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EaisomLee's avatar
EaisomLee
Iron Contributor
Jul 11, 2025

Windows 11 Start menu layout via GPO

Has anyone managed to successfully deploy a start layout to users on Windows 11 21H2 using Group Policy? Im trying to follow guides i have googled but with no success so if anyone know any good guides to get it working, that would be amazing!

2 Replies

  • Marssom's avatar
    Marssom
    Iron Contributor
    Jul 14, 2025

    Make sure you're using the "Start Layout" policy from "Administrative Templates" — newer Windows versions have different placement. The XML file must be well-formed; a malformed XML will prevent the layout from applying.

  • maklithetom's avatar
    maklithetom
    Iron Contributor
    Jul 12, 2025

    This method is only suitable for Enterprise Edition/Education Edition Windows, do this in the Group Policy Editor, go to User Configuration→Administrative Templates→Start Menu and Taskbar, and enable the Force Specific Layout policy to unify the start menu style.

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