Option to remove individual pinned apps from the startmenu (ie. Grammarly and Spotify)

[projektilski]

Hi, can you implement an option to remove Grammarly and Spotify?

[Raphire]

Heya,

Could you confirm that they're actually installed on the system? My guess is that they're just pinned to the start menu, and will not be installed until you click them. Similar to your other issue #40.

[projektilski]

They are not installed, but the uninstall option is available when right click on them.
Grammaryl, Spotify, and LinkedIn are spamming the Start Menu on a brand new profile.

EDIT: Spotify is installed and exe is located in the AppData folder, it offers an uninstall option. LinkedIn was downloading something when clicked but it did not open, uninstall was available. Grammary does not offer an uninstall option and points to Microsoft Store.

[Raphire]

It's interesting that the behaviour is so different between the 3 apps.

Could you confirm if they're actually recognized as installed and removable by running the following commands in powershell:

Spotify: Get-AppxPackage *spotify*

This is what I get after installing spotify:

LinkedIn: Get-AppxPackage *linkedin*

This is what I get after installing linkedin:

Grammarly: winget list grammarly

This is what I get after installing grammarly

[Raphire]

I have done some additional testing by doing a few fresh installs. In those installs Grammarly, LinkedIn, Spotify, and Luminar Neo do show up in the start menu, but none are installed. I also couldn't find any files related to Spotify, or any of the other 3 apps.

[projektilski]

Hi, I did some testing also. If I understand correctly, your script removes apps for all users. When I create a new user on the same machine, all those apps are listed in Start Menu, but are not actually installed. Right click on them offers uninstall option, but what it actually does is to remove the pinned item.
So the real issue is how to remove those unwanted pinned items for new users.

p.s. I found a new app Journal which is not pinned in Start Menu but it is listed under All apps. It can be uninstalled via Powershell using Microsoft.MicrosoftJournal manifes name.

[Raphire]

Hi, I did some testing also. If I understand correctly, your script removes apps for all users. When I create a new user on the same machine, all those apps are listed in Start Menu, but are not actually installed. Right click on them offers uninstall option, but what it actually does is to remove the pinned item.
So the real issue is how to remove those unwanted pinned items for new users.

Exactly right, the UI does act as if they are installed (as they show an uninstall option), but they're not.

The annoying part is that these app links are, at least for a script like this, much harder to remove than the actual apps if they were installed. I'm looking into ways to have this script be able to unpin individual apps, but right now the only way I have found that works is replacing the whole start menu layout all together.

p.s. I found a new app Journal which is not pinned in Start Menu but it is listed under All apps. It can be uninstalled via Powershell using Microsoft.MicrosoftJournal manifes name.

I'll be adding support for this app to the script, thanks for bringing that to my attention 😀

[Raphire]

I've renamed the issue (and definitely didn't make a spelling mistake) to better reflect the feature requested.

[miladhatami1393]

Hi, I did some testing also. If I understand correctly, your script removes apps for all users. When I create a new user on the same machine, all those apps are listed in Start Menu, but are not actually installed. Right click on them offers uninstall option, but what it actually does is to remove the pinned item.
So the real issue is how to remove those unwanted pinned items for new users.

p.s. I found a new app Journal which is not pinned in Start Menu but it is listed under All apps. It can be uninstalled via Powershell using Microsoft.MicrosoftJournal manifes

[Raphire]

Hi, I did some testing also. If I understand correctly, your script removes apps for all users. When I create a new user on the same machine, all those apps are listed in Start Menu, but are not actually installed. Right click on them offers uninstall option, but what it actually does is to remove the pinned item. So the real issue is how to remove those unwanted pinned items for new users.

That's correct, the items are not installed so they cannot be removed. They only exist as a pinned item in the start menu binary. This binary (start2.bin) is stored per user at: C:\Users\{USERNAME}\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState

As the file is a binary it cannot be edited easily. That's why Win11Debloat can only clear the entire start menu by replacing this file with another.

p.s. I found a new app Journal which is not pinned in Start Menu but it is listed under All apps. It can be uninstalled via Powershell using Microsoft.MicrosoftJournal manifes

Win11Debloat should be able to uninstall this already. It's actually marked to be uninstalled as part of the default setting.