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Removed "Documents" from start menu. How do I recover it?


bubbles

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Dear all,

I've been using nlite to create an auto installing CD and it's an excellent programme. However, I recently became over excited and accidentally removed the "Documents" option from the start menu.

I've tried putting it back through running the programme again, but this hasn't worked.

Is there a way to repair the damage I've caused? I wondered if a script ran after install and if I could edit this directly, or stop it running entirely.

Many thanks for your advice,

Nick

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi there - sorry for the delay: the recent documents. The list of files recently accessed.

I'm sure it's a switch somewhere that's stuck in the config somewhere that isn't being removed.

Many thanks.

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Hi, create a *.REG file with this content and apply it:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoRecentDocsMenu"=-
"NoRecentDocsHistory"=-

It should delete the policy tweak.

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Hello - many thanks for that. I shall try it tomorrow. Is there any way to apply this as part of the installation routine, so the reg is either applied immediately after or as part of the install?

Is there anything in the winlite iso that causes the "removal"? If there is, I'll remove it. If someone could point me towards it!

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Ah - I have - on a few occasions. It's actually rather odd. Other features "change" but the start menu consistently removes the "recent documents" entry.

The registry entry didn't work - I assumed I was doing something wrong. Is the last character an underscore?

I fixed the system by removing the registry entries directly, but obviously that's a bit tricky for a lot of comps.

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The last character is a hyphen. I expected you to copy/paste the text directly to a file.

I'm not sure if I understood the second sentence. Did you mean that recent documents menu item was not shown at all or it's content (a list of recently opened files) had been deleted? There's also a tweak which forces the recent docs list removal on each logoff. In that case this will disable it:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"ClearRecentDocsOnExit"=-

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Hi, I didn't mean to sound obtuse - I'm testing on a mac virtual PC, so putting it into a text editor added nonsense. I wanted to clarify, that was all.

However- the reg application "worked" but didn't return the recent documents start menu item even after a reboot. Removing the entries directly did work though, so many thanks for pointing them out.

I've just created a new iso which clearly has this unticked - (to NOT remove this option) and the winlite iso has still included it.

That's why I asked if there was anywhere within the structure where the bat/cmd file was stored. I "recycle" (use the same cd/iso files for each alteration) the image, you see, so if the file is there it will be included in the next alteration.

Edited by bubbles
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Hello - I'm having trouble making the zipped file take. I've edited the approriate line sout, but because the file is not an archive, you cannot add files bakc in to it.

Is there a specific process I need to go through to edit that file?

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Hi, use makecab command to compress the file:

MAKECAB NLITE.INF

Btw, I wrote a small CMD script which allows to edit NLITE.INF comfortably. Place it to a nlited windows installation directory and run. This will: make a backup of NLITE.IN_, extract the INF file, open it with Notepad and when you exit the Notepad, edited file will be compressed back. :thumbup B)

@echo off & set workdir=
if exist NLITE.IN_ set workdir=%CD%
if exist I386\NLITE.IN_ set workdir=%CD%\I386
if not defined workdir (
echo NLITE.IN_ not found. & pause & goto :EOF )
chdir /D "%workdir%"
if not exist NLITE.BAK copy NLITE.IN_ NLITE.BAK
if exist NLITE.INF del /F NLITE.INF
expand.exe -r NLITE.IN_
start /WAIT notepad.exe NLITE.INF
del /F NLITE.IN_
makecab.exe NLITE.INF
if exist NLITE.IN_ del /F NLITE.INF

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Hello, thankyou for all of your very kind help.

I created the cmd file, ran it at the command line and edited the inf file. I also - to be sure - ensured the selection was unchecked within nlite itself.

Created the ISO, installed into a VM.

The blasted recent documents menu is STILL not present.

Now, I am confused and a bit lost. There's no entry for the removal of that Start Menu object, so what the heck is going on?

Many many thanks for everyone's patience,

Nick

NB - Odd settings also I've set the unattended setup desktop res to 800x600. That's not taking either...

I don't know if it's useful at all, but despite the settings being correct in the NLITE.IN_ file, the registry still applies those entries. Removing them restores the doc menu item.

It's really, really weird.

Again, many thanks.

Edited by bubbles
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I created the cmd file, ran it at the command line and edited the inf file. I also - to be sure - ensured the selection was unchecked within nlite itself.

Unchecked selection in nLite does nothing - setting is written only if it's checked.

If the selection is checked automatically, depends only on Last Session.ini.

So if a setting is already applied in the installation, imho it shouldn't be removed this way (I guess).

I don't know if it's useful at all, but despite the settings being correct in the NLITE.IN_ file, the registry still applies those entries. Removing them restores the doc menu item.
I "recycle" (use the same cd/iso files for each alteration) the image, you see, so if the file is there it will be included in the next alteration.

Do you mean that you're nliting already nlited installation? Do you have a nlhive.inf file present somewhere in your installation files?

Odd settings also I've set the unattended setup desktop res to 800x600. That's not taking either...

It has never worked for me, too. Did you integrate gpu driver?

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Hullo there,

Yes, there is an nlhive.inf file in the system. What does this file do?

I deleted the previous last session files from within nlite - to be sure.

That the "instruction" to remove the documents start menu entry was my guess - the odd thing is I'm not sure where it is to remove it from the ISO file.

Regarding the resolution - it works when - as you say - the driver is installed. It's not too much of an issue, just one of those things that'd be nice to have, but I'm not losing any sleep over it.

The 'Documents' entry is my main thing at the mo.

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