GPO to remove "Settings" from Windows 10 Start Menu

Question

_{Friday, April 8, 2016 8:34 PM | 1 vote}

Hi, Can someone tell me what the GPO is to remove the  "Settings" button (Between Power and File explorer) on the Windows 10 Start Menu.  I have dug through Gpedit and can't find it.

All replies (8)

_{Saturday, April 9, 2016 2:16 AM | 1 vote}

Hello,

AFAIK, there is no GPO for it. You can do it manually:

http://www.kapilarya.com/how-to-customize-start-list-in-windows-10

Let us know if this helps, Good luck :)

Windows Troubleshooting & How to guides - http://www.kapilarya.com

_{Sunday, April 10, 2016 7:58 AM | 1 vote}

No GPO. You may try the following:

Step-By-Step: Windows 10 Start Menu Customization via PowerShell

S.Sengupta, Windows Experience MVP

_{Monday, April 11, 2016 7:15 AM | 3 votes}

Hi,

As Kapil and S.Sengupta said, there is not a GPO can hire or remove the Settings Button, but we can customize Start Menu to make this button disappear.

Just unticking Settings in the choose which folders appear on start.

For more customize methods please check this link below.

http://www.howtogeek.com/197836/8-ways-to-customize-the-windows-10-start-menu/

Please Note: Since the website is not hosted by Microsoft, the link may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information.

Best regards

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help, and unmark the answers if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected].

_{Monday, April 11, 2016 2:09 PM | 1 vote}

Didn't work.  I made the changes, exported the startmenu and still shows up. on new/other accounts

_{Tuesday, April 12, 2016 1:37 AM | 1 vote}

Please go to Settings->Personalization->Start->Choose which folders appear on Start.

Untick Settings to see the result.

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help, and unmark the answers if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected].

_{Tuesday, April 12, 2016 11:34 AM | 1 vote}

I did as recommended above.  When I had the startmenu laid out out the way I want it, I exported the StartLayout.xml and imported it back in.  The only difference for the other users was the tiles on the "Metro"screen

_{Thursday, January 31, 2019 9:29 PM}

Hi, after long researching I found, that the settings are stored in the registry under the key "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CloudStore\Store\Cache\DefaultAccount\de${6b112984-cc61-4650-a375-cc3b167d0b28}$$windows.data.unifiedtile.startglobalproperties\Current" in the Valuename "Data".

Here is the reg file for all folders disabled (shows only on/off and user):

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CloudStore\Store\Cache\DefaultAccount\$de${fd50a84a-6bbd-4d26-b2b8-17d39e56a458}$$windows.data.unifiedtile.startglobalproperties\Current]
"Data"=hex:02,00,00,00,9e,82,2f,73,aa,b9,d4,01,00,00,00,00,43,42,01,00,c2,1e,\
  00,c5,28,c6,04,c2,3c,01,c2,46,01,c5,5a,01,00

You can also set up your own settings via the Settings App and then export the registry key and import it via GPO.

Hope this can help others.

_{Thursday, March 7, 2019 12:22 AM}

Thanks for your finding - the only problem is, that that keys has not always the same guid and changes.

Don't know - but I think it changes per user? Also per machine (with the same domain user - when he has no roaming profile)?

To bad, that MS has not made a easy way to customize this via GPO.