#RESWM2012 Archives - MARKSWINKELS.NL

How to: Remove “settings” button in Mozilla Firefox

In some scenario’s you want to remove some buttons within the options of Mozilla Firefox. Because there are not that enhanced group policies for Mozilla Firefox, you’ve to script something. In my example I’ve used RES Workspace Manager to distribute the modified files, but you can also use something else. For example: PowerShell, batchfiles or Group Policy Preferences.

You can edit the file userChrome.css in the folder AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Profiles\<nameofyourprofile>\chrome to tweak the menu settings within Mozilla Firefox. In my example I’ve added the following rule:
/* Remove connection button */
#connectionSettings { display: nome !important; }

When you open Mozilla Firefox the next time, the “Settings” is gone! 🙂

How to: Configure a “Boot to desktop” group policy for Windows 8.1

New in Windows 8.1 is the “Boot to Desktop” feature, where the user can choose not to boot to the Windows Tiles, but directly to the desktop! That’s a really nice feature if you ask me! How can we centrally configure and manage these feature for all my users or just a group of users? Exactly, through a group policy with User Preferences. It’s a user settings, so you could also use RES Workspace Manager for example.

1.) Navigate to your Group Policy Management Console
2.) Create a new Group Policy and disable the Computer Settings
3.) Open the policy and navigate to User Configuration / Preferences / Windows Settings / Registry
4.) Create a new Registry Item
5.) Choose for Hive “HKEY_CURRENT_USER” and Navigate in the Key Path to:
Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StartPage
6.) The Value name is “OpenAtLogon“
6.) Choose the Value type “REG_DWORD”
7) The Value data is:
Boots to Desktop = “0”
Boots to Start Menu = “1”
8.) Attach the group policy to a organizational unit(s) and login to your Windows 8.1 machine!

How to: Disable first sign-in animation in Windows 8 using RES Automation Manager

When a user login the very first time on a Windows 8 of 8.1 machine, they will see a “animation” with some helpful tips. During this stage the userprofile is being created and prepared. While the first sign-in animation may be helpful to new users to see, but it slows down the logintimes. So let’s turn this animation off using RES Automation Manager 2012.

1.) Create a new module with RES Automation Manager 2012
2.) Choose for “Apply Registry Settings”
3.) Navigate to the following registry section
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
4.) Create a new REG_DWORD named EnableFirstLogonAnimation
5.) Give it the value 0 to disable and 1 to enable
6.) Schedule the job to your Windows 8 or 8.1 machines, login again and see what happends!

How to: Print multiple documents from Windows Explorer using RES Workspace Manager

Normally users have the ability to right click on a file, or multiple files in the Windows Explorer, and print the file(s). When using RES Workspace Manager, this option is default not available for all your file extensions. This is a feature that you want enable for your users, for example for PDF files. So let’s configure this option.

1.) First of all start the RES Workspace Manager console
2.) Navigate to Composition / Applications / Adobe Reader XI (in my example for PDF files)
3.) Navigate to the Properties / File Types tab and click Add
4.) Add the PDF file extension
5.) Select the command Print
6.) Select the parameter “%1”, this is default
7.) Now login with a user again and the Print option for PDF files within the Windows Explorer is back again!

How to: Remove public Libraries in Windows Server 2008 R2 using RES Workspace Manager 2012

Default in Windows Server 2008 R2, there’re libraries available for each user. This Libraries are located in the left bar in the Windows Explorer. When you’re using a Server Based Computing environment, for example Remote Desktop Services or Citrix Xenapp, you want to edit this libraries. Default, the users have own libraries, but also an public library. The public libraries are located to C:\Users\Public. In an Server Based Computing environment, the users haven’t access to that location. Let’s have a look on have to delete this public libraries.

In this environment I’m using Windwos Server 2008 R2 with the Remote Desktop Services role enabled. The workspace is managed with RES Workspace Manager 2012. The users are using mandatory profiles, published as a custom resources with RES Workspace Manager.

1.) First of all, let’s have a look in the Windows Explorer. In the left bar there’re the libraries.
2.) The library folders are located in the directory
C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries
Documents.library-ms
Music.library-ms
Pictures.library-ms
Videos.library-ms
3.) Let’s open these files in notepad (or another texteditor)
4.) There’re two sections. One for the library and one for the public library.
5.) Right-click on each public library and choose Remove Location from library
6.) The public libraries are located to C:\Users\Public. In an Server Based Computing environment, the users haven’t access to that location.
7.) After deleting the public libraries, navigate back to the library directory in your profile
C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries
Documents.library-ms
Music.library-ms
Pictures.library-ms
Videos.library-ms
8.) Open each file within notepad and delete the rows
<ownerSID>….</ownerSID>
<serialized>….</serialized>
This will make the files generic for using as a baseline for all the users.
9.) Open your RES Workspace Manager Console and navigate to Administration, Custom Resources
10.) Open your mandatory profile and navigate to
Mandatory Profile\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries
11.) Delete the orrigional files and add the four customized files into this folder
12.) Update the cache of your RES Workspace Manager Agents and login with a user
13.) The public libraries are gone now and users didn’t receive error messages anymore 🙂

Hopefully this blogpost is usefull for your own production envirenment!

How to: Show recent files in the Start Menu when using RES Workspace Manager 2012

When you are using RES Workspace Manager 2012 and you have configured to apply the Windows Shell, the recently files are not shown in the start menu. This is a feature that is a must for some users, so let’s have a look on how to enable this option!

1.) In the first screemdump, the recently files are not shown
2.) Open the registry (regedit.exe)
3.) Navigate to the following section in the registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
4.) Create a new REG_DWORD with the name Start_ShowRecentDocs with the value 1
5.) You also can create a new User Registry within RES Workspace Manager 2012, though this option it’s available for all users!
6.) Logoff the user and login again. As you can see, there are the recently files!
7.) The recently files are stored in the folder:
%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent
8.) When you’re using mandatory profiles or you doesn’t redirect de AppData folder, configure a User Preference within RES Workspace Manager 2012 to save the recently files.
9.) Create a new User Preference and select the option Folder tree to the path %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent

How to: Remove the personal folder from the dekstop within Windows Server 2008 R2

Default within Windows Server 2008 R2 there’s a shortcut available on your desktop to the users personal folder. When you’re using a mandatory profile with folder redirection, the links to the personal folders are wrong and the users are getting an error message!

In this blogpost I’m using RES Workspace Manager 2012 to solve this problem. You can also use an script that changes the specific registry key.

1. ) Open the RES Workspace Manager 2012 Console
2.) Navigate to Composition / Actions By Type / User Registry
3.) Create a new Registry setting and import the right registry key.
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\NonEnum]
“{59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}”=dword:00000001
4.) Now logoff the user and login again. As you can see, the shortcut to the personal folder has gone.