Removing NT/2000 Common Start Menus

Question

Can I remove the Common Start Menu items in NT and 2000 so that users only see the server based shortcuts?

Symptoms

N/A

Resolution

Note: This setting has been changed in Ranger 4.3.

Ranger 4.3 and later

Common Start Menu items are controlled by the following RangerAdmin entry. Hiding/displaying Common Start Menus is now a group based option.



Ranger 4.2 and before

Use Ranger Profiles to turn off the common Start Menu registry settings via the "All computers" NT/2000 policy.

Note: This feature was modified in Ranger 4.03 SR1. Ensure you patch your system before following these instructions.

Leaving the policy settings grey will not change the local machines' settings.
 
Un-checking the tick boxes will remove the settings for Common Start Menus effectively removing them from users' Start Menus on all NT/2000 machines.
 
Ticking the boxes allows alternate specific paths to be selected/entered for the location of the Common Start Menu items



Note the different default locations for NT workstations and Windows 2000 workstations (see below).
 
Notes:
These settings are machine based and by default affect all users. If you want some users to see the Common Start Menu items and other not, then set the location to a server based directory and/or use permissions to control access by group.

If you have a mixture of NT and 2000 machines, either configure these settings for specific computers differently by adding custom computers to Ranger profiles or leave grey and configure locally.