Classic Shell: Forum

Hello all,

I'm having a mare trying to sort my classic start menu.

Setup is currently 6 2012R2 servers used for RDS

We need to lock the start menu down for users and the MS way doesn't work and is poor.

Been looking ta classic shell and i got something working rather well. However i stumbled across a skin i really like but i can't seem tog et it deployed to my test accounts via GPO.

The windows 10 skin requires the start menu style to be "Classic with two columns" then i can apply the skin. I customized the settings to what we wanted and added them to a GPO specifically for this by exporting the correct keys and adding them to "Menu Items for classic menu with 2 columns."

However, the GPO applies but the skin won't apply, and looking within settings, the option to change the skin is grayed out.

My gppo has 3 settings,
Common start menu folder - locked to this value UNC Path
Menu items for for classic menu with 2 columns - list full from registry
Skin for classic menu with 2 options - locked to this value local path for all servers

What am i missing thats probably pretty obvious!

Here is a copy of the GPO settings for all to see;

Policy Setting Comment
Common Start Menu folder Enabled
State: Locked to this value
Common Start Menu folder "\\servername\RDS-StartMenus\General User"

Policy Setting Comment
Menu items for classic menu with two columns Enabled
State: Locked to this value
Menu items for classic menu with two columns Items=COLUMN_PADDING,ProgramsMenu,AppsMenu,SearchBoxItem,COLUMN_BREAK,UserDocumentsItem,UserPicturesItem,RecentDocumentsItem,FavoritesItem,SEPARATOR,ComputerItem,SEPARATOR,ControlPanelItem,PrintersItem,SEPARATOR,SearchMenu,COLUMN_PADDING,HelpItem,SEPARATOR,RunItem,ShutdownBoxItem,LogOffItem2
ProgramsMenu.Command=programs
ProgramsMenu.Label=$Menu.Programs
ProgramsMenu.Icon=%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\ClassicShell\Windows 10 Icons\all-programs.ico
AppsMenu.Command=apps
AppsMenu.Label=$Menu.Apps
AppsMenu.Icon=%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\ClassicShell\Windows 10 Icons\all-apps.ico
SearchBoxItem.Command=search_box
SearchBoxItem.Label=$Menu.SearchBox
SearchBoxItem.Icon=none
SearchBoxItem.Settings=OPEN_UP|TRACK_RECENT
UserDocumentsItem.Command=user_documents
UserDocumentsItem.Tip=$Menu.UserDocumentsTip
UserDocumentsItem.Icon=%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\ClassicShell\Windows 10 Icons\documents.ico
UserPicturesItem.Command=user_pictures
UserPicturesItem.Tip=$Menu.UserPicturesTip
UserPicturesItem.Icon=%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\ClassicShell\Windows 10 Icons\pictures.ico
RecentDocumentsItem.Command=recent_documents
RecentDocumentsItem.Icon=%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\ClassicShell\Windows 10 Icons\recent-items.ico
RecentDocumentsItem.Settings=ITEMS_FIRST
FavoritesItem.Command=favorites
FavoritesItem.Label=$Menu.Favorites
FavoritesItem.Icon=%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\ClassicShell\Windows 10 Icons\favorites.ico
ComputerItem.Command=computer
ComputerItem.Icon=%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\ClassicShell\Windows 10 Icons\this-pc.ico
ControlPanelItem.Command=control_panel
ControlPanelItem.Label=$Menu.ControlPanel
ControlPanelItem.Tip=$Menu.ControlPanelTip
ControlPanelItem.Icon=%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\ClassicShell\Windows 10 Icons\control-panel.ico
ControlPanelItem.Settings=TRACK_RECENT
PrintersItem.Command=printers
PrintersItem.Label=$Menu.Printers
PrintersItem.Tip=$Menu.PrintersTip
PrintersItem.Icon=%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\ClassicShell\Windows 10 Icons\printers.ico
SearchMenu.Items=SearchFilesItem,SearchPrinterItem,SearchComputersItem,SearchPeopleItem
SearchMenu.Command=search
SearchMenu.Label=$Menu.Search
