AppVolumes4 and FSLogix

[LukaszDziwisz]

Hello Everyone,

We are planning on moving to AppVolumes4 and this time we are not planning on using Writables but instead we would like to use FSLogix. So far we are testing with Windows 20H2 and I'm very pleased with the performance of AppVOlumes and logon times with FSLogix, however one issue I'm seeing is that the pinned start menu icons are getting blank. It appears to be only affecting icons from applications that are provisioned through AppVolumes. All other icons of applications that are on Master Image appear to be working fine. Did anyone have a similar issue?

[Hotrod76]

The customer I am working with is running FSLogix and App Volumes 4 on 20H2 and we don't see the start menu icon issue.  What happens if you delete the FSLogix profile and then log into the virtual desktop?

[LukaszDziwisz]

If I do that then it works fine on first log in or two and then some of them change to blank paper icons. I have added the exclusions in snapvol.cfg for fslogix in hopes for resolving it and recreated each appstack with them in place and it looked good on first logon after that and then again it broke

[Hotrod76]

Hi, do you have AppMasking rules in place for the icons that turn blank? Also, it might be worth opening a case with MS support to determine what is going on.   

[LukaszDziwisz]

No I don't use any of that. We just started to use it with regular Profile Container. Thank you I'll probably do that 

[Hotrod76]

You're welcome.  Please let me know what the fix was.  

[Lieven]

You can define your start menu layout by pushing startlayout.xml file to your VDIs via GPO. Below is my startlayout.xml file for your reference, but you should change it to match your environment and what you want to display.

<?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">
 <LayoutOptions StartTileGroupsColumnCount="2" />
 <DefaultLayoutOverride LayoutCustomizationRestrictionType="OnlySpecifiedGroups">
    <StartLayoutCollection>
      <defaultlayout:StartLayout GroupCellWidth="6" xmlns:defaultlayout="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/FullDefaultLayout">
        <start:Group Name="My Computer" xmlns:start="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/StartLayout">
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="0" Row="0" DesktopApplicationID="Microsoft.Windows.Computer"/>
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="2" Row="0" DesktopApplicationID="Microsoft.Windows.Explorer"/>
        </start:Group>	       
	    <start:Group Name="Internet" xmlns:start="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/StartLayout">
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="0" Row="0" DesktopApplicationID="Chrome"/> 
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="2" Row="0" DesktopApplicationID="MSEdge"/> 		  
        </start:Group>
        <start:Group Name="MS Office 365" xmlns:start="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/StartLayout">
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="0" Row="0" DesktopApplicationID="Microsoft.Office.OUTLOOK.EXE.15"/>
		  <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="2" Row="0" DesktopApplicationID="Microsoft.Office.WINWORD.EXE.15"/>
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="0" Row="2" DesktopApplicationID="Microsoft.Office.EXCEL.EXE.15"/>
		  <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="2" Row="2" DesktopApplicationID="Microsoft.Office.POWERPNT.EXE.15"/>
		  <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="0" Row="4" DesktopApplicationID="com.squirrel.Teams.Teams" />
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="2" Row="4" DesktopApplicationID="Microsoft.SkyDrive.Desktop" />
        </start:Group>
        <start:Group Name="Varia" xmlns:start="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/StartLayout">
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="0" Row="0" DesktopApplicationID="{1AC14E77-02E7-4E5D-B744-2EB1AE5198B7}\SnippingTool.exe"/>	  
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="2" Row="0" DesktopApplicationID="{1AC14E77-02E7-4E5D-B744-2EB1AE5198B7}\notepad.exe"/>
		  <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="0" Row="2" DesktopApplicationID="{6D809377-6AF0-444B-8957-A3773F02200E}\Notepad++\notepad++.exe"/>
        </start:Group>
      </defaultlayout:StartLayout>
    </StartLayoutCollection>
  </DefaultLayoutOverride>
  <CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection PinListPlacement="Replace">
  	<defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
	  <taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
	      <taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationLinkPath="C:\Windows\Explorer.exe" />
		  <taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationLinkPath="C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Google Chrome.lnk" />
		  <taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationLinkPath="C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Outlook.lnk" />
		  <taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationLinkPath="C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Excel.lnk" />
		  <taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationLinkPath="C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Word.lnk" />
		  <taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationLinkPath="C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\PowerPoint.lnk" />
		  <taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationLinkPath="C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Teams.lnk" />
		  <taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationLinkPath="C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\OneDrive.lnk" />
		  <taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationLinkPath="C:\Program Files\Notepad++\Notepad++.exe" />
      </taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
	</defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
 </CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection>
</LayoutModificationTemplate>

There are two main sections in the startlayout.xml file. One for the Start menu and one for the taskbar.

More info on https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/configuration/customize-and-export-start-layout and https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/configuration/customize-windows-10-start-screens-by-using-g... 

FYI: I am using App Volumes (without writeable volumes) and FSLogix (Profile and office container)

[Virtual_Leo]

Does this work properly for you on Windows 10 20H2?

I'm experiencing the same problem as OP. It works fine on Win10 1909 though

[Lieven]

Yes, it works properly on Windows 10 20H2. Not a single issue

[LukaszDziwisz]

I see where you're coming from unfortunately in our organization users want to customize their Start Menu as per their preference so I could not use default layout. In addition, Only common applications are on the Master image and then the rest is published via appstacks. In my case it appears to be breaking icons that come with appstacks. All other icons that I'm pinning that live on Master seem to be fine

[LukaszDziwisz]

One question I have for you is why are you using FSLogix with Profile and Office container? Isn't it that Profile includes Office Container on its own?