Windows 11 desktop customization
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OEMs can customize the Windows 11 Start layout so that OEM-defined items (apps and/or websites) are pinned in certain areas of the Start menu. Start layout customizations are configured with LayoutModification.json and, optionally, LayoutModification.xml:
Note You can't use Windows Configuration Designer or Unattend to configure the Windows 11 Start Menu. The Start menu is comprised of three sections: Pinned, All apps, and Recommended. Your LayoutModification.json can include customizations for the Pinned and/or Recommended sections. Pinned sectionThe section at the top of the Start menu is called the Pinned section. This section consists of pins arranged in a grid. The items in this section are a subset of all the apps installed on the PC; not all installed apps are included in this section by default. The number of rows and items in this view are consistent across device panel sizes. While the initial view of this section displays 18 items, a user can use the pagination control to move through pages of additional pins. The items in this section are a combination of Microsoft-defined apps, dynamically delivered apps, and OEM-configured items. After setting up their PC, users can add, move, or remove pins in this this section. Available customizations:
If you pin fewer than four items in either of these sections, other Microsoft-defined apps will slide over to fill the space to maintain the same order. Any array elements beyond the first four will be ignored.
Note An item can only appear in the Pinned section once. It's not possible to pin an app in more than one location in this section, whether on the same page or on different pages. All apps sectionThis appears when a user clicks on All apps in the upper-right corner of the Start menu. All Apps is a comprehensive list, in alphabetical order, of all installed apps. Available customizations:
Recommended sectionThis is the section below the "Pinned" section. On first boot, the Get Started app from Microsoft will be pre-populated in this location. An OEM can also pre-populate the section with a welcome or first run experience app that will stay pinned for up to seven days unless a customer removes it. Available customizations: One item in this section. Configured with firstRunOEMPins in LayoutModification.json.
Important Using WCD or Unattend to customize the Windows 11 Start menu is not supported, LayoutModification.json is required. OEMs can customize the Start layout by creating a custom LayoutModification.json file and adding it to an image, in the %localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Shell folder. You only need one LayoutModification.json in your image, as these files can contain one or more of the top-level members in any combination. If you're pinning web links, you'll also need to create a LayoutModification.xml file to use in combination with LayoutModification.json.
Important Make sure your LayoutModification.json uses UTF-8 encoding. LayoutModification.jsonLayoutModification.json enables you to configure the pins within a Start layout's customizable sections. LayoutModification.json members
LayoutModification.json keysEach of the above members can use the following possible members to define pins for each section:
