Start menu issues with pinned items that are not default layout

[axenstarr]

Hello - so I created a list of pinned items I wanted to load when apps get installed on our image. That all works fine but I am having an issue starting with 25h2 that removes all of the pins I added after the image. That list works great but after I pin items to my start menu once the image is done after hours or a Microsoft patch my start menu reverts back to the default list you see below. This is the only code I put into the unattend.xml. Anyone else have this issue? I know there is an issue out in the wild recently with start menu pinned items but I am not convinced this is that. I am using the schneegans script generator... I love this thank you.

{
"pinnedList": [
{
"desktopAppLink": "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Edge.lnk"
},
{
"desktopAppLink": "%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\File Explorer.lnk"
},
{
"packagedAppId": "windows.immersivecontrolpanel_cw5n1h2txyewy!microsoft.windows.immersivecontrolpanel"
},
{
"desktopAppLink":"%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Outlook.lnk"
},
{
"desktopAppLink":"%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Word.lnk"
},
{
"desktopAppLink":"%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Excel.lnk"
},
{
"desktopAppLink":"%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\OneNote.lnk"
}
]
}

I have two VM's I am testing this on alongside my Dell Premium that's actually having the issue and so far the VM's seem ok. Still testing.

[axenstarr]

So I have tried 2 of the three settings in this script. With the list above and with no pins and each time I get this issue where my manual pins vanish. I have installed win 11 25h2 from an .iso default and it does not have this issue. Just the the machines I have with this .xml. I even added "applyOnce":true, which really kills the ability to pin items. Seeing how no one has responded its not a common issue after using this unattend generator.

[mjb-cidao]

I can confirm that this is happening in our domain environment only with the clients that have been deployed using autounattend.xml with a very simple start menu JSON. W11 25H2 machines. I can reproduce the result every time I pin a shortcut to the start menu and run a "gpupdate /force".

EDIT: I can confirm that this is not a GPO that is causing this issue. I do set a couple shortcuts in the Start Menu and as such the gpupdate is forcing a refresh of the Start Menu. This is why I mentioned it and not to point to an errant GPO.

[ProgrammerBruce]

I can confirm that my attempts to customize the pinnedList (for more than a year #142) have failed.

(I already spent too much time trying to debug what the issue is.
Maybe something in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\default\Start\ConfigureStartPins controls how the pieces come together.
Others have found this to be a mess, too.
Good luck.)

[mjb-cidao]

Not sure if it helps anyone else but we run this script on new user logins which removes the "lock" and allows pinning again to persist through a reboot/gpupdate.

@echo off powershell.exe -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "Remove-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\current\device\Start' -Name ConfigureStartPins -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue" echo Done. pause