Turn off Start Menu

[Brett]

Can anyone tell me if it's possible to just simply disable
the Start Menu button using local group policies in
Windows 2000 Pro? I've been looking and can't find
anything that simply turns it off. Is there a combination
of items that will do essentially the same thing?

What I'm wanting to do is totally lock down the desktop to
use only the icons that are on it. Internet Explorer
needs to be used, but without Internet access, just local
intranet. There are a couple of other shortcuts to
programs on the desktop, and that's all they need access
to.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Brett

 

[Derek Melber [MVP]]

Brett,

I am 99% sure that this is not an option, since Log Off is on the Start
menu.

 

[Chriss3]

Log Off are not on the Start Menu so long as you not have define such in a
GPO or enabled the registiery key else it appears in the Shut Down Window.
But there is no way to complete hide the start menu with out use another GUI
than explorer.exe I suppose.

--
Regards
Christoffer Andersson

No email replies please - reply in the newsgroup

 

[Derek Melber [MVP]]

Chris,

Yeah, I was generalizing here. The Shut Down is also on the Start Menu,
which is the way to get to the Shut down or Log off. I can't see forcing
most users to use Ctrl-Alt-Del to get to the shut down screen.

thanks for that clarification though... I did not mean to confuse the issue
more!

 

[Wuffles]

Can anyone tell me if it's possible to just simply disable
the Start Menu button using local group policies in
Windows 2000 Pro? I've been looking and can't find
anything that simply turns it off. Is there a combination
of items that will do essentially the same thing?

What I'm wanting to do is totally lock down the desktop to
use only the icons that are on it. Internet Explorer
needs to be used, but without Internet access, just local
intranet. There are a couple of other shortcuts to
programs on the desktop, and that's all they need access
to.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Brett

I'm new here, and could be more than wrong, but I'd attack it from the
approach of changing the shell from explorer.exe to something that gives
specific application icons and a logoff/restart icon too - you may have to
build this as a VB application yourself to lock the machine down to the
programs you want. Once you have a working app that gives what you want,
make it the shell application for the machines you want to lockdown. Simple
(ish).

Hope that makes sense.

 

[David Everett [MSFT]]

You cannot Disable/Remove the Start menu.

Try following "278295 How to Lock Down a Windows 2000 Terminal Server
Session" to lock the system down.

278295 How to Lock Down a Windows 2000 Terminal Server Session
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=278295

Also, the Windows 2000 Resource Kit help file (gp.chm) lists numerous policy
settings that may help lock the system down further. In the help file just
search on...

disable start menu

 

[Wuffles]

You cannot Disable/Remove the Start menu.

Try following "278295 How to Lock Down a Windows 2000 Terminal Server
Session" to lock the system down.

278295 How to Lock Down a Windows 2000 Terminal Server Session
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=278295

Also, the Windows 2000 Resource Kit help file (gp.chm) lists numerous
policy settings that may help lock the system down further. In the
help file just search on...

disable start menu

So, creating an application that gives the icons you want to give, then
renaming explorer.exe in the systemroot\windows\system32\dllcache to
something else, renaming your required application to explorer.exe and
copying into the dllcache directory, then for every other occurence of
explorer.exe on the system, replacing it with your own file named
explorer.exe wouldn't work? To my mind that makes one "start menu-less" PC.
Mind you, you still have to disable some stuff from the local policy, namely
task running ability.

 

[David Everett [MSFT]]

You cannot simply disable Start menu and hacking the system to fake it into
thinking it is loading Explorer.exe is not a supported solution. However,
you can switch the Shell (Explorer.exe) for something other than
Explorer.exe, even your own custom shell.

NOTE: If you encounter issues by switching the shell and need support you
will have to switch back to Explorer.exe.

Here are some articles on how to change the shell:

156092 How to Make Program Manager the Shell in Windows NT 4.0
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=156092

228309 Shells Other Than Explorer.exe Replaced on Installation or Upgrade
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=228309

 

[Wuffles]

You cannot simply disable Start menu

Bypassing explorer.exe as a shell does exactly that doesn't it?

and hacking the system to fake
it into thinking it is loading Explorer.exe is not a supported
solution. However, you can switch the Shell (Explorer.exe) for
something other than Explorer.exe, even your own custom shell.

I know, I suggested it a couple of posts back - "changing the shell from
explorer.exe to something that gives specific application icons".

 

[David Everett [MSFT]]

Booting to Safe Mode in order to bypass Windows File Protection with the
purpose of renaming the real explorer.exe in dllcache and system32, then
replacing it with an executable of the same name is a hack.

From the articles provided it is possible to replace the shell but any
issues that are encountered with the new shell are not supported. To
troubleshoot any issue encountered on the system it would have to be
reproducible under the real Explorer.exe.

 

[Wuffles]

Booting to Safe Mode in order to bypass Windows File Protection with
the purpose of renaming the real explorer.exe in dllcache and
system32, then replacing it with an executable of the same name is a
hack.

From the articles provided it is possible to replace the shell but any
issues that are encountered with the new shell are not supported. To
troubleshoot any issue encountered on the system it would have to be
reproducible under the real Explorer.exe.

[top posting fixed again]

And?

As you clearly don't want to let this go for whatever reason, I'll explain
one more time.

I suggested two different ways of performing the same action. One of which
you are now suggesting is the best way to do this...when the first answer to
the OP was "no, it can't be done".

Here's a refresher for you:

My first suggestion -> "changing the shell from explorer.exe to something
that gives specific application icons"

My second suggestion -> "creating an application that gives the icons you
want to give, then renaming explorer.exe in the
systemroot\windows\system32\dllcache to something else"

Two ways to perform the same action. Both "hacks". One more "hacky" (my own
word) than the other, but both locking a workstation down and disabling the
start menu which was the OP's request.

I don't understand why you keep coming back quoting different things. It's
pretty black and white.

Have a good weekend.