Hellbovine
Well-Known Member
The following is a guide on how to remove the default links, shortcuts, pins, tiles, etcetera, from the start menu and taskbar in Windows 10 (21H2).
I tried all of the other solutions everywhere and none of them were working as expected, there was always something left behind. I started tweaking things and eventually this is what I came up with, which completely clears all the crap.
The solution is to integrate both a DefaultLayouts.xml and LayoutModification.xml along with a few registry keys into a Windows image for a clean install.
One of the problems I noticed is the DefaultLayouts.xml sometimes gets incorrectly named by people as "DefaultLayout.xml" without the "s" on the end of "Layouts". It must be spelled correctly or it will not work right.
The other problem is that we also need the "LayoutModification.xml" with some specific coding in order to get rid of those last few stubborn tiles that the first XML file does not address, and this step is overlooked in many of the solutions.
Lastly, I have made changes in each of those XML files to add some settings that are missing from other versions of these on the internet, and I also cleaned up the XML formatting to make sure it validated without errors.
STEP 1: XML FILES
In order to make these work, these files must be integrated into your image before Windows is installed, and then the changes will apply to the first user created, as well as all new users.
1A) Load Windows 10 image into NTLite.
1B) Right-click on source OS and then explore mount directory.
1C) Left-click twice in address bar and add \Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\ to the end.
1D) Copy tweaked DefaultLayouts.xml and LayoutModification.xml into the mounted Shell directory.
1E) Exit the mounted directory window.
STEP 2: INTEGRATE REGISTRY FILE
You can tweak the registry file provided to remove any of the changes that do not match your personal preferences. All of the keys have been commented inside the file to explain what they do.
2A) Click "Registry" from the left menu, then "Add", choose "Registry files" and then select the registry file you downloaded from the attachment on this post.
2B) Lastly, go to “Apply” and then “Process” to finalize the image.
For more guides like this one, visit the following link:
https://www.ntlite.com/community/index.php?threads/gaming-lounge.2999/
I tried all of the other solutions everywhere and none of them were working as expected, there was always something left behind. I started tweaking things and eventually this is what I came up with, which completely clears all the crap.
The solution is to integrate both a DefaultLayouts.xml and LayoutModification.xml along with a few registry keys into a Windows image for a clean install.
One of the problems I noticed is the DefaultLayouts.xml sometimes gets incorrectly named by people as "DefaultLayout.xml" without the "s" on the end of "Layouts". It must be spelled correctly or it will not work right.
The other problem is that we also need the "LayoutModification.xml" with some specific coding in order to get rid of those last few stubborn tiles that the first XML file does not address, and this step is overlooked in many of the solutions.
Lastly, I have made changes in each of those XML files to add some settings that are missing from other versions of these on the internet, and I also cleaned up the XML formatting to make sure it validated without errors.
STEP 1: XML FILES
In order to make these work, these files must be integrated into your image before Windows is installed, and then the changes will apply to the first user created, as well as all new users.
1A) Load Windows 10 image into NTLite.
1B) Right-click on source OS and then explore mount directory.
1C) Left-click twice in address bar and add \Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\ to the end.
1D) Copy tweaked DefaultLayouts.xml and LayoutModification.xml into the mounted Shell directory.
1E) Exit the mounted directory window.
STEP 2: INTEGRATE REGISTRY FILE
You can tweak the registry file provided to remove any of the changes that do not match your personal preferences. All of the keys have been commented inside the file to explain what they do.
2A) Click "Registry" from the left menu, then "Add", choose "Registry files" and then select the registry file you downloaded from the attachment on this post.
2B) Lastly, go to “Apply” and then “Process” to finalize the image.
For more guides like this one, visit the following link:
https://www.ntlite.com/community/index.php?threads/gaming-lounge.2999/
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