Question Group Policy Editor does not work for me ?

[accesscpu_]

I've tried using Group Policy Editor on my new Windows 11 install to customize a few things, but nothing I do there seems to work. For instance, I tried the following three tweaks to the Start Menu/Taskbar:

1. Remove search bar from Start Menu
2. Remove recommended from Start Menu
3. Disable preview of open items in Taskbar

But when I set them to "Enable" then apply/restart, there is no change. Is this because Group Policy Editor isn't set up to actually manage anything on my PC (since this is a home desktop and not a work one)?

 

[Ralston18]

What is the requirement/reason for wanting to remove and disable them?

Where are you attempting to make the "tweaks"?

Via Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar?

Do you have the necessary admin rights on the home desktop to run gpedit?

If so, doublecheck the configuration for " Prevent changes to Taskbar and Start Menu Settings."

And there may indeed be limits on what can be customized.

 

[accesscpu_]

What is the requirement/reason for wanting to remove and disable them?

Where are you attempting to make the "tweaks"?

Via Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar?

Do you have the necessary admin rights on the home desktop to run gpedit?

If so, doublecheck the configuration for " Prevent changes to Taskbar and Start Menu Settings."

And there may indeed be limits on what can be customized.

Thanks for following up. Answers below...

What is the requirement/reason for wanting to remove and disable them?
- Just attempting to have more control over my setup, and would prefer not seeing these (as I simply have no use for them)

Where are you attempting to make the "tweaks"?
- I'm not sure what you mean by where, other than I'm using the Group Policy Editor (IE: I enable the changes that say that will have the desired effects, but nothing happens)

Via Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar?
- Yes, both found under Computer Configuration and User Configuration

Do you have the necessary admin rights on the home desktop to run gpedit?
- I use one local account on Windows 11, which is listed as Local Account/Administrator in my settings menu. However, I have not ran Group Policy Editor as "Run as administrator." But I see no option for that.

If so, doublecheck the configuration for " Prevent changes to Taskbar and Start Menu Settings."
- I have checked this, and it is set to "Not Configured." That is the case for all my Group Policies, as I have only tested a few small tweaks on those three things listed above. Do I need to change this setting, which might allow these changes to take affect?

And there may indeed be limits on what can be customized.
- Am I wrong in assuming that if it's in the Group Policy Editor, it should indeed do something? Or is that only on certain systems?

 

[Ralston18]

Learn to ignore the things you have "no use for".

As soon as you manage to remove something Murphy's law will be invoked and suddenly you will need to have and use it.

No doubt that there are some useful tweaks for end users and admins.

You can make tweaks via Group Policy, Registry Editor, and Powershell. The premise being that what you wish to change is indeed changeable/controllable and later not overridden by some other configuration setting. Windows has many dependencies.

And, as always should be being done, be sure that the system and data is fully backed up for recovery purposes.

Or experiment with tweaks on a test system that can be rapidly recovered if you are fortunate enough to have such a system to learn on.

I would hope and expect that if "prevent changes" is enabled then the targeted user accounts would not be allowed to make any changes.

Or perhaps be allowed some limited functional changes (e.g. rename folders) and/or cosmetic changes (e.g., desktop color).

What Group Policy allows depends on both edition and then account rights for any given user.

Likewise for Registry Editor and Powershell. Or other utilities and apps that facilitate system customizations.

FYI:

https://4sysops.com/archives/group-...een-windows-10-enterprise-and-windows-10-pro/

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/7764-compare-windows-10-editions.html

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/w...-ds/manage/group-policy/group-policy-overview

There are many similar links to be found.

Three considerations:

1) Is the change really necessary?
2) Is the change even possible?
3) Is there a tool in place to facilitate making the change?

change/tweak....

Overall requirement being that the necessary rights are in place to permit the required level of tweaks.

There is a lot to be said regarding "If it ain't broke, then don't fix it."

 

[onespeedbiker]

The GPE is primarily a tool used by an administrator to configure multiple computers on a network. For an individual computer you can accomplish those goals without the Group Policy Editor. Right click on a blank part of the taskbar and chose Taskbar settings. As an example under Personalization > Taskbar the first item is a drop-down for the search box. Click on the drop-down and chose Hide/ Icon only / Icon and Label.

 

[thestryker]

In case you're wondering why you didn't find it I'm assuming you're running a Home version of Windows which don't have built in GPE capability.

 

[accesscpu_]

Update:

I ran across this random post online (researching an unrelated issue), and I saw someone say this about the Group Policy Editor. Could this be why nothing seems to change on my system when applying Group Policy Settings?

...is through a group policy, but unless your Windows instance is connected to an Active Directory domain, it cannot be used.

 

[onespeedbiker]

To answer your question, no. The GPE is primarily a tool to administer a network and for this requires the network have an Active Directory Domain. In your case you are using the GPE to modify the registry of a single computer, so an ADD is not needed. In your case the GPE will need to be either available or set up (installed) and any changes needs to be properly saved.

View: https://youtu.be/r0hp3JT2bw4?si=ohDdz_zEpTmUtcZt
check this out.

 

[lantis3]

I use WinAero and Open Shell Menu to tweak Windows 10/11

search youtube for tutorials.

 

[accesscpu_]

Will give this a try, thanks for the help!