![]() ![]() The Start Menu will not display empty folders. Profile based Start Menu taking PrecedenceĬalculator is now missing from Windows Accessories despite it existing at the File System layer.Ĭommon Start Menu ignored for calculator Rule 2: The Empty Void Note that the Profile based Start Menu (%AppData%) overrides and owns the shortcut in the James Folder. The images below display the behaviour of the calculator shortcut when it is defined in both the Common Start Menu (%ProgramData%) and the User Profile based Start menu (%AppData%) It appears that a custom created Start Menu Folder housed in the user profile %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs will be the most authorative, followed by default folders such as Windows Accessories within the same profile, and then finally the common start menu location %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs though this is just from my testing. You cannot have two copies of that same executable path defined anywhere in the Start Menu and expect it to be displayed. What this means in English is that while you can specify c:\windows\system32\calc.exe multiple times, the Start Menu will only ever honour 1 instance of it. As such, there is a rule that mandates the Start Menu will only display one (1) instance of each shortcut based on the executable path. There is some sort of index process that aggregates these sources together. Nicely Aggregated Applications The Lesser Known NastiesĪs with all things Windows 10, there is a surprise in store. Windows will show a nice cleaned combined view. The below image outlines this process in real time, with a folder named James in both my user profile, and then Common Start Menu location. I wrote about this a little more previously here. The Start Menu will combine all results from both of these locations and display a single folder depth (1 folder deep) aggregation of all shortcuts in all folder structures below these directories. The Common users Start Menu Directory %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs This location is also the area where “Tiles” (The right hand side) are pulled from when defining a custom Start Menu Layout. ![]() Exception to this being if you define a Mandatory Profile for your users This is pulled from the Default User Profile on the server where the profile is created. The Users profile location %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs.The left-hand side of the Start Menu is made up of two main sources of “shortcuts” This may be well known, and I am simply thick, but here goes the outline. Easy you say (easy I said)….well it is, as long as you understand the limitations and behaviours around how the Start Menu behaves Vs what happens in the file system. “Add a custom folder to the Windows 10 Start Menu”. Here was the simple request spawning from a Citrix Discussions post. We beat the same wall on this with two different heads. Big shout out to James Rankin who was my first point of call for any weird Windows 10 junk that I couldn’t wrap my head around. The latest one for me is all around the creation of custom folders within the Windows 10 or Windows Server 2016 Start Menu, a simple request, that has next to nothing documented (that I could find) around the behaviours and expected outcomes. Every corner is odd behaviour or barely documented fun which can lead to a high level of “WTF” moments. The Windows 10 Start Menu is like the gift that keeps giving. ![]() Diving into shortcut aggregation and indexing in the Modern Start Menu ![]()
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