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Pin Applications to Start Menu Using GPP

10 Aug. 11

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Sainath KEVMicrosoft Most Valuable Professional – Directory Services

Table of Contents

Terms and Definitions...................................................................................................................... 31. Introduction.................................................................................................................................. 4

1.1 Document Purpose................................................................................................................4

1.2 Check List.............................................................................................................................. 4

1.3 Steps to Pin Application.........................................................................................................4

1.4 Testing................................................................................................................................... 8

1.4 Troubleshooting..................................................................................................................... 8

Terms and Definitions

Term Definition

AD Active Directory

GPO Group Policy

OU Organization Unit

GPP Group Policy Preferences

GPMC Group Policy Management Console

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Sainath KEVMicrosoft Most Valuable Professional – Directory Services

1. Introduction1.1 Document PurposeThis document explains the process involved in pinning applications to the Start Menu. The technical content is applicable for pinning Microsoft and non-Microsoft applications.

I have taken Wireshark application as my example.

Note: Not all applications can be pinned, and the applications which cannot be pinned should be made available to the users in other possible ways.

1.2 Check List

Below check list would be helpful before creating the pin application.Function DescriptionDomain Active Directory DomainOrganizational Unit OU where we perform the pinning of applicationApplication Name of the application to be pinnedPermissions Administrative privileges required for performing registry merge operations.

1.3 Steps to Pin Application

Following are the below steps required to pin applications to start menu using group policy preferences.

Step1: Logon to the workstation with administrator credentials and manually pin the required application to start menu (Eg: Wireshark Application)

Step2: Take an export of the following registry hive HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StartPage2

Step3: Logon to the Windows Server where Group Policy Management Console is installed, this might be a Domain Controller, Additional Domain Controller or a Member Server with GPMC installed

Step4: Navigate to the specific Site Domain OU ( Child OU if present ) and create a New GPO and link it to the OU.

Step5: Edit the newly created group policy and navigate to (PS: also see the attached diagram) User Configuration Preferences Windows Settings Shortcuts (Right Click) New Shortcut

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Sainath KEVMicrosoft Most Valuable Professional – Directory Services

Step6: Following are the fields to be filled in under Shortcut Properties. To get the below details, logon to the Workstation where you have pinned the application and right click on the pinned application and note down the below details. Action Create

Name C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\StartMenu\<application name >

Target type File System ObjectLocation <Specify full path>Target path Path of application (Eg: C:\Program Files (x86)\Wireshark\wireshark.exe)Arguments <Blank>Start in Path of the application (Eg:C:\Program Files (x86)\Wireshark)Shortcut Key NoneRun Normal WindowComment <Blank>Icon File Path Path of the icon (Eg: C:\Program Files (x86)\Wireshark\wireshark.exe)Icon Index 0

Note1: To get the information for Name field above, user should have administrative privileges on thePage 4 of 7

Sainath KEVMicrosoft Most Valuable Professional – Directory Services

Workstation

Note2: The above fields are specific to Wireshark application and should populate appropriate path for specific Applications

Step7: On the server installed with GPMC, backup the following registry location HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StartPage2 Import the registry which you have exported from the Workstation to the server.

Note: To perform this action, user should have administrative privileges on the server.

Step8: Once you have completed above step, open GPMC, edit the GPO and navigate to GPO User Configuration Preferences Windows Settings Registry (right click) New Registry Item which will open up New Registry Properties ( please see the diagram below )

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Sainath KEVMicrosoft Most Valuable Professional – Directory Services

Step9: Following are the fields to be filled in for the Registry Properties and they should be in the same Order mentioned below.

Action UpdateHive HKEY_CURRENT_USERKey Path Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StartPage2Value Name ProgramsCacheValue Type REG_BINARY

Action UpdateHive HKEY_CURRENT_USERKey Path Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StartPage2Value Name FavoritesResolveValue Type REG_BINARY

Action UpdateHive HKEY_CURRENT_USERKey Path Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StartPage2Value Name FavoritesValue Type REG_BINARY

Action UpdateHive HKEY_CURRENT_USERKey Path Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StartPage2Value Name FavoritesChangesValue Type REG_BINARY

Action UpdateHive HKEY_CURRENT_USERKey Path Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StartPage2Value Name FavoritesVersionValue Type REG_BINARY

Action UpdateHive HKEY_CURRENT_USERKey Path Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StartPage2Value Name ProgramsCacheSMPValue Type REG_BINARY

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Sainath KEVMicrosoft Most Valuable Professional – Directory Services

Step10: close all the windows and perform the test on the workstations.

1.4 Testing

Following are the steps required to test the policy on the workstation.

Step1: Logon to the workstation with standard user or user with administrative credentials, the workstation should be part of active directory domain.

Step2: Users can wait for the Group policy refresh cycle which is 90 +/- 30 minutes or force the settings to get applied by running gpupdate /force from the command prompt.

Step3: Navigate to the Start Menu to check for the pinned application.

1.4 Troubleshooting

In the event of users unable to see the pinned application, following are the below steps need to be performed by the support engineers or Group policy administrators.

Step1: Run Gpresult on the workstation to check if all desired policy got applied , if the policy hasn’t got applied, Support / administrators has to troubleshoot network connectivity or check for the error messages from the GPResult.

Step2: If the policy got applied to the workstation , but users are unable to view the settings, then edit the Group policy preferences by logging on the server and validate the settings for both Registry shortcut and Application shortcut.

End of Document

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