VMware Horizon Community
hermanc01
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Windows 10 Start Menu not working after refresh/recompose

Has anyone else run into this issue or know anything about it?  If I provision a new linked-clone VM running Windows 10 and log into it with using a writable volume (UIA plus profile template), refresh or recompose, then login again, the Start Menu and Edge don't work at all.

Here are the steps I'm testing with.

  • Provision a Windows 10 VM using linked-clones
    • Nothing is on the base VM except VMware Tools, Horizon Agent, and App Volumes Agent
    • I've also applied the Windows 10 optimization settings from VMware (minus a few settings)
  • Login with a new writable volume assigned to the user account
  • Verify Start Menu / Edge work fine
  • Create a small text file on the desktop to confirm when we log back in that it's attaching the writable volume
  • Restart
  • Manually initiate a refresh or recompose
  • Login; notice the text file exists and it shows the writable is attached
  • Attempt to use Start Menu / Edge and neither work

Here's my environment.

  • Windows 10 build 1511.1 (April 2016) 64-bit
  • VMware Horizon 7.0
  • App Volumes 2.10

I do have some AppStacks assigned to my user account but I can't foresee how that would break things.

13 Replies
Smoke14
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

I personally stay away from WV and use UEM. ITs much easier to manage and troubleshoot issues with users profiles and data.

IS there a specific reason you are using WVs?

Mike_A
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HuibDijkstra
Contributor
Contributor

Hi,

I've tried capturing the start menu with both 2.10 and 3.x it seems like that it's not possible, I think this is a Microsoft issue the interface is tied to a .edb file some sort of mini database:

"C:\ Users\jftit\AppData\Local\TileDataLayer\Database\EDB.log"

Other vendors have run into the same problems. My final solution was to capture only the files and folders basically the old style start menu (either with WV or UEM) and leave out the new metro style tiles interface. You can create an .xml export and apply this with a GPO to create sort of like a mandatory tile interface. Customize Windows 10 Start with Group Policy (Windows 10)

BTW: there is a anniversary release coming from Microsoft, I'm hoping that this will fix the issue.

Windows 10 Anniversary SDK Preview Build 14366 Released | Building Apps for Windows

Cheers,


Huib.

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Ken_Mc
Contributor
Contributor

I'm having the same issue.

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Smoke14
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

I have figured out the same thing as HuibDijkstra, Microsoft needs to come up with a few fixes for enterprise administration with Windows 10 in the enterprise.

I have talked to a lot of experts and combed the internet and found that you can't do anything with Start Layout  but to lock it down and only allow the user to make changes to desktop and all programs locations.

Hopefully there will be a August release and they will have these fixes implemented.

Mike_A
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ewolfrsa
Contributor
Contributor

Anniversary update 1607 is confirmed that still has the issue.  Ticket is open with Vmware since we got hit with this today Running Vmware horizon 7.0.1 and persistent disks for the non-roaming profiles.  Really hoping Vmware can help with this quickly.  We're digging through all the GPO we have that customize the start menu in Windows 10 in an effort to narrow it down, but we're pretty much shooting in the dark and trying to fix the symptom at this point.

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ewolfrsa
Contributor
Contributor

We actually had two problems we think, still in the post-diagnostic stage, but we found out that the Windows 10 start menu issue was fixed by disabling USB restriction security in Dell Desktop Authority.  We also had a profile corruption issue too, but we rebuilt the gold image and appeared to have fixed the corruption from the persistent disk by doing that.

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rdonohue
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

What did you have to do where you say "capture only the files and folders basically the old style start menu"? I'm using writable volumes. Any instructions you could share? I've been beating my head against this for a week. Last thing hanging me up before testing for deployment. Thanks for any help!

Ray_handels
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Late to the party but hey Smiley Happy.

I've just tested 2.11 with Anniversary version of W10 and my startmenu works like a charm..

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Smoke14
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

What edition of Windows 10 are you using (Pro, Enterprise, or LTSB)?

Mike_A
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Ray_handels
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

W10 64 bits Enteprise. We didn;t do any customization to the start menu though at least not the tiles part.

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VirtualRedneck
Contributor
Contributor

Check out Blog post: Managing Windows 10 with VMware User Environment Manager - VMware Blogs

The following is pulled from the start menu section. I have decided to not include STEP 3 as it does not work. I have seen multiple environments that do not work for this. What you need to do instead is to create a small PS1 script to launch at login that just loops and runs the export command on an interval (I use 60 Seconds)

Sample PS1 code

$test = $true

While ($test)
{

     sleep 60

     export-startlayout -path "$env:localappdata\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Layoutmodification.xml"

}

That will run the export every 60 seconds. I have been doing this for some time now and it has been running just fine.

Step 1. Add Exclusion to Windows Explorer.INI

Add the following exclusion to the User Environment Manager configuration file called Windows Explorer. This exclusion prevents the Start Menu icons from appearing blank or disappearing.

[ExcludeIndividualRegistryValues]

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\StartMenuInit

Step 2. Create New User Environment Manager Config File to Roam the Start Menu

Create a new User Environment Manager configuration file called Windows 10 Start Menu. This will allow User Environment Manager to export and import the Start Menu layout at logoff and logon. Add the following content to the User Environment Manager configuration file:

[IncludeFiles]

<LocalAppData>\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\LayoutModification.XML

NOTE: this fix makes it to where you can't remove Edge from the task bar.

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DustinEnfinger
Contributor
Contributor

I've had plenty of start menu errors with our Windows 10 VDI deployment. A lot of the users mention the Appdata/Local area above me, so I wont list my problems with that. One issue that I found in our environment is that if you disable the windows firewall service it will break the start menu.

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szilagyic
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

I thought this was fixed with the latest App Volumes 2.12 release, but we have seen the problem on Win10 Anniversary 1607 and AppVol 2.12.  The problem seemed to go away once the user removed Edge from the start menu and logged out and logged in.