How can I make all accounts on pc have same desktop settings

[B00D00]

I have several MS accounts on my computer. For the "main" user I have spent quite some time to set up the icons in start menu and taskbar etc. What do I have to do so that all the other accounts have the same setup in start menu and taskbar? Is there a location from where I can copy those settings?

 

[Deepak]

Nope. There used to be a way for syncing the Start layout in the initial months of Windows 10 but Microsoft blocked it. As of now, you cannot sync the Start layout across devices on Windows 10 as in Windows 8.1. It's not officially supported. You can only sync the options given in Settings app > Accounts > Sync your settings.

 

[B00D00]

Thanks for answering, Deepak, however my question did not concern syncing the layout "across devices" but rather across accounts on ONE pc.

 

[anon(7917514)]

Check out this link it may work for you
https://technet.microsoft.com/itpro...indows-10-start-screens-by-using-group-policy

 

[Deepak]

Thanks for answering, Deepak, however my question did not concern syncing the layout "across devices" but rather across accounts on ONE pc.

Oh. Anyways, it might answer someone else's question The post above me might help. But it's for accounts within a domain (I'm not sure what it means but seems too professional).

 

[B00D00]

Thanks, lexrsk, however I stopped reading where it points out that the solution applies to Windows 10 Enterprise or Windows 10 Education, while Windows 10 Pro is explicitly excluded.

 

[RumoredNow]

Moved to appropriate area...

Windows 10 How-To Guides is for write ups of prepackaged solutions... Not for leading questions on issues not yet resolved.

 

[orlbuckeye]

Well this is a multi part question. Some of the things are sync's using you MS acccount. I had an issue with the Store, Mail and camera apps running so I created a new account with admin rights. The first account I created was my MS account that is used for the store, Onedrive and contacts (things that get sync's). Now stuff like wallpaper can get sync'd across other computer using the MS account. But when I created the new account it was a local account with admin rights and not the MS account. So what is did was went into the profile folder C:\users\[accountname] and copied the folders to the new account. Now i had to be login in to the original account before it let me copy. The folders are favorites, Desktop, Downloads, My documents and others. When I rebooted the shortcuts on the desktop were the same. Also you could move the folders into the public folder but I'm not sure you want to do that with your My Documents folder. I would use either Gdrive or Onedrive for docs and share to whomever needs them. As far as wallpapers if they are local account they have to point to the wallpaper that is needed to be shared.

 

[B00D00]

Thanks for answering, orlbuckeye! I'm not interested in Downloads, My Documents or stuff like this. All I want is the setup of the Start Menu (i.e. all the tiles) and that of the Taskbar (again, the tiles). So I guess this is not what you're describing. Or again more precisely: Which is the location, where all those links (?) to the tiles in Start Menu or Taskbar are stored?

 

[orlbuckeye]

Our even better yet copy all the contents of the folders to the public folders that match. I have to do that at work because we require admin rights to install software and if I install the software and a shortcut is created on the desktop it's only created for my profile unless I move it to public then every user sees it. It used to be called all users profile in XP.

 

[jmshub]

Here is how businesses set up a default profile on Windows, and how this may help you, but I'll try to explain the caveats as well.

You said you already have an account set up just the way you want. For the sake of explanation, I will call this account the master account. Browse to the C:\Users folder on your PC. In Windows Explorer, go to the view tab and check the box to show Hidden Items.

Find the folder for the user that you want to become your new default. Make a copy of that folder. There will be a hidden folder called Default. Rename that folder to Default.old. Change the Copy of Master folder to Default.

Now, any new user you create on this PC will use the Default profile that you have customized to your liking. However, this won't affect users that are already on this PC. If you want this to apply to users who are already on the PC, you will have to delete these profiles off the PC. Go to the control panel and search for "Profile", and choose Configure advanced user profile properties. You can also get there by going to Control Panel > System > Advanced tab > and click the Settings button under User Profiles. At this point, click on and delete all of the profiles that you wish to update to the new Default profile that you have created. Once all of the profiles are deleted, restart the PC and log on with these accounts again. The profiles will be created with the new Default template that you have created.

Now, the thing about this is that this only changes how the profile is created the first time an account is logged onto Windows. Once these new profiles are set up based on the template that you have built, they will not automatically follow any changes that you make with your master account. In other words, new accounts will be set up to look like your master account, but once the other accounts are created, changes made to the master profile will not affect any change on the sub-accounts.

 

[B00D00]

Thanks jmshub, that sounds pretty much like what I intended. That the (non "master") accounts will not follow up on further changes is no problem. I will check this out next time the PC allows for a restart.