Member Avatar for Kimmi

I have got a .bat file to update some folders and programs etc into Windows NT stations' START MENU. It works actually BUT noted sometimes I NEED to do a PC logoff and relogin before I can see the START MENU being updated with my changes. Doing a refresh doesn't work.

Really suspect it's got something to do with Windows behavior...or even the registries (which I know NUTS and been told before that such are not advisable to touch if one is not sure of what these registries meant..) Any expet can help answer & resolve my this problem??

HELP !!! :sad:

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Short answer and likely cause: Explorer caches the Start Menu view and only re-reads it when the shell is told the folder changed (or when Explorer restarts / the user logs off). That explains why some machines show changes immediately while others only after logoff/logon. Also check whether your script writes to the per-user Start Menu or the All Users (common) Start Menu — the location changed between NT/XP and later Windows versions, so use the proper known-folder (%APPDATA% for per-user, %ALLUSERSPROFILE% / %ProgramData% for common). (learn.microsoft.com)

Practical fix you can add to the .bat (runs in the interactive user session): notify the shell after copying the .lnk by calling SHChangeNotify. A convenient modern way is PowerShell + Add-Type to P/Invoke shell32.SHChangeNotify, for example:

$code = @'
using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
public static class ShellNotify {
  [DllImport("shell32.dll", CharSet=CharSet.Unicode)]
  public static extern void SHChangeNotify(uint wEventId, uint uFlags, string dwItem1, string dwItem2);
}
'@
Add-Type -TypeDefinition $code
[ShellNotify]::SHChangeNotify(0x00001000, 0x0005, "C:\\ProgramData\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs", $null)

That tells Explorer “this folder changed” so the menu refreshes without logoff. See the SHChangeNotify API for details; note that rundll32 is generally not a reliable way to call SHChangeNotify — use a small helper or PowerShell/AutoIt/AutoHotkey approach. (learn.microsoft.com)

Caveat: if your installer/script runs as SYSTEM, from a service, or during imaging it may be running in a different session (Session 0) and notifications won’t reach the user’s Explorer process — the refresh must run in the user’s interactive session or Explorer must be restarted. For domain deployments you can run the refresh as a logon script or use per-user initialization (Active Setup) so the change is applied in each user session. (itprotoday.com)

Following up on ’s KiXtart suggestion: KiXtart is a lightweight logon-script interpreter you can use to copy shortcuts and trigger a shell refresh at logon; it’s commonly used for login automation in Windows domains. If you prefer Group Policy, use a user logon script or Active Setup to run a small refresh (the change must execute as the logged-in user to be immediate). Links: KiXtart docs and Active Setup reference. (studylib.net)

Quick troubleshooting checklist to add to the thread: confirm the .lnk actually appears in the correct Start Menu folder, check permissions, test creating a shortcut manually while logged in (does it appear immediately?), try the PowerShell SHChangeNotify call above, or restart explorer.exe as a last resort.

Member Avatar for Techguy

If you use a roaming (or mandatory) profile, this would account for that, since roaming profiles are only updated on save, i.e. logout.

Member Avatar for Kimmi

No, the PCs are not with roaming profiles. There isn't a consistency...some are ok ie start menu will get updated immediately but there are some which will see the updates only after performing a logoff and re-login. Any idea what is the actual cause and how to actually fix this problem such that I don't need to logoff and re-login in order to view the start menu updates ?? ;)

Member Avatar for Techguy

Will. it sounds like explorer is caching the Menu. You can try using KiXtart and see it that helps.

Member Avatar for Kimmi

That's why i am wondering if it has got anything to do with the registers... :sad: btw, what's KiXtart? :o can oso kindly explain how to use this and where to get it ? :cheesy:

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