Customize Windows 8 start screen for sysprepped image deployment.
I am attempting to customize the start screen of a windows 8 Pro image for deployment. I have been searching and reading different threads well as technet articles but I have not found anything that works or is not completely documented.
I have tried the three methods outlined in the technet about customizing the start screen with no luck. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj134269.aspx
The CopyProfile option does not work. Even after enabling the administrator account in audit mode the start screen tiles are not saved after sysprepping.
Copying the AppFolderLayout.bin file or appsFolder.itemdata-ms to the default user profile does not work. The file is overwritten during the oobe process. I have added these files after sysprepping the image. They are overwritten in the default user
profile during oobe before the new user is created.
Using the StartTiles section of unattend would be the best option that will require fewer manual steps but only seems to be able to add new tiles. I cannot remove tiles or change order with StartTiles.
My unattend.xml file is here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10327232/unattend.xml
If anyone has a method that works for them please let me know. Especially if this can be automated using unattend.xml
Copying the AppFolderLayout.bin file or appsFolder.itemdata-ms to the default user profile does not work.
I think Niall's procedure sounds a bit more complicated than that. ; )
http://www.windows-noob.com/forums/index.php?/topic/8101-using-system-center-2012-configuration-manager-part-13-deploying-windows-8-x64-with-custom-start-screen/
Also, regarding removal specifically, did you see Antony Mann's reference to the PowerShell DISM module?
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w8itproinstall/thread/cbe566f9-fe40-4344-9e7d-1dbf72178429#a59888a6-5196-47b9-91c0-9ddba6a26384
Other good references available then via
(Bing search for
RemoveAppxProvisionedPackage
HTH
Robert Aldwinckle
Similar Messages
-
Windows 8, set default application for example adobe reader, customize the start screen
I have two questions, Im going to deploy Windows 8 to our company, but have 2 big issues.
1) I need to customize the start screen, but cant find anywhere in the gpo´s? How can I do this without sysprepping etc (deploying with SCCM2012 SP1)
2) I need to set the default programs for adobe reader, mspaint etc, how can I do this? It doesnt work with the GPP and folder options, anyone have done this?
Thanks in advanceHi,
Thanks for posting your question in the forum. First of all, if you want to deploy customized Windows 8 Start Screen for domain users, I suggest we could refer to the following similar threads
and article.
Group Policy for Windows 8 Start
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-us/winserver8gen/thread/13a13c25-a1b2-4665-ab67-a2f9bc3b9bba
GPO Management for Windows 8 Start Screen?
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/W8ITProPreRel/thread/2d4bdcc6-3733-470e-939f-8b6eb0ef4492/
Windows 8 Start Screen Customization with MDT
http://blogs.technet.com/b/deploymentguys/archive/2012/10/26/start-screen-customization-with-mdt.aspx
Regarding the second question, since you want to set the default programs via Group Policy but it didn’t work. Would you please let me know how did you configure the setting? Please refer to
the following steps to configure the GPO setting.
To create a new Open With preference item
Open the
Group Policy Management Console. Right-click the Group Policy object (GPO) that should contain the new preference item, and then click
Edit.
In the console tree under
User Configuration, expand the Preferences folder, and then expand the
Control Panel Settings folder.
Right-click the
Folder Options node, point to New, and select
Open With.
In the
New Open With Properties dialog box, select an Action for Group Policy to perform.
Enter Open With settings for Group Policy to configure or remove.
Click the
Common tab, configure any options, and then type your comments in the
Description box.
Click
OK. The new preference item appears in the details pane.
For details, please refer to the following article.
Configure an Open With Item
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732272.aspx
In addition, I suggest we could collect the following information to narrow down the cause of the issue.
GPMC.log
==================
a. On domain controller, click Start ->Run, type GPMC.MSC, it will load the GPMC console.
b. Right click on "Group Policy Result" and choose wizard to generate a report for the problematic computer and user account (please place appropriately). (Choose computer and select
the proper user in the wizard)
c. Right click
the resulting group policy result and click the "Save Report…" => save report to save the report to a HTML file.
