made sure to add a Task Sequence condition that forced this step to only run for the Dell XPS 13 9365 laptops.
Feel free to leave any questions below!
The following Powershell function will change the current user’s desktop wallpaper automatically using the SystemParametersInfo function that can be located in the User32.dll.
Function Set-WallPaper($Image) {
<#
.SYNOPSIS
Applies a specified wallpaper to the current user's desktop
.PARAMETER Image
Provide the exact path to the image
.EXAMPLE
Set-WallPaper -Image "C:\Wallpaper\Default.jpg"
#>
Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"
using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
public class Params
{
[DllImport("User32.dll",CharSet=CharSet.Unicode)]
public static extern int SystemParametersInfo (Int32 uAction,
Int32 uParam,
String lpvParam,
Int32 fuWinIni);
}
"@
$SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER = 0x0014
$UpdateIniFile = 0x01
$SendChangeEvent = 0x02
$fWinIni = $UpdateIniFile -bor $SendChangeEvent
$ret = [Params]::SystemParametersInfo($SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER, 0, $Image, $fWinIni)
}
Example:
Set-WallPaper -Image “C:\Wallpaper\Default.jpg”
For more information about the SystemParametersInfo function, please see this link to MSDN.
Update 08/10/2020:
Per request, I have included a new parameter for the Set-Wallpaper function to configure wallpaper styles. See the updated function below:
Function Set-WallPaper {
<#
.SYNOPSIS
Applies a specified wallpaper to the current user's desktop
.PARAMETER Image
Provide the exact path to the image
.PARAMETER Style
Provide wallpaper style (Example: Fill, Fit, Stretch, Tile, Center, or Span)
.EXAMPLE
Set-WallPaper -Image "C:\Wallpaper\Default.jpg"
Set-WallPaper -Image "C:\Wallpaper\Background.jpg" -Style Fit
#>
param (
[parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
# Provide path to image
[string]$Image,
# Provide wallpaper style that you would like applied
[parameter(Mandatory=$False)]
[ValidateSet('Fill', 'Fit', 'Stretch', 'Tile', 'Center', 'Span')]
[string]$Style
)
$WallpaperStyle = Switch ($Style) {
"Fill" {"10"}
"Fit" {"6"}
"Stretch" {"2"}
"Tile" {"0"}
"Center" {"0"}
"Span" {"22"}
}
If($Style -eq "Tile") {
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Control Panel\Desktop" -Name WallpaperStyle -PropertyType String -Value $WallpaperStyle -Force
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Control Panel\Desktop" -Name TileWallpaper -PropertyType String -Value 1 -Force
}
Else {
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Control Panel\Desktop" -Name WallpaperStyle -PropertyType String -Value $WallpaperStyle -Force
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Control Panel\Desktop" -Name TileWallpaper -PropertyType String -Value 0 -Force
}
Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"
using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
public class Params
{
[DllImport("User32.dll",CharSet=CharSet.Unicode)]
public static extern int SystemParametersInfo (Int32 uAction,
Int32 uParam,
String lpvParam,
Int32 fuWinIni);
}
"@
$SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER = 0x0014
$UpdateIniFile = 0x01
$SendChangeEvent = 0x02
$fWinIni = $UpdateIniFile -bor $SendChangeEvent
$ret = [Params]::SystemParametersInfo($SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER, 0, $Image, $fWinIni)
}
Set-WallPaper -Image "C:\Wallpaper\Background.jpg" -Style Fit
The following script will reboot a computer if it has an up time greater than 5 days and does not currently have a user logged on.
Function Get-TimeStamp {
Return "[{0:MM/dd/yy} {0:HH:mm:ss}]" -f (Get-Date)
}
$LastBootUpTime = Get-WmiObject win32_operatingsystem
$Uptime = ((Get-Date) - ($LastBootUpTime.ConvertToDateTime($LastBootUpTime.LastBootUpTime))).Days
If($Uptime -gt 5) {
$Explorer = Get-WmiObject Win32_Process -Filter "Name = 'Explorer.exe'"
If($Explorer -eq $null) {
Write-Output "$(Get-TimeStamp) - Uptime = $Uptime Days" >> C:\TEMP\ForcedReboot.log
Write-Output "$(Get-TimeStamp) - Reboot Initiated" >> C:\TEMP\ForcedReboot.log
Restart-Computer
}
Else {
Write-Output "$(Get-TimeStamp) - Uptime = $Uptime Days" >> C:\TEMP\ForcedReboot.log
Write-Output "$(Get-TimeStamp) - User is currently logged on. Reboot has been postponed" >> C:\TEMP\ForcedReboot.log
}
}