Start Menu (Windows Vista® and later) preference items let you update the Start menu for computers that are running the Windows Server® 2008 R2, Windows® 7, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Vista operating systems. Start Menu preference items do not provide a selection of actions because the only possible action is Update.

Creating a Start Menu (Windows Vista and later) item

To create a new Start Menu preference item

  1. Open the Group Policy Management Console. Right-click the Group Policy object (GPO) that should contain the new preference item, and then click Edit.

  2. In the console tree under User Configuration, expand the Preferences folder, and then expand the Control Panel Settings folder.

  3. Right-click the Start Menu node, point to New, and select Start Menu (Windows Vista and later).

  4. In the New Start Menu (Windows Vista and later) Properties dialog box, enter Start menu options for Group Policy to configure. (For more information, see Enable and Disable Settings in a Preference Item.)

  5. Click the Common tab, configure any options, and then type your comments in the Description box. (For more information, see Configure Common Options.)

  6. Click OK. The new preference item appears in the details pane.

Additional considerations

  • Settings that are unavailable cannot be enabled or disabled. You cannot configure these settings by using a Start Menu preference item.

  • You can use item-level targeting to change the scope of preference items.

  • Preference items are available only in domain-based GPOs.

Additional references

  • Start Menu Extension
  • Configure a Start Menu Item (Windows XP)