Hope this helps.
Best Regards,
Andy Qi
TechNet Subscriber Support
If you are
TechNet Subscription user and have any feedback
on our support quality, please send your feedback here.
Andy Qi
TechNet Community Support -
send portfolio- how to customize adobe welcome screen for shared porfolio ?(Opening the link forces the recipient to a downright ugly irrelevant and dead advertisement (appropriately titled "branding logo.png) rather a related cover page)
Hi nedler1,
Please try the following steps to display the cover sheet and replace it with custom one:
How to change a portfolio’s initial view setting to show the cover sheet (and hide the contents):
Open a PDF portfolio and run the following JS in the console:
this.collection.initialView = 'Hidden';
Save the portfolio, close and re-open.
The cover sheet will now be displayed when opening the portfolio.
Updating the cover sheet
Also, most likely if you want the coversheet displayed when opening the portfolio, and do not want the default cover sheet:
Here are the steps to replace the default cover sheet:
Open the Portfolio.
Perform a View > Portfolio > cover sheet to open the cover sheet.
Open the Pages panel for the cover sheet.
Right click on the cover sheet page in the pages panel, select “Replace Pages”.
Replace the cover sheet page with the desired cover from a page in another pdf.
Save the portfolio.
Regards,
Rave -
Stuck on "Login window starting" screen
one night i was putting a big file, about 2-4 gb, into iphoto from my old imac and i forgot to make sure that it stayed on my external hard drive and there wasnt enough room on my main drive because they were small hard drives except for my external. iphoto said there wasnt enough room so i selected all the pics i just transfered and tried to put them back in my external but still in iphoto and then the screen dimmed a little and this message came up saying i need to restart my computer so i just turned it off because i was tired and thought i could deal with this some other time. then a week or 2 later i turned it back on and it got all the way to were it said "login window starting" and stopped about 98 percent. and i waited for a few minutes and decided to just leave it there and clean my room then i watched a movie and when it was done i checked back and it didnt move. whats wrong with it.
Hi Ian, and a warm welcome to the forums!
OSX will mess up the HD if space gets too low, Free space isn't really ours to use anymore.
Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)
If perchance you can't find your install Disc, at least try it from the Safe Boot part onward.
If that doesn't do it let us know.
You need a minimum of 10 GB free space. -
Use start screen for start menu
As a member of the rarest breed of people who like the start screen, it would be nice to combine where 10 is with where 8.1 has moved to with regards to the start screen.
I would like to be able to disable the whole recently used/pinned left panel and just have tiles come up. I never use it given the pinned task bar. I don't use jump lists in the start either.
The menu should be resizeable horizontally as well a vertical. I would make mine the full width.
We should still be able to make custom named tile groups just like in 8.1.
Basically I'd just like the start screen embedded in a resizeable pane from the start button.
Making that background transparent would look really slick. Perhaps something like this; i.imgur.com/bcVVLLH.pngHello,
For people who like the start screen I think there is still option to use the start screen. Just right click on taskbar ---> Properties --->Start menu ---> Uncheck the "Use of start menu instead of start screen".
Since based on your description you don't quite need anything from start menu it would be a good solution for you. In this way you can have your start screen back, and don't bother about the start menu.
Best regards,
Treitli Sebastian -
Hi Microsoft Team,
We need your urgent advice and that is also on priority:
Issue Description: We need to migrate from
WINDOW SERVER 2003 to WINDOW SERVER 2012 while the development activity will be carried
under WINDOW SERVER 2008 as DEVELOPMENT BOX.
.NET Framework Version: 3.5 ( For both DEVLOPMENT(WINDOW SERVER 2008) and WEBSERVER(to WINDOW SERVER 2012))
IIS Version: 7.5 (For both DEVLOPMENT(WINDOW SERVER 2008) and WEBSERVER(to WINDOW SERVER 2012))
Need your quick advice Is that configuration feasible for Development and
Deployment (Web Server).
