{"id":9169,"date":"2024-02-21T13:07:34","date_gmt":"2024-02-21T13:07:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cheapwindowsvps.com\/blog\/how-to-configure-the-start-menu-of-windows-11-using-group-policy\/"},"modified":"2025-03-31T16:29:26","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T16:29:26","slug":"how-to-configure-the-start-menu-of-windows-11-using-group-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cheapwindowsvps.com\/blog\/how-to-configure-the-start-menu-of-windows-11-using-group-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Configure the Start Menu of Windows 11 Using Group Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"
One of the most noticeable innovations of Windows 11 is the redesigned Start menu. This changes not only its appearance but also its technical foundations. However, the settings in the Group Policy have remained mainly the same, so it is unclear which ones still apply.<\/div>\n

The Start menu consists of two pages: the one you see when you open it using the taskbar button and the other under All apps<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The main page is divided into two sections: Pinned<\/em> and Recommended<\/em>. The former contains the pinned app icons, while Recommended<\/em> serves as a collection point for various icons. Here, you can find the recently installed programs and the history of opened documents. This is also the place for personalized website recommendations.<\/p>\n

The sections on the Start menu main page<\/p>\n

The sections on the Start menu main page<\/a><\/p>\n

The ability to partially manage these sections is provided by the Settings App. Nonetheless, additional choices are available via Group Policy settings, which were initially created for previous versions of the operating system. Microsoft cautions in its documentation<\/a> that settings might not perform as anticipated (“Some policies may not work as expected”). Unfortunately, no further clarification is given.<\/p>\n

These settings can be located within both the Computer and User configuration under Policies => Administrative Templates => Start Menu and Taskbar<\/em>. The number of choices in the Computer<\/em> sector is manageable, and most of them are still functional, however, the User<\/em> configuration has acquired 102 settings, some of which hark back to the era of Windows 2000, and their compatibility with Windows 11 is uncertain.<\/p>\n

One notable modification is that the Start menu layout can no longer be exported as XML and distributed to other computers via a GPO. In Windows 10, this task was performed by the Start Layout<\/a> feature. It now serves exclusively to distribute the taskbar configuration to other computers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pinned icons<\/h2>\n

The layout of the Start menu can now only be exported as JSON, and this process is confined to the pinned icons. When it comes to transferring to other computers, Microsoft solely supports the MDM interfaces, mainly Intune.<\/p>\n

If required, context menus can be eliminated from the pinned icons:<\/p>\n