How to Pin a Program to Start menu via Group Policy

How to Pin Programs to Start menu in Windows 7

   In Windows 7, Start Menu pinned items are stored in the following location:

%APPDATA%MicrosoftInternet ExplorerQuick LaunchUser PinnedStartMenu

Steps to Pin Programs/Items to Start menu in Current Machine:

1.  Click to download the vbscript file PinItems Download PinItems.
2.  Place the downloaded vbscript file in your favourite place. I have placed here -> C:ScriptsPinItem.vbs
3.  Now run the following command in Command Prompt to Pin MS Paint Program to Start menu.

cscript C:ScriptsPinItem.vbs  /item:"c:windowssystem32mspaint.exe"

4. Then go the Start menu pinned items location : %APPDATA%MicrosoftInternet ExplorerQuick LaunchUser PinnedStartMenu and you could see the shortcut icon for paint program.

Note: Here, you can replace your own program’s exe path that you are going to pin it in Start menu.
Ex: Use the below command to pin uTorrent in Start menu.

cscript C:ScriptsPinItem.vbs /item:"C:\Program FilesuTorrentuTorrent.exe"

How to Pin a Program to Start menu via GPO

   After read the above steps, you may guess what we are going to do to Pin a Program/Items to Start menu via Group Policy. We are going save the above commands in a script or batch file and run through GPO’s logon script to Pin a Programs to Start menu for all user’s computer.

Steps to Pin a Program/Items to Start menu through GPO:

1. Click to download the vbscript file PinItems Download PinItems.

2. Place the downloaded vbscript file in any share path(Network Share). I have placed here -> work2008R2sharePinItem.vbs

3. Open new Notepad file, copy the below command and paste in Notepad.

cscript C:ScriptsPinItem.vbs /item:"c:windowssystem32mspaint.exe"

4. Save the Notepad file with the extension .bat like PinProgram.bat


5. Place the PinProgram.bat file into same share path where you placed PinItem.vbs (work2008R2sharePinProgram.bat)

6. Open the Group Policy Management console by running the command gpmc.msc.


7. Expand the tree and Right-click on the OU you want this policy to be applied to. Now, I am going to apply users who are under the OU DesignTeam. so right-click on the OU DesignTeam, and click Create a GPO in this domain, and Link it here…

8. Type new policy name and click OK. Here, I am giving policy name Pin-StartMenu-Program-Policy

9. Now right-click on the newly created GPO Pin-StartMenu-Program-Policy and click edit.

10. Go to the settings Scripts under User Configuration (User Configuration->Policies->Windows Settings->Scripts(Logon/Logoff)). In the right side pane, click Logon.

11. Add the batch file path work2008R2sharePinProgram.bat in logon Script Name and click OK.

12. Click Apply to apply Logon Script settings.

13.Run the command gpupdate /force to apply gpo to all the users under the OU DesignTeam.

Now, you have configured new GPO to Pin a Program/Item to Start menu via GPO in all user’s computer. when a user login, this script automatically run and Pin programs to Start menu.

See the below image which I got when login as the user Morgan:

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