Highly appreciate your response as this will depend which product we need to buy also if you feel any showstopper or concern. Please let us know.Hi,
As suggested by Tim, in order to get better assistance, we can ask for help in the following IIS forum.
IIS Forum
http://forums.iis.net/
In addition, regarding migrating from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2012, the following blog can be referred to for more information.
Step-By-Step: Active Directory Migration from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2012
http://blogs.technet.com/b/canitpro/archive/2013/05/27/step-by-step-active-directory-migration-from-windows-server-2003-to-windows-server-2012.aspx
Best regards,
Frank Shen -
WDS for custom image deployment via PXE
I've recently spun up a 2012R2 server and I'd like to use it so I can netboot clients to it and install a custom image on the machine, no hassle. I have figured out how to take an image from a Windows 7 install disk and add drivers to it.
However, I'm wondering the best way that I could configure an image to use that has all programs, profiles, updates, and drivers on it for a 'universal' install. Is this possible?
For example, can I have a 32-bit image that has Chrome, FireFox, and some other programs on it, complete with any drivers that might be needed for NIC and WLAN cards, graphics adapters, etc? And then a 64-bit image for the same thing. Ideally, these
would house drivers for any of our machines, so I could PXE boot a 64- or 32-bit desktop or laptop, regardless of the model (They're all one manufacturer) and have them install the image and be configured, ready to go?
I would also like to know how I could create a custom image/ISO from a machine that is already ready-to-go as a template.
Thank you for answers in advance.
If it helps, i'm on a Windows 8.1 x64 machine myself, but the machines I'd like to image are Windows 7 (both x86 and x64).Yea. In a nut shell:
1. Do the install and create the needless account the setup process forces you to create.
2. On first log in enable the original default Administrator account and give it a password
3. Log in with the default Administrator account.
4. Delete the local account that setup forced you to create
5. Go to Advanced system Settings --> User Profiles, and remove the profile for that account. This is important,...this removes the registry entries for the Profile as well (just deleting the folder structure under "C:\Users" does not,
and problems can result).
6. Build your image model from this point using the original default local Administrator account. This is the only account that Sysprep will leave on the machine when it is run. Note the machine is not a Domain Member when I am at this point.
I only join the machine that I apply the image to when I finally deploy the machine to be used .
7. Run Sysprep on the machine to prepare it for duplication, then shutdown or reboot. When starting up you do not want to allow it to boot into the OS or you will have to rerun Sysprep again. You can use WDS to "capture" an image
after doing a network boot from the Nic. You can also boot the machine using a Windows PE bootdisk and manually capture an image with ImageX (comes with WAIK for Win7). But ImageX is commandline only and annoying,...there is a GUI alternative called
GImageX (google it). Then manually copy the captured image to the WDS Server. Note when you capture an image,..you are only capturing the Boot Partition,...not the entire drive.
The details of all this you can sort out by studying "how to use" WDS and WAIK (Win7). That should put you on the right track.
A source for creating a bootable Windows PE disk is here.
http://winbuilder.net/ -
Problem clearing applet's screen for different images
I have an applet that displays several jpg-images.
Images are photos of different sizes that are portrait
and landscape.
Problem is that the rest of a portrait image remains at
the screen when a landscape image is dispayed and
in the same way the rest of a landscape image remains
at the screen when a portrait image is displayed.
I thought update and repaint methods should do the
work but something is wrong.
Code that should do it is:
private void runWork() {
curFrame = 0;
try {
while(noStopRequested) {
waitWhilePaused();
curFrame = (curFrame + 1) % image.length;
repaint();
Thread.sleep(5000);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
public void paint(Graphics g) {
update(g);
public void update(Graphics g) {
g.drawImage(image[curFrame], 0, 0, this);
}What am I doing wrong?
