Hi is there a way to backup/restore/reset windows 10 start menu layout with a bat files ? maybe without errors i found several site with steps by steps , i created a bat file ,run as administrator , but after coping the files,can not have explorer.exe working thanks
@mantra I just did a quick look on Google, and there were plenty of links for a batch file which only worked on preview builds. Another link gave a command to enter in PowerShell, but that just returned an error. It would be nice to know how to do it, as from time to time, the layout of my start menu, gets messed up for no reason.
@Brian K That's not a viable option for me as I install new software more often than I backup. Also, it's much quicker to restore a Smart Menu backup than an image.
Roger, I'd say you aren't backing up frequently enough. An image backup should take less than two minutes. A restore should take less than two minutes. Unless of course you have your data files in the OS partition. But that's your choice.
Any imaging app will do that if you don't put your data files in the OS partition. Keep the OS partition lean and mean. Edit.. My test computer has a UEFI Win10 install with only a few apps installed and no data files in the OS partition. An OS restore takes 29 seconds. I know, it's not a typical system.
My OS W7Px64 with all programs is ~37GB without data files. Takes 12-18 minutes each way using the ancient EaseUS Todo Backup Advanced Server v4.5. It's never failed me, even to dissimilar hardware through hundreds of restores to dozens of different hardware.
@zapjb My Windows 10 install and programs takes up a bit over 40GB, but I have a lot of data files as well, which make the total disk space used much bigger.
My Win10 partition (three year old OS, upgraded from Win8.1) has 24.5 GB of Used Space. PageFile is 2.4 GB. There is no Hibernation file. My data files are 360 GB.
I have Windows 7 x64 install with Office 2010 and some other apps that is 23 GB (including 2 GB pagefile) in size. It takes Macrium Reflect v.5 6 minutes for full backup and approx. 2 minutes for incremental. I backup my system from SSD to separate data HDD.
Here is one article that shows how to do it for start menu items (live tiles and apps on right side): http://www.thewindowsbulletin.com/how-to-backup-start-menu-in-windows-10-1038/ You can create a batch that will copy (or restore) those files.
I was thinking about syncing it by signing in with the same Microsoft account, but guess not...: http://winsupersite.com/windows-10/no-start-menu-and-app-sync-windows-10 How complex is your start menu anyways that you'd require to back it up? I'd just do a screenshot of the start menu if restoring from system image is too much.
Well I just imaged my OS with Macrium Reflect WinPE BootCD x64. Same everything & it took ~8 minutes longer than EaseUS. It was 4-5GB larger than the EaseUS image. Same OS, compression & priority for each image.