Sample LayoutModification.json fileHere is a sample LayoutModification.json file showing customizations for the three customizable Start menu sections:
Tip Each single backslash character (\) need to be escaped as \\ per JSON syntax. Pin Conflicts
To pin a web link to the Start menu, you'll need to use both LayoutModification.json and LayoutModification.xml files. Web links use both LayoutModification.xml and LayoutModification.json. Each web link that's specified in LayoutModification.json must have a corresponding SecondaryTile element in LayoutModification.xml:
Important Make sure to include both LayoutModification files to your image. Create a LayoutModification.xmlThe easiest way to create a Start layout .xml file is to add website links on a Windows 10 reference PC's Start menu, and then use PowerShell to export the layout. You'll need to include both the exported layout and your LayoutModification.json in your image if you're using web pins. See Export the Start Layout to learn how to export a Start Layout. Your exported Start layout will contain SecondaryTile elements for each of the web links you've configured. Make note of the AppUserModelID and TileID elements. You'll add these to your LayoutModification.json to pin the web link. Example web pinBelow is an example of a web pin from a LayoutModification.xml: Add this tile to LayoutModification.json by adding a new JSON object in the section you want to add the pin:
Here's what it looks like, using the above example, to pin the web link to the bottom of the "Pinned" section: ... "secondaryOEMPins": [ { "packagedAppId": "Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge.Stable_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App", "tileId": "MSEdge.anfoedbkjbcacemdbigf.UserData.Default" }, ], ...Pre-pinning OfficeOffice Click-to-Run (C2R) apps will automatically be pinned to Start by Windows if the apps are pre-installed. Install the C2R version of Office using the Office pre-installation kit (OPK), and Windows will automatically detect the Office installation and add the appropriate pins to Start. Not every C2R Office app will be pinned to Start, only Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This behavior is entirely automatic and does not require anything in LayoutModification.json. If C2R Office is not pre-installed, the other items pinned to Start will slide over to fill the place of these apps so there are no gaps left in the middle of the layout. Add a layout to an image
The following table contains the tags to use for every language supported by Windows 11:
JSON exampleThe example JSON snippet below shows examples of how to use each available language tag
Full list of available caption languages: "caption": { "af": "Afrikaans", "sq": "Albanian", "gsw": "Alsatian", "am": "Amharic", "ar-DZ": "Arabic (Algeria)", "ar-BH": "Arabic (Bahrain)", "ar-EG": "Arabic (Egypt)", "ar-IQ": "Arabic (Iraq)", "ar-JO": "Arabic (Jordan)", "ar-KW": "Arabic (Kuwait)", "ar-LB": "Arabic (Lebanon)", "ar-LY": "Arabic (Libya)", "ar-MA": "Arabic (Morocco)", "ar-OM": "Arabic (Oman)", "ar-QA": "Arabic (Qatar)", "ar-SA": "Arabic (Saudi Arabia)", "ar-SY": "Arabic (Syria)", "ar-TN": "Arabic (Tunisia)", "ar-AE": "Arabic (United Arab Emirates)", "ar-YE": "Arabic (Yemen)", "hy": "Armenian", "as": "Assamese", "az-Cyrl": "Azerbaijani (Cyrillic)", "az-Latn": "Azerbaijani (Latin)", "bn-BD": "Bangla (Bangladesh)", "ba-Cyrl": "Bashkir", "eu": "Basque", "be": "Belarusian", "bn-IN": "Bengali (India)", "bs-Cyrl": "Bosnian (Cyrillic)", "bs": "Bosnian (Latin)", "br-Latn": "Breton", "bg": "Bulgarian", "my": "Burmese", "ca": "Catalan", "ceb-Latn-PH": "Cebuano (Latin, Philippines)", "ku-Arab": "Central Kurdish", "ccp-Cakm-BD": "Chakma (Chakma, Bangladesh)", "ccp-Cakm-IN": "Chakma (Chakma, India)", "chr-Cher": "Cherokee (Cherokee)", "zh-Hans-CN": "Chinese (Simplified, China)", "zh-Hans-SG": "Chinese (Simplified, Singapore)", "zh-Hant-HK": "Chinese (Traditional, Hong Kong SAR)", "zh-Hant-MO": "Chinese (Traditional, Macao SAR)", "zh-Hant-TW": "Chinese (Traditional, Taiwan)", "co-Latn": "Corsican", "hr-BA": "Croatian (Bosnia and Herzegovina)", "hr-HR": "Croatian (Croatia)", "cs": "Czech", "da": "Danish", "prs-Arab": "Dari", "dv": "Divehi", "nl-BE": "Dutch (Belgium)", "nl-NL": "Dutch (Netherlands)", "dz": "Dzongkha", "en-AU": "English (Australia)", "en-BZ": "English (Belize)", "en-CA": "English (Canada)", "en-029": "English (Caribbean)", "en-IN": "English (India)", "en-IE": "English (Ireland)", "en-JM": "English (Jamaica)", "en-MY": "English (Malaysia)", "en-NZ": "English (New Zealand)", "en-PH": "English (Philippines)", "en-SG": "English (Singapore)", "en-ZA": "English (South Africa)", "en-TT": "English (Trinidad and Tobago)", "en-AE": "English (United Arab Emirates)", "en-GB": "English (United Kingdom)", "en-US": "English (United States)", "en-ZW": "English (Zimbabwe)", "et": "Estonian", "fo": "Faroese", "fil-Latn": "Filipino", "fi": "Finnish", "fr-BE": "French (Belgium)", "fr-CA": "French (Canada)", "fr-029": "French (Caribbean)", "fr-FR": "French (France)", "fr-LU": "French (Luxembourg)", "fr-MC": "French (Monaco)", "fr-CH": "French (Switzerland)", "fy": "Frisian", "ff-Adlm-BF": "Fulah (Adlam, Burkina Faso)", "ff-Adlm-CM": "Fulah (Adlam, Cameroon)", "ff-Adlm-GM": "Fulah (Adlam, Gambia)", "ff-Adlm-GH": "Fulah (Adlam, Ghana)", "ff-Adlm-GN": "Fulah (Adlam, Guinea)", "ff-Adlm-GW": "Fulah (Adlam, Guinea-Bissau)", "ff-Adlm-LR": "Fulah (Adlam, Liberia)", "ff-Adlm-MR": "Fulah (Adlam, Mauritania)", "ff-Adlm-NE": "Fulah (Adlam, Niger)", "ff-Adlm-NG": "Fulah (Adlam, Nigeria)", "ff-Adlm-SN": "Fulah (Adlam, Senegal)", "ff-Adlm-SL": "Fulah (Adlam, Sierra Leone)", "ff-Latn-BF": "Fulah (Latin, Burkina Faso)", "ff-Latn-CM": "Fulah (Latin, Cameroon)", "ff-Latn-GM": "Fulah (Latin, Gambia)", "ff-Latn-GH": "Fulah (Latin, Ghana)", "ff-Latn-GN": "Fulah (Latin, Guinea)", "ff-Latn-GW": "Fulah (Latin, Guinea-Bissau)", "ff-Latn-LR": "Fulah (Latin, Liberia)", "ff-Latn-MR": "Fulah (Latin, Mauritania)", "ff-Latn-NE": "Fulah (Latin, Niger)", "ff-Latn-NG": "Fulah (Latin, Nigeria)", "ff-Latn-SN": "Fulah (Latin, Senegal)", "ff-Latn-SL": "Fulah (Latin, Sierra Leone)", "gl": "Galician", "ka": "Georgian", "de-AT": "German (Austria)", "de-DE": "German (Germany)", "de-LI": "German (Liechtenstein)", "de-LU": "German (Luxembourg)", "de-CH": "German (Switzerland)", "el": "Greek", "gu": "Gujarati", "ha-Latn": "Hausa (Latin)", "haw-Latn": "Hawaiian", "he": "Hebrew", "hi": "Hindi", "hu": "Hungarian", "is": "Icelandic", "ig-Latn": "Igbo", "smn-Latn": "Inari Sami", "id": "Indonesian", "iu-Cans": "Inuktitut (Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics)", "iu-Latn": "Inuktitut (Latin)", "ga": "Irish", "ga-GB": "Irish (United Kingdom)", "xh": "isiXhosa", "zu": "isiZulu", "it-IT": "Italian (Italy)", "it-CH": "Italian (Switzerland)", "ja": "Japanese", "quc-Latn": "K’iche’", "kl": "Kalaallisut", "kn": "Kannada", "kk": "Kazakh", "km": "Khmer", "rw": "Kinyarwanda", "sw": "Kiswahili", "kok": "Konkani", "ko": "Korean", "ky-Cyrl": "Kyrgyz", "lo": "Lao", "lv": "Latvian", "lt": "Lithuanian", "dsb": "Lower Sorbian", "smj-Latn-NO": "Lule Sami (Norway)", "smj-Latn-SE": "Lule Sami (Sweden)", "lb": "Luxembourgish", "mk": "Macedonian", "ms-BN": "Malay (Brunei)", "ms-MY": "Malay (Malaysia)", "ml": "Malayalam", "mt": "Maltese", "mi-Latn": "Maori", "arn-Latn": "Mapuche", "mr": "Marathi", "moh-Latn": "Mohawk", "mn-Cyrl": "Mongolian (Cyrillic)", "mn-Mong": "Mongolian (Traditional Mongolian)", "ne-IN": "Nepali (India)", "ne-NP": "Nepali (Nepal)", "se-Latn-FI": "Northern Sami (Finland)", "se-Latn-NO": "Northern Sami (Norway)", "se-Latn-SE": "Northern Sami (Sweden)", "nb": "Norwegian (Bokmål)", "nn": "Norwegian (Nynorsk)", "oc-Latn": "Occitan", "or": "Odia", "ps": "Pashto", "ps-PK": "Pashto (Pakistan)", "fa": "Persian", "pl": "Polish", "pt-BR": "Portuguese (Brazil)", "pt-PT": "Portuguese (Portugal)", "pa-Arab": "Punjabi (Arabic)", "pa": "Punjabi (Gurmukhi)", "quz-Latn-BO": "Quechua (Bolivia)", "quz-Latn-EC": "Quechua (Ecuador)", "quz-Latn-PE": "Quechua (Peru)", "ro-MD": "Romanian (Moldova)", "ro-RO": "Romanian (Romania)", "rm": "Romansh", "ru": "Russian", "sah-Cyrl": "Sakha", "sa-Deva": "Sanskrit", "gd-Latn": "Scottish Gaelic", "sr-Cyrl-BA": "Serbian (Cyrillic, Bosnia and Herzegovina)", "sr-Cyrl-ME": "Serbian (Cyrillic, Montenegro)", "sr-Cyrl-RS": "Serbian (Cyrillic, Serbia)", "sr-Latn-BA": "Serbian (Latin, Bosnia and Herzegovina)", "sr-Latn-ME": "Serbian (Latin, Montenegro)", "sr-Latn-RS": "Serbian (Latin, Serbia)", "nso": "Sesotho sa Leboa", "tn-BW": "Setswana (Botswana)", "tn-ZA": "Setswana (South Africa)", "sd-Arab": "Sindhi (Arabic)", "si": "Sinhala", "sms-Latn": "Skolt Sami", "sk": "Slovak", "sl": "Slovenian", "sma-Latn-NO": "Southern Sami (Norway)", "sma-Latn-SE": "Southern Sami (Sweden)", "es-AR": "Spanish (Argentina)", "es-BO": "Spanish (Bolivia)", "es-CL": "Spanish (Chile)", "es-CO": "Spanish (Colombia)", "es-CR": "Spanish (Costa Rica)", "es-DO": "Spanish (Dominican Republic)", "es-EC": "Spanish (Ecuador)", "es-SV": "Spanish (El Salvador)", "es-GT": "Spanish (Guatemala)", "es-HN": "Spanish (Honduras)", "es-419": "Spanish (Latin America)", "es-MX": "Spanish (Mexico)", "es-NI": "Spanish (Nicaragua)", "es-PA": "Spanish (Panama)", "es-PY": "Spanish (Paraguay)", "es-PE": "Spanish (Peru)", "es-PR": "Spanish (Puerto Rico)", "es-ES": "Spanish (Spain)", "es-US": "Spanish (United States)", "es-UY": "Spanish (Uruguay)", "es-VE": "Spanish (Venezuela)", "zgh-Tfng": "Standard Moroccan Tamazight", "sv-FI": "Swedish (Finland)", "sv-SE": "Swedish (Sweden)", "syr-Syrc": "Syriac", "tg-Cyrl": "Tajik (Cyrillic)", "ta-IN": "Tamil (India)", "ta-MY": "Tamil (Malaysia)", "ta-SG": "Tamil (Singapore)", "ta-LK": "Tamil (Sri Lanka)", "tt-Cyrl": "Tatar (Cyrillic)", "te": "Telugu", "th": "Thai", "bo-Tibt": "Tibetan", "ti-ER": "Tigrinya (Eritrea)", "ti-ET": "Tigrinya (Ethiopia)", "tr": "Turkish", "tk-Latn": "Turkmen (Latin)", "uk": "Ukrainian", "hsb": "Upper Sorbian", "ur-IN": "Urdu (India)", "ur-PK": "Urdu (Pakistan)", "ug-Arab": "Uyghur", "uz-Cyrl": "Uzbek (Cyrillic)", "uz-Latn": "Uzbek (Latin)", "ca-ES-valencia": "Valencian", "vi": "Vietnamese", "cy": "Welsh", "wo-Latn": "Wolof", "ii-Yiii": "Yi", "yo-Latn": "Yoruba", "default": "fallback caption for other languages" } |