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Christiaan_Brinkhoff's avatar
Christiaan_Brinkhoff
Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
Jul 31, 2020

(Azure) Virtual Desktop Optimization Tool now available

  Optimizing images has always been an important component of preparing images as part of a traditional  Remote Desktop Services (RDS) infrastructure or virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)....
RDS
VDI
Windows 10
Windows Virtual Desktop
Robert_Smith's avatar
Robert_Smith
Copper Contributor

Hello FreekBloemhof ,

 

To prevent changes to existing user profiles on virtual desktop, either do not apply to session hosts that host local profiles, or modify the input file 'Appxpackages.json' and change the value 'VDIState' to "enabled" for each app you wish to keep.  For example to keep the Sticky Notes app, change this:

 

  {
    "AppxPackage": "Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes",
    "VDIState": "Disabled",
    "URL": "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/microsoft-sticky-notes/9nblggh4qghw",
    "Description": "Notetaking app"
  },

 

to this (for Stick Notes as an example):

  {
    "AppxPackage": "Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes",
    "VDIState": "Enabled",
    "URL": "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/microsoft-sticky-notes/9nblggh4qghw",
    "Description": "Notetaking app"
  },

 

To fix the existing profiles, you should be able to reinstall the app(s) from the Store app, which is not removed because it is real difficult to get back.  You can go through the Appx input file and you can find the URL to each app in the input file.

 

I hope this is helpful.

 

Thanks,

 

Robert M. Smith

FreekBloemhof's avatar
FreekBloemhof
Brass Contributor
Aug 18, 2020

Robert_Smith thanks for your reply, but I already found that out. It is lijke Roger1175 says. We have a list of orphaned shortcuts in the startmenu for existing users (with an FSLogix profile). 

 

I would like to remove those shortcuts/apps without resetting the profile of the users.

 

What I also noticed, Windows Search is beeing disalbed. From optimizing point of view I kinda get this, but it decreases the user experience a lot on Windows 10. 

  • Robert_Smith's avatar
    Robert_Smith
    Copper Contributor
    Aug 18, 2020

    Have the user open Task Manager, then end the following two processes:

     

    • ShellExperienceHost.exe
    • StartMenuExperienceHost.exe

    Have them check the Start Menu and let us know the results.

    • MNellen's avatar
      MNellen
      Copper Contributor
      Dec 21, 2020

      Robert_Smith 

      Can't get this fix to work. ShellExperienceHost.exe is not running, shutting down the StartMenuExperienceHost.exe is not helping. 

      Any idea how to fix that? I'm running 2004.

  • Robert_Smith's avatar
    Robert_Smith
    Copper Contributor
    Sep 01, 2020

    FreekBloemhof I have a tool that has repaired the Start Menu for another customer and does not removed user pinned items from their Start Menu.  Save the following as a batch file and have the user run this (does not require elevation):

     

    start /wait taskkill /IM StartMenuExperienceHost.exe /F
rd /S /Q "%UserProfile%\Appdata\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\AC"
rd /S /Q "%UserProfile%\Appdata\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\AppData"
rd /S /Q "%UserProfile%\Appdata\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalCache"
rd /S /Q "%UserProfile%\Appdata\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState"
rd /S /Q "%UserProfile%\Appdata\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\RoamingState"
rd /S /Q "%UserProfile%\Appdata\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\Settings"
rd /S /Q "%UserProfile%\Appdata\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\SystemAppData"
rd /S /Q "%UserProfile%\Appdata\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\TempState"
Start C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\StartMenuExperienceHost.exe

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