How to export customized Windows 10 taskbar in to an XML

[Manoj Karunarathne]

Howdy Folks ! 

Not sure if this is the right hub for this question but I thought it'd be more relevant here.

As Intune natively doesn't offer a way to deploy a customized Windows 10 start menu while still allowing end users to modify it, I've managed to workaround it using the combination below. 

1. Export the desired start menu from a template device in to a XML file

2. Create a new registry key and values to target the above XML from the default location 

Start menu worked perfectly well but I'm trying to figure out how we can do the same for 'Taskbar'. Appreciate if any of your can shed some lights here on how we can export the taskbar and potentially embedding it to the same XML file so that both StartMenu and Taskbar can be deployed at once ?  

This is my customized start menu (a very basic modification with tile size and location changes)

This is the exported XML of the same. My question is, how we can export the taskbar as well, and potentially embedding it to the same XML file so that both StartMenu and Taskbar can be deployed at once?  

<LayoutModificationTemplate xmlns:defaultlayout="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/FullDefaultLayout" xmlns:start="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/StartLayout" Version="1" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/LayoutModification">
  <LayoutOptions StartTileGroupCellWidth="6" />
  <DefaultLayoutOverride>
    <StartLayoutCollection>
      <defaultlayout:StartLayout GroupCellWidth="6">
        <start:Group Name="Productivity">
          <start:Tile Size="2x2" Column="0" Row="0" AppUserModelID="Microsoft.MicrosoftOfficeHub_8wekyb3d8bbwe!Microsoft.MicrosoftOfficeHub" />
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="2" Row="0" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Edge.lnk" />
          <start:Tile Size="2x2" Column="4" Row="0" AppUserModelID="Microsoft.WindowsStore_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App" />
        </start:Group>
        <start:Group Name="">
          <start:Tile Size="1x1" Column="1" Row="0" AppUserModelID="Microsoft.WindowsCalculator_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App" />
          <start:Tile Size="1x1" Column="2" Row="0" AppUserModelID="Microsoft.WindowsAlarms_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App" />
          <start:Tile Size="2x2" Column="4" Row="1" AppUserModelID="Microsoft.MixedReality.Portal_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App" />
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="1x1" Column="4" Row="0" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\System Tools\Control Panel.lnk" />
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="1x1" Column="3" Row="0" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Snipping Tool.lnk" />
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="2" Row="1" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\OneDrive.lnk" />
          <start:Tile Size="2x2" Column="0" Row="1" AppUserModelID="Microsoft.Office.OneNote_8wekyb3d8bbwe!microsoft.onenoteim" />
          <start:Tile Size="1x1" Column="5" Row="0" AppUserModelID="Microsoft.SkypeApp_kzf8qxf38zg5c!App" />
          <start:Tile Size="1x1" Column="0" Row="0" AppUserModelID="microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_8wekyb3d8bbwe!microsoft.windowslive.calendar" />
        </start:Group>
      </defaultlayout:StartLayout>
    </StartLayoutCollection>
  </DefaultLayoutOverride>
</LayoutModificationTemplate>

Thanks for your support !

Cheers ! 

[#2]

I think you can use <CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection> above </LayoutModificationTemplate> which should do the trick. It should be something like this-

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LayoutModificationTemplate
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/LayoutModification"
xmlns:defaultlayout="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/FullDefaultLayout"
xmlns:start="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/StartLayout"
xmlns:taskbar="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/TaskbarLayout"
Version="1">
<CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection>
<defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
<taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
<taskbar:UWA AppUserModelID="Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe!MicrosoftEdge" />
<taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\System Tools\File Explorer.lnk" />
</taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
</defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
</CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection>
</LayoutModificationTemplate>


I have not used it before I have read about it in MS documentation.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/configuration/configure-windows-10-taskbar

Let us know if works for you!
Moe