Thanks in advanceYeah, I knew flickering would probably happen. I've never done double-buffering exactly in an applet, but I can give you an idea how it's done.private void runWork() {
Image offScreen = createImage(appletWidth, appletHeight);
Graphics offGraphics = offScreen.getGraphics();
try {
while (noStopRequested) {
waitWhilePaused();
curFrame = (curFrame + 1) % image.length;
offScreen.clearRect(0, 0, appletWidth, appletHeight);
offScreen.drawImage(image[curFrame], 0, 0, this);
repaint();
catch (...) {}Then in paint():public void paint(Graphics g) {
g.drawImage(offScreen, 0, 0, this);
public void update(Graphics g) {
paint(g);
}Might not be perfect, but it should give you an idea. Basically you want to draw the screen OFF the screen before drawing it to the screen. That way you don't clear the screen and draw the image. You do it all in one paint().
Michael Bishop -
Nokia Lumia: Create a start screen for your kids .
>
And the code for the button would be:
EnterScreen.EnterBtn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, enterGame);
function enterGame(event: MouseEvent): void
EnterScreen.PlayBtn.removeEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, enterGame);
removeChild(EnterScreen); //(or EnterScreen.visible = false)
GameScreen.visible = true;
where the "EnterScreen" is the name of the startup MoveiClip and the "GameScreen" is the name of the MovieClip which contains the game. -
We are trying to roll out Windows 8.1 Enterpise in our school system (K-12).
The focus of this question is how do we take an internet web based shortcut and make it into a screen tile (on the start screen) which will appear for any user's start screen that logs on to the computer?
The details:
We came upon a great paper that's entitled "Customize Windows 8.1 Start Screens by Using Group Policy".
By applying this paper we were able to accomplish our first goal: Lock down the start screen so no user could change it. We accomplished this by using the Start Screen Layout policy setting laid out in the paper.
Our second goal: to customize the start screen is only half way met. We can set up the start screen the way we want and then export the .xml file. We are able to "reimport" the .xml file when the new user logs in. The installed programs
will appear on the Start Screen but not the internet based web shortcuts that were on the inital setup start screen.
(FYI - tried creating these tiles by running the start screen internet explorer app to the intended address and pinning them to the start screen. At this time trying to figure if there is a place to put desktop internet short cuts into a directory to make
them appear on the Start Screen).
We can see that the directory: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs is a place for program files to appear on the start screen. Is there a location web based shortcuts can be placed to cause them to automatically appear on the start
screen for every user as well? If not how do we accomplish getting these into tiles for every user logging in?
Sorry for the lengthy explanation. Hopefully it gets our question answered and helps others out there in the same boat!Karen-
Results: Did not work. The web based shortcuts did not appear.
Below is the steps taken with your tips incorporated. (Again it's lengthy sorry about that, but anyone can recreate what was done here. Maybe someone can see something left out by doing/reviewing it).
Here is what was done:
1. Installed a fresh install of Windows 8.1 enterprise on a pc. No updates were ran.
2. During setup created the admin account.
3. Logged into the account a simple start screen was arranged and setup by:
Starting desktop Internet Explorer. Going to Technet's website. Clicked tools and then selecting "Add site to Apps" from the drop down menu. Went to Apps screen, right clicked and pinned it to start screen. Repeated this procedure with an
educational web based site.
Right clicked a few provisioned apps and unpinned them from the start screen.
Made a few groups and labeled them. Web based shortcuts were arranged with one provisioned app in that particular group.
4. Opened a Powershell, right clicked it and ran as administrator. Typed the following:
export-startlayout -path C:\Users\Public\Master.xml -as xml
(Master is the name chosen for this test .xml file and was put in a location all users would have privelages to access it).
5. Opened the command prompt and right clicked and "ran as administrator", typed in gpedit.
6. In the Local Group Policy under User Configuration, under Start Menu and Taskbar I choose the Start Screen Layout.
7. Enabled the policy and typed in: C:\Users\Public\Master.xml for the Start Layout File.
8. Opened computer management, under Local Users and Groups I chose Users, right clicked in the middle screen and created a new user called Alpha.
