unpin apps from taskbar and start menu using powershell - windows

Question

In Windows 11, using PowerShell, I am trying to unpin Microsoft Store from the taskbar and ESPN & Spotify from the start menu.
function unpin_taskbar([string]$appname) {
((New-Object -Com Shell.Application).NameSpace('shell:::{4234d49b-0245-4df3-b780-3893943456e1}').Items() |
Where-Object{$_.Name -eq $appname}).Verbs() | Where-Object{$_.Name.replace('&','') -match 'Unpin from taskbar'} | ForEach-Object{$_.DoIt()}
}
function unpin_startmenu([string]$appname) {
((New-Object -Com Shell.Application).NameSpace('shell:::{4234d49b-0245-4df3-b780-3893943456e1}').Items() |
Where-Object{$_.Name -eq $appname}).Verbs() | Where-Object{$_.Name.replace('&','') -match 'Unpin from Start'} | ForEach-Object{$_.DoIt()}
}
foreach ($taskbarapp in 'Microsoft Store') {
Write-Host unpinning $taskbarapp
unpin_taskbar("$taskbarapp")
}
foreach ($startmenuapp in 'ESPN', 'Spotify') {
Write-Host unpinning $startmenuapp
unpin_startmenu("$startmenuapp")
}
Microsoft Store is unpinned successfully, but the next two fail. This is the output.
unpinning Microsoft Store
unpinning ESPN
You cannot call a method on a null-valued expression.
At C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\repo\general\rundeck\windows\unpin_windows_apps.ps1:7 char:5
+ ((New-Object -Com Shell.Application).NameSpace('shell:::{4234d49b ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [], RuntimeException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvokeMethodOnNull
unpinning Spotify
You cannot call a method on a null-valued expression.
At C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\repo\general\rundeck\windows\unpin_windows_apps.ps1:7 char:5
+ ((New-Object -Com Shell.Application).NameSpace('shell:::{4234d49b ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [], RuntimeException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvokeMethodOnNull
What I'm I doing wrong here?

Answer 1

are you looking at something like this by any change?
Install-Module -Name Microsoft.PowerShell.StartMenu
Import-Module Microsoft.PowerShell.StartMenu
Remove-StartAppsTaskbarPinned -AppName "Microsoft Store"
Remove-StartAppsStartMenuPinned -AppName "ESPN"
Remove-StartAppsStartMenuPinned -AppName "Spotify"
You will need to install the module "Microsoft.PowerShell.StartMenu", this is mandatory to run those commands.
You can look at the powershell gallery to find out more what this is about and how it works.