Offline Operation of Custom Shared Start Menu System Policy

ID: Q219019

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 4.0, 4.0 SP1, 4.0 SP2, 4.0 SP3, 4.0 SP4
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation versions 4.0, 4.0 SP1, 4.0 SP2, 4.0 SP3, 4.0 SP4

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.

SUMMARY

The "Custom Shared Start Menu" system policy can be used to provide a common Start menu for all users in an enterprise. This article describes the behavior of this policy when used with "default computer" versus "default user," as well as the behavior when the "Shared Start Menu" is not available.

MORE INFORMATION

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For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys And Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it. If you are running Windows NT, you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).

When the "User Shell Folders\Common Start Menu" registry value is parsed, an attempt is made to create the directory at the location specified in the policy. This operation will return a success under two conditions:

If the directory already exists.

If it does not exist but is created successfully

If this operation fails, there is a second attempt to create the directory under %SystemRoot%. This attempt would return a success under the same conditions as those noted above. Changes to the Start menu will be written to the directory that was successfully verified (on the local system or at a remote location).

Behavior When the Policy Is Set in Default Computer

Shared Start Menu Path:
Category: Windows NT Shell
Subcategory: Custom shared folders
Selection: Custom shared Start menu
Description: Specifies the UNC path the folder is to use when displaying the folders, files, and shortcuts the user receives as part of the Start menu.

Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion \Explorer\User Shell Folders
Registry Value Registry Data Description

Common Start Menu REG_EXPAND_SZ (NOTE: REG_SZ can be used if no variables exist.) Off = value is removed from registry, On = text of UNC path to folder. Default = %SystemRoot%\Profiles\All Users\Start Menu

In this case, the newly created local directory will be called "Common Start Menu". Icons and menus can be placed in this directory for an offline start menu. Offline means that the user was not validated by a domain controller. An example would be the case of portable computer users who log on with cached credentials when not connected to the network. This does not replace the built-in Start menu, but it does replace the "All Users" Start menu.

You can copy the contents of the "All Users" Start menu to the new local directory for users who are expected to be offline from time to time. This would also give the administrators the ability to determine what appears in the start menu for offline and online use. The downside of using this method is that the "Shared" Start menu will need to include a complete group of icons for local as well as remote applications. This may be undesirable in the instance where some users have different local applications than other users. But it does give the administrator the flexibility to configure the users' offline experience. When using this method, the "All Users" Start menu is no longer used, whether online or offline. There is no way to change this after this policy is set for the default computer.

Behavior When the Policy Is Set in Default User or in a Group Policy

Shared Start Menu Path:
Category: Windows NT Shell
Subcategory: Custom shared folders
Selection: Custom shared Start menu
Description: Specifies the UNC path the folder is to use when displaying the folders, files, and shortcuts the user receives as part of the Start menu.

Key: HKEY_CURENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion \Explorer\User Shell Folders

Registry Value Registry Data Description Common Start Menu REG_EXPAND_SZ (NOTE: REG_SZ can be used if no variables exist.) Off = value is removed from registry, On = text of UNC path to folder. Default = %USERPROFILE%\Start Menu

In this case, the newly created local directory will have the same name as the remote directory name specified in the policy, and will be created under %SystemRoot%. Icons and menus can be placed in this directory for an offline Start menu. This does not replace the built-in Start menu or the "All Users" Start menu. You will get all three menus on the Start menu, in the following order from top to bottom:

Common Shared

All Users

Built-in

Regardless of the online status of the remote common Start menu, you will always get the "All Users" Start menu. When the computer is online, you will see the remote Start menu on top of the "All Users" Start menu. When the computer is offline, you will see the locally created Start menu (same directory name as the remote menu) on top of the "All Users" Start menu. Copying shortcuts to this folder will create an offline Start menu. When using this method, you can have all the local applications run from the "All Users" Start menu, and then have the network applications run from the shared custom Start menu. When users are offline, they will not get the icons for the network applications and they will not have access to the network. They will always have access to the Start menu for the local applications. This also addresses the potential issue of portable computer users having different local applications.

REFERENCES

For additional information, please see the following article(s) in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q185590 Guide To Windows NT 4.0 Profiles and Policies (Part 5 of 6)

Additional query words:

Keywords :
Version : winnt:4.0,4.0 SP1,4.0 SP2,4.0 SP3,4.0 SP4
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbinfo