Classic Shell: Forum

Hi,

I've been playing around with Classic Shell over the last week or so, with the view to using it within my Windows 7 rollout. The features that it has suit my needs down to the ground, but I have discovered a problem.

If I redirect the start menu to a UNC path (\\kenny\startmenu\curric\programs), the Programs menu is empty for a substantial period of time (minutes rather than seconds) until it will eventually show up with the correct start menu. If I try to view the start menu using the Windows Start Menu, the start menu appears correctly
If I map the start menu as a network drive and redirect the start menu to the network driver letter (W:), it works fine.

I have been redirecting the start menu using User Shell Folders (HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders) as I don't have an AD or a facility to use GP as we run a Samba 3 domain, which isn't compatible with these functions.

So if anyone could shed any light onto the issue I am facing, that would be great.
Let me know if you need any more information from myself

Thanks in advance.
Ben

Are you using the proper user interface to redirect it or directly modifying the registry? To redirect the Start Menu folder, go to %appdata%\Microsoft\Windows and open the Properties for the "Start Menu" folder. From the "Location" tab, you can change the location. Thereafter, the change should be instant in both the Classic Start Menu and the Windows Start Menu. Works for me.

However, even if the change is instant from the Location tab, I have observed that redirecting from the "Location" tab may cause several other folders to also get redirected incorrectly. The paths of many special folders get screwed up as HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders shows. In that case, edit the registry directly to change only the Start Menu folder value and logoff and login back again. That should make the CSM show the changes, if they're not instant before the logoff.

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and helped a little with Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

Classic Shell 4.0.4 introduces Group Policy support for all of its settings. Amongst those are new Group Policies to control menu redirection, independent of the OS settings. Extract the ADML and ADMX files from C:\Program Files\Classic Shell\PolicyDefinitions.zip to C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions folder (for Local Group Policy). If you have Active Directory domain, extract the files to %logonserver%\sysvol\%userdnsdomain%\policies\PolicyDefinitions\. The 4 policies to redirect the menu are:

- Start Menu folder
- Programs folder
- Common Programs folder
- Common Start Menu folder

You must exit the Start menu by right clicking the Start button or by running "C:\Program Files\Classic Shell\ClassicStartMenu.exe" -exit and then start it again from "C:\Program Files\Classic Shell\ClassicStartMenu.exe".

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and helped a little with Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.