M
Maelstorm.1973
Ok, after doing some digging with some special tools and utilities that I have, I have found the location of where StartMenuExperienceHost.exe stores it's data for the content, locations, and sizes of items pinned in the start menu.
It is stored in the registry at the following location:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CloudStore
I am going to warn you, much of the data stored in the subkeys here is in binary format. Looking at it, it looks like it's stored as a memory image of a record format that is akin to a C struct or the attributes of a C++ class. Since I don't have the source code, I cannot say what the fields are or anything.
The specific item that was changed was this:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CloudStore\Store\Cache\DefaultAccount\$de${7b564936-e5ad-4386-b12e-a8e6215bf5e2}$start.tilegrid$windows.data.curatedtilecollection.tilecollection\Current
How did I find it? I used a SysInternals tool called Process Explorer. I started it, set the filters, and restarted the start nenu process, then opened the start menu. In about 3 seconds it recorded over 660,000 events. Filtering it some more, I noticed that it was opening that key...a lot. So I exported that entire branch, make a change to the start menu, and exported it again to a different filename. Then I compared the two files and found differences. So I loaded the first file back in and no change. The change occurred when I restarted the start menu process and the change that I made reverted to what it was before. So that is the place where the data is stored. I know quite a few people have been looking for this so they can backup the start menu layout.
The data is quite complex so I would strongly advise against manually editing this as it can make your start menu inoperable, crash your system, and destroy your user profile. You may also need to reinstall the operating system if things go sideways enough. Best bet is to leave it alone, but I suspect that backup and restore will be fine.
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Windows 10 Start Menu Pinned Tiles Location?
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It is stored in the registry at the following location:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CloudStore
I am going to warn you, much of the data stored in the subkeys here is in binary format. Looking at it, it looks like it's stored as a memory image of a record format that is akin to a C struct or the attributes of a C++ class. Since I don't have the source code, I cannot say what the fields are or anything.
The specific item that was changed was this:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CloudStore\Store\Cache\DefaultAccount\$de${7b564936-e5ad-4386-b12e-a8e6215bf5e2}$start.tilegrid$windows.data.curatedtilecollection.tilecollection\Current
How did I find it? I used a SysInternals tool called Process Explorer. I started it, set the filters, and restarted the start nenu process, then opened the start menu. In about 3 seconds it recorded over 660,000 events. Filtering it some more, I noticed that it was opening that key...a lot. So I exported that entire branch, make a change to the start menu, and exported it again to a different filename. Then I compared the two files and found differences. So I loaded the first file back in and no change. The change occurred when I restarted the start menu process and the change that I made reverted to what it was before. So that is the place where the data is stored. I know quite a few people have been looking for this so they can backup the start menu layout.
The data is quite complex so I would strongly advise against manually editing this as it can make your start menu inoperable, crash your system, and destroy your user profile. You may also need to reinstall the operating system if things go sideways enough. Best bet is to leave it alone, but I suspect that backup and restore will be fine.
Related Posts.
Windows 10 Start Menu Pinned Tiles Location?
Enjoy.
Continue reading...