SearchMenu.Icon=%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\ClassicShell\Windows 10 Icons\search.ico
SearchFilesItem.Command=search_files
SearchFilesItem.Label=$Menu.SearchFiles
SearchFilesItem.Tip=$Menu.SearchFilesTip
SearchFilesItem.Icon=shell32.dll,134
SearchPrinterItem.Command=search_printer
SearchPrinterItem.Label=$Menu.SearchPrinter
SearchPrinterItem.Tip=$Menu.SearchPrintersTip
SearchPrinterItem.Icon=shell32.dll,1006
SearchComputersItem.Command=search_computers
SearchComputersItem.Label=$Menu.SearchComputers
SearchComputersItem.Tip=$Menu.SearchComputersTip
SearchComputersItem.Icon=shell32.dll,135
SearchPeopleItem.Command=search_people
SearchPeopleItem.Label=$Menu.SearchPeople
SearchPeopleItem.Icon=shell32.dll,269
HelpItem.Command=help
HelpItem.Label=$Menu.Help
HelpItem.Tip=$Menu.HelpTip
HelpItem.Icon=%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\ClassicShell\Windows 10 Icons\help.ico
RunItem.Command=run
RunItem.Label=$Menu.Run
RunItem.Tip=$Menu.RunTip
RunItem.Icon=%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\ClassicShell\Windows 10 Icons\run.ico
ShutdownBoxItem.Items=SwitchUserItem,LogOffItem,LockItem,SEPARATOR,SleepItem,HibernateItem,SEPARATOR,RestartItem,UndockItem,DisconnectItem,ShutdownItem
ShutdownBoxItem.Command=shutdown_box
ShutdownBoxItem.Label=$Menu.ShutdownBox
ShutdownBoxItem.Icon=%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\ClassicShell\Windows 10 Icons\power.ico
ShutdownBoxItem.Settings=SPLIT
SwitchUserItem.Command=switch_user
SwitchUserItem.Label=$Menu.SwitchUser
SwitchUserItem.Tip=$Menu.SwitchUserTip
SwitchUserItem.Icon=none
LogOffItem.Command=logoff
LogOffItem.Label=$Menu.LogOffShort
LogOffItem.Tip=$Menu.LogOffTip
LogOffItem.Icon=none
LockItem.Command=lock
LockItem.Label=$Menu.Lock
LockItem.Tip=$Menu.LockTip
LockItem.Icon=none
SleepItem.Command=sleep
SleepItem.Label=$Menu.Sleep
SleepItem.Tip=$Menu.SleepTip
SleepItem.Icon=none
HibernateItem.Command=hibernate
HibernateItem.Label=$Menu.Hibernate
HibernateItem.Tip=$Menu.HibernateTip
HibernateItem.Icon=none
RestartItem.Command=restart
RestartItem.Label=$Menu.Restart
RestartItem.Tip=$Menu.RestartTip
RestartItem.Icon=none
UndockItem.Command=undock
UndockItem.Label=$Menu.Undock
UndockItem.Tip=$Menu.UndockTip
UndockItem.Icon=none
DisconnectItem.Command=disconnect
DisconnectItem.Label=$Menu.Disconnect
DisconnectItem.Tip=$Menu.DisconnectTip
DisconnectItem.Icon=none
ShutdownItem.Command=shutdown
ShutdownItem.Label=$Menu.Shutdown
ShutdownItem.Tip=$Menu.ShutdownTip
ShutdownItem.Icon=none
LogOffItem2.Command=logoff
LogOffItem2.Label=$Menu.Logoff
LogOffItem2.Tip=$Menu.LogOffTip
LogOffItem2.Icon=none

Policy Setting Comment
Skin for classic menu with two columns Enabled
State: Locked to this value
Skin for classic menu with two columns C:\StartMenu\AB-Windows 10.skin

The skins must be installed in the Program Files\Classic Shell\Skins folder. The value for the skin setting is just the name - "AB-Windows 10" in your case.

Thanks Ivo, i've amended that setting now, still doesn't work
Also, the common start menu doesn't work either.

If i set these all manually, they work, but via GPO i'm really struggling

Are you certain the skin file is present on the machine?

100% certain the files are there!!

Ivo, thanks for all your help. It's working now, must have been a delay with the GPO changes.

Custom start menu programs folder still doesn't work. i can see that via GPO we have 4 ways to set the menu, Common Programs Folder, Common Start Menu Folder, Programs Folder, Start Menu Folder,
Setting either of these to point to "\\servername\RDS-StartMenus\General User" doesn't work. The best i ave got is Programs showing all apps locally installed on the servers including admin stuff.

Download the Classic Shell Utility from here: http://www.classicshell.net/downloads/
Run it, save a system log file and send it to me (after you have set the folder settings via the GPO)