Customizing your Organization's Windows 10 Start Menu Layout

Since Windows 8.1, and now on Windows 10, organizations have had the ability to determine exactly how the Start Menu would appear on each of their managed desktops.

Under Windows 8.1 and the initial release of Windows 10 last July there were two choices when it came to these layouts.

The first was to have a locked down layout that could not be modified by users and the second one was to allow the user to customize the layout which would include removing anything the organization had placed there in the deployment.

Talk about two extreme ends of the spectrum.

Well with the release of Windows 10 Version 1511, which is also now the Current Branch for Business (CBB) of Windows 10 for the enterprise, those two options have had an element of common sense applied.

This change allows you to have the best of the initial two options by allowing a customized layout that can have entire groups of Live Tiles locked down to the end user but allows them to customize other areas of the Start Menu.

Over on Microsoft's Deployment Guys blog they provide all of the details that will get you started deploying your customized Windows 10 Start Menu broken down into these areas:

The instructions are available for using both PowerShell and Group Policy to establish your custom Start Menu.

Updated to reflect that Version 1511 is Current Branch for Business (CBB) vice Long Term Servicing Branch (LTSB).

But, wait...there's probably more so be sure to follow me on Twitter and Google+.

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