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Windows 10 Custom Start Layout and Taskbar Layout XML in GPO not working

I have spent weeks trying to customize the Windows 10 start menu and task bar using the LayoutModificationTemplate xml as referenced here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/configuration/configure-windows-10-taskbar#sample-taskbar-configuration-added-to-start-layout-xml-file

Everything is working except for the taskbar layout part. Here is the XML I am using. Does anyone see a problem?

<LayoutModificationTemplate 
	xmlns:defaultlayout="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/FullDefaultLayout" 
	xmlns:start="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/StartLayout" Version="1" 
	xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/LayoutModification"
	xmlns:taskbar="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/TaskbarLayout">
  <LayoutOptions StartTileGroupCellWidth="6" />
  <DefaultLayoutOverride>
    <StartLayoutCollection>
      <defaultlayout:StartLayout GroupCellWidth="6" />
    </StartLayoutCollection>
  </DefaultLayoutOverride>
  <CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection PinListPlacement="Replace">
      <defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
        <taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
          <taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\System Tools\File Explorer.lnk" />
		  <taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Google Chrome.lnk" />
        </taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
      </defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
    </CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection>
</LayoutModificationTemplate>

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David Johnson, CD

If you compare your's to mine you will see that you close the start layoutcollection too early
suggest you configure your start layout on one machine and then use the powershell command
Export-StartLayout -Path c:\temp\LAYOUT.XML and use the generated xml

<LayoutModificationTemplate xmlns:defaultlayout="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/FullDefaultLayout" xmlns:start="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/StartLayout" Version="1" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/LayoutModification">
  <LayoutOptions StartTileGroupCellWidth="6" />
  <DefaultLayoutOverride>
    <StartLayoutCollection>
      <defaultlayout:StartLayout GroupCellWidth="6">
        <start:Group Name="Windows Server">
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="2" Row="4" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools\Event Viewer.lnk" />
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="4" Row="0" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Windows PowerShell\Windows PowerShell ISE.lnk" />
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="0" Row="2" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\System Tools\Administrative Tools.lnk" />
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="2" Row="0" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Windows PowerShell\Windows PowerShell.lnk" />
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="4" Row="4" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\System Tools\File Explorer.lnk" />
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="0" Row="4" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Remote Desktop Connection.lnk" />
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="0" Row="0" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Server Manager.lnk" />
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="2" Row="2" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\System Tools\Task Manager.lnk" />
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="4" Row="2" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\System Tools\Control Panel.lnk" />
        </start:Group>
      </defaultlayout:StartLayout>
    </StartLayoutCollection>
  </DefaultLayoutOverride>
</LayoutModification

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Brian Gorsky

ASKER

I ran the powershell command and then added in the XML for the taskbar as instructed by MS. I do not want any tiles or pinned apps in Start. That worked fine. Then I wanted to replace the pinned apps on the taskbar so I added that XML in.

I followed the instructions from Microsoft. The code below is taken directly from their website. Mine differs in that I'm not pinning anything to Start.

<?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 StartTileGroupCellWidth="6" StartTileGroupsColumnCount="1" />
  <DefaultLayoutOverride>
    <StartLayoutCollection>
      <defaultlayout:StartLayout GroupCellWidth="6" xmlns:defaultlayout="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/FullDefaultLayout">
        <start:Group Name="Life at a glance" xmlns:start="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/StartLayout">
          <start:Tile Size="2x2" Column="0" Row="0" AppUserModelID="Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe!MicrosoftEdge" />
          <start:Tile Size="2x2" Column="4" Row="0" AppUserModelID="Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy!CortanaUI" />
          <start:Tile Size="2x2" Column="2" Row="0" AppUserModelID="Microsoft.BingWeather_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App" />
        </start:Group>        
      </defaultlayout:StartLayout>
    </StartLayoutCollection>
  </DefaultLayoutOverride>
    <CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection>
      <defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
        <taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
          <taskbar:UWA AppUserModelID="Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe!MicrosoftEdge" />
          <taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\System Tools\File Explorer.lnk" />
        </taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
      </defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
    </CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection>
</LayoutModificationTemplate>

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aravind anche

What I did is I made all the changes to my start menu and ran export-layout and then I saved the layout and deployed it with import-layout

Brian Gorsky

ASKER

@aravind

Export-Layout does not seem to export any Taskbar related xml

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aravind anche

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Brian Gorsky

ASKER

@aravind

Thank you. I took your XML and simply removed what I didn't need and replaced your IE taskbar pin with a Chrome pin. Waiting to GP to update now. I'll let you know how it goes.

My file structure was the same but I didn't have any tiles pinned in the Start menu.