Classic Shell: Forum

So assuming that I have one system fully configured exactly how I want it, how do I roll that configuration out to other machines.

For completeness, I have Classic Start Menu fully configured on one of my RDS servers (logged in as Administrator)
I now need to roll the menu out to 5 other RDS servers and all users who log into them.

I have the weekend to get this perfect so would appreciate all the help I can get, happy to pay for remote support (teamviewer / logmein) if it's available.

You can save the settings to XML file using the Backup button in the settings dialog. Then load the settings on the other machines.

So I load the settings by installing classic shell onto the 'untouched' machine then restore from the XML file, will this do all the settings correctly, even those set directly in the registry...... if so, do I need to import the Classic Shell registry template files onto the 'untouched' server first?

Do you mean the group policies? If you've set any of the Classic Shell group policies, then you have to either transfer them to the new machines or set them via a domain controller or however GPOs are distributed.
The XML file only stores the per-user settings. Basically the same settings you can edit from the Settings dialog.

None of this is going to transfer the shortcuts to the installed programs, the pinned programs, jumplists, etc. There is no automated way for that.

Bit of a breakthrough today, thought I'd lay it out here for anyone following in my footsteps.

So, when installing classic shell onto a number of RDS servers so that all clients see the shell menu, the best way to approach it appears to be:

Log into an RDS server, install Classic shell as normal
Make your settings changes within the GUI on the server
Install the Group Policy ADMX templates on your Domain Controller and configure everything you need there.
Note that the Group Policies need to be applied to your user OU - applying them to an OU containing just the actual RDS servers won't work

Log into the RDS server you installed the menu on as a normal user, you should see classic shell configured with a combination of the settings you set in the GUI and those set in the Group Policy.

Now install Classic Shell onto each RDS server in turn and configure the GUI the same way as your original server.

There are still some things that I can't get working properly, but the above has got me to a point where I can now roll out a multi-server RDS environment

What is OU?

OU = Organisational Unit - containers within Active Directory Users and Computers that can contain either users or computers