sccm windows 10 task bar customisation issues - windows

Question

I am having issues configuring the windows 10 task bar during the osd stage in sccm. I want to remove whats there and add chrome and file explorer.
I have also got a custom start menu config. The start menu config works, its applied during the task sequence. using this command:
powershell.exe Import-StartLayout -LayoutPath .\StartMenu.xml -MountPath C:\
According to the MS docs you can add the taskbar config to the same file, when I do this is get an error sating its not a valid layout file.
Here is the file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LayoutModificationTemplate
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/LayoutModification"
xmlns:defaultlayout="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/FullDefaultLayout"
xmlns:start="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/StartLayout"
xmlns:taskbar="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/TaskbarLayout"
Version="1">
<LayoutOptions StartTileGroupCellWidth="6" />
<DefaultLayoutOverride>
<StartLayoutCollection>
<defaultlayout:StartLayout GroupCellWidth="6">
<start:Group Name="Apps">
<start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="0" Row="0" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Google Chrome.lnk" />
<start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="2" Row="0" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\VIP Access.lnk" />
<start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="4" Row="0" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Citrix Receiver.lnk" />
</start:Group>
<start:Group Name="Office">
<start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="4" Row="0" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\PowerPoint 2016.lnk" />
<start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="2" Row="0" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Excel 2016.lnk" />
<start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="0" Row="0" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Word 2016.lnk" />
</start:Group>
</defaultlayout:StartLayout>
</StartLayoutCollection>
</DefaultLayoutOverride>
<CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection>
<defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
<taskbar:TaskbarPinList PinListPlacement="Replace">
<taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Google Chrome.lnk" />
</taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
</defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
</CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection>
</LayoutModificationTemplate>
I just cant see whats wrong with it, does anyone see anything?

Answer 1

Quick comparison with our LayoutModification.xml shows that we have it like this
<CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection PinListPlacement="Replace">
<defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
<taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
<taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\System Tools\File Explorer.lnk" />
</taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
</defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
</CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection>
So we got the PinListPlacement in a different place. Maybe that is what puts the cmdlet off.
However I also noticed that we do not use the Import-StartLayout but copy the xml directly to "C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\LayoutModification.xml". Unfortunately I do not recall why we decided for this method. Seeing as Microsoft constantly changed stuff about those xmls, made it possible that exported menus do not work when imported again unchanged and introduced new features with every new release it could be that we just did it because the cmdlets do not work as intended, so maybe try that as well if the change does not work out.