9. Logged out of the inital account and logged into newly created Alpha account.
10. When the Alpha account logged in the start screen came up with everything changed in the inital account but no web based shortcuts were found on the start screen or App view. -
Windows 8.1 Start Screen via GPO
Hello all,
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I realise there are other posts with similar issues to myself, however having read through these posts and applied fixes provided, I am still unable to get this to work. I am having an issue when trying
to apply the Start Screen Layout GPO.
I am attempting to configure this GPO on my Windows 8.1 test network at the moment, but having no joy with it.
I am using Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard, and Windows 8.1 Enterprise.
Having done gpresult /r on my test workstation I can confirm the GPO has applied, and also when I check in the registry, the value has been changed in line with the GPO.
The .xml file is located on a share, although I have also tried the with the .xml file locally on a single test machine and the start screen still does not change.
Some of the policy is applying, as when I link the policy, I cannot then customize the start screen on my pc which from what I understand is expected behaviour.
Any help with this issue would be greatly appreciated.
Kind regards,
DougHi,
Have you tried the technet article given below?
Customize Windows 8.1 Start Screens by Using Group Policy
Regards,
Gopi
www.jijitechnologies.com -
Set Default Windows 8 Start Screen
Hello,
I'm trying to find a way to set the Start Screen with a simple command or script on every computer I image. I tried going through the GPO route but that locks the start screen completely so users cannot then add their own icons to it. We have a standard
image that comes with a Start Screen layout that we would like to modify but cannot modify the unattend.xml because it is company wide. Is there a way to do this?
Thanks.Hi,
If you want to customize the Start Screen,we need to use MDT tool to implement this work.
We can manually customize the Start Screen, then use CopyProfile to apply the customizations to the default user profile.
Also,I would like to share the following link with you:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/deploymentguys/archive/2012/10/26/start-screen-customization-with-mdt.aspx
Regard,
Kelvin hsu
TechNet Community Support -
Pin bookmarks to Windows 8.1 start screen
Hi,
I cant seem to pin any of my bookmarks to my Windows 8.1 start screen for easy access.
I can pin them easily enough to the bookmark bar in Firefox but thats not what I want to do.
Internet Explorer lets me do it but I cant seem to find a way to make a bookmark into a tile and placed on my start screen.
Thanks for any help.I cannont seem to find the way Windows 8 does this. Even when right clicking and trying to create a new shortcut it never completes.
So I tried it a different way. I pinned Firefox to the start screen, but changed my start pages in the Firefox settings.
Go to Options > General > Start up and set the homepage. -
I have installed Windows 8 perfectly ia boot camp but on booting the windows 8 does not load up fully. It comes upto the windows green screen for a moment and then goes blanlk. It is very frustrating.
no one has replied me too got this issue ,
-
JDeveloper Extension for SINGLE CLICK deployment of OIM customizations
I am not sure most of OIM Developers, System Integrators and Architects aware of this Oracle Asset, hence sharing information.
In most of the questions posted on forum related to event handler usages Plugin Registration utility and weblogic scripts to import / export meta data files into MDS. There is easy way to deploy OIM 11g even handler plugins , Scheduled Tasks, Request Datasets and Notification Events using OIM Customization Installer JDeveloper Extension.
Oracle has published Oracle Identity Manager 11g Sample Assets some time back. You can use OIM Customization Installer JDeveloper Extension for SINGLE CLICK deployment of OIM customizations like Event Handlers, Plugins, Scheduled Tasks, Request Datasets and Notification Events.
You can access and download Oracle Asset using below link,
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/id-mgmt/overview/oim-11g-assets-504842.html
Thanks,
Pradeep.Pradeep,
Thanks for sharing this. I have gone through this asset sometime back. This is quite helpful w.r.t deployment but does not have any other added advantage. For example, it does not create the xml's automatically or does not validate them etc. If I remember it right, this plugin was supported till 11.1.1.3 only.
Appreciate you sharing this as it would surely help folks here.
-Bikash
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