New
#50
Hi!
The tutorial works flawlessly to backup and restore in W10 1803.
Brink, I've modified your taskbar backup and restore tutorial bat files, to adapt to the steps needed for backup and restore the start menu, and I can confirm that also works (tested them in VM). I attach them in the post.
Thanks for the tutorials and the forums. I've been following them for years and I can say it's the best tips and tricks site I've ever found.
backup_restore_start_w10.7z
Hello Xivader, and welcome to Ten Forums.
Your .bat file does a nice job of automating what's in the tutorial. Thank you for sharing.
Brink and all,
This is a great export and import process for the Start Menu. However, what I was looking for was a way to get a simple text file of what is on the Program list. All I want to do is have a way of checking what I had installed before vs. what the new Win10 install has, and decide which programs I actually want to reinstall. So, this is a different purpose. Any thoughts on that? If not, I may have to resort to making a tedious series of snips of the start menu to get what I want.
Hello @bilateral,
The shortcuts for the programs in your "All apps" list in the Start menu are located in the folders below.
(Current user)
%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
(All users)
%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
I suppose you could use this below to view or print the file directory list of these folders for that.
Context Menu - Context Menu - Add View and Print File Directory | Vista Forums
Brink, note that in my Win10 (and I think most recent Windows), the Current user shortcut is located at:
%AppData%\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
(AppData has Local, LocalLow and Roaming under it.)
Actually, this is easier than I thought. I was asking because I had tried to copy my entire Desktop folder, and Win10 would not let me do it. The newer security measures will not allow access to the Desktop folder. But Tomcat pointed out to me in another thread that I could just go in and select the files on the desktop and copy them to another folder. I thought the same issue would occur with the Start Menu Programs, but not so--I see I am able to copy the entire Start Menu folders to another location.
The Context Menu option is a great thing to have, but I see I won't need it for my current issue.
Thanks, once again, Brink for your suggestions and help!
%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs opens to:
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
Hey bilateral,
You might want to check out Geek Uninstaller - Geek Uninstaller - the best FREE uninstaller
Not only does it do a good job of uninstalling/cleaning up both, your installed programs and windows store apps. You can save each to it's own .html file ... Click View to select between Desktops Apps and Windows Store Apps, then Click on File > Export to HTML.
Note:
1. It's a portable app, so no install required :)
2. It calls your installed programs Desktop Apps
Okay Brink--I didn't try inserting that in Explorer. I am used to clicking through the menus.
Thanks, Eagle51, I'll download Geek Uninstaller and check it out. The thing I hate about most of the Utility programs is the way they keep coming up asking you to upgrade, etc. Nice that you don't have to install it.
Thank you for the guide, it worked flawlessly on the 1903 build. However i don't understand the use of copying the DefaultLayouts.xml file.
In my testing, backing up the registry entry was enough to do.
I also noticed that the DefaultLayouts.xml was last updated in March (date modified), and when removed it doesn't get recreated.
So i just left it there. The test was happening on business machines with certain restrictions and policies active. (For example can't activate "Show more tiles" in Personalisation->Start)