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Christiaan_Brinkhoff's avatar
Christiaan_Brinkhoff
Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
Jul 31, 2020

(Azure) Virtual Desktop Optimization Tool now available

  Optimizing images has always been an important component of preparing images as part of a traditional  Remote Desktop Services (RDS) infrastructure or virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)....
RDS
VDI
windows 10
Windows Virtual Desktop
FreekBloemhof's avatar
FreekBloemhof
Brass Contributor
Aug 01, 2020

Nice work! Was testing the script for a while already and implmenting it to production at the moment.

 

I did several customizations for my needs:

- Used 

$((Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion" -Name ReleaseId).ReleaseId) to get the acurate Windows version
- Removed the *.log deletion at line 223 (we need logs!)
- Removed the reboot warning/config at the end of the script (want to run unattended)
- Adjusted AppXPackages.json, don't want all AppX packages get removed
- Adjusted Autologgers.json, removed the RadioMgr part (gave an error)
 
Please consider to built in something for customization like in the Citrix Optimizer. 
 
After removal of the AppX packages, users with an existing profile got a lot of orphaned shortcuts in their startmenu, is there a solution for this?
 

Robert_Smith's avatar
Robert_Smith
Copper Contributor
Aug 03, 2020

Hello FreekBloemhof ,

 

To prevent changes to existing user profiles on virtual desktop, either do not apply to session hosts that host local profiles, or modify the input file 'Appxpackages.json' and change the value 'VDIState' to "enabled" for each app you wish to keep.  For example to keep the Sticky Notes app, change this:

 

  {
    "AppxPackage": "Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes",
    "VDIState": "Disabled",
    "URL": "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/microsoft-sticky-notes/9nblggh4qghw",
    "Description": "Notetaking app"
  },

 

to this (for Stick Notes as an example):

  {
    "AppxPackage": "Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes",
    "VDIState": "Enabled",
    "URL": "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/microsoft-sticky-notes/9nblggh4qghw",
    "Description": "Notetaking app"
  },

 

To fix the existing profiles, you should be able to reinstall the app(s) from the Store app, which is not removed because it is real difficult to get back.  You can go through the Appx input file and you can find the URL to each app in the input file.

 

I hope this is helpful.

 

Thanks,

 

Robert M. Smith

  • FreekBloemhof's avatar
    FreekBloemhof
    Brass Contributor
    Aug 18, 2020

    Robert_Smith thanks for your reply, but I already found that out. It is lijke Roger1175 says. We have a list of orphaned shortcuts in the startmenu for existing users (with an FSLogix profile). 

     

    I would like to remove those shortcuts/apps without resetting the profile of the users.

     

    What I also noticed, Windows Search is beeing disalbed. From optimizing point of view I kinda get this, but it decreases the user experience a lot on Windows 10. 

    • Robert_Smith's avatar
      Robert_Smith
      Copper Contributor
      Sep 01, 2020

      FreekBloemhof I have a tool that has repaired the Start Menu for another customer and does not removed user pinned items from their Start Menu.  Save the following as a batch file and have the user run this (does not require elevation):

       

      start /wait taskkill /IM StartMenuExperienceHost.exe /F
rd /S /Q "%UserProfile%\Appdata\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\AC"
rd /S /Q "%UserProfile%\Appdata\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\AppData"
rd /S /Q "%UserProfile%\Appdata\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalCache"
rd /S /Q "%UserProfile%\Appdata\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState"
rd /S /Q "%UserProfile%\Appdata\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\RoamingState"
rd /S /Q "%UserProfile%\Appdata\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\Settings"
rd /S /Q "%UserProfile%\Appdata\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\SystemAppData"
rd /S /Q "%UserProfile%\Appdata\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\TempState"
Start C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\StartMenuExperienceHost.exe
    • Robert_Smith's avatar
      Robert_Smith
      Copper Contributor
      Aug 18, 2020

      Have the user open Task Manager, then end the following two processes:

       

      • ShellExperienceHost.exe
      • StartMenuExperienceHost.exe

      Have them check the Start Menu and let us know the results.

      • MNellen's avatar
        MNellen
        Copper Contributor
        Dec 21, 2020

        Robert_Smith 

        Can't get this fix to work. ShellExperienceHost.exe is not running, shutting down the StartMenuExperienceHost.exe is not helping. 

        Any idea how to fix that? I'm running 2004.

  • tilikumtim's avatar
    tilikumtim
    Brass Contributor
    Aug 13, 2020

    Robert_Smith   

     

    I'm trying to reinstall the snip & sketch tool from the MS Store, but get the message 'Try again later. Something happened at our end. '  

  • Roger1175's avatar
    Roger1175
    Brass Contributor
    Aug 03, 2020

    Robert_Smith thanks for the information here about the Appx packages but I don't think you answer the question about how we can clean up these leftover artifacts in the case where we DO want to remove these apps but local user profiles already exist on the session host. Is there no way to do this?

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