Microsoft releases new Windows 11 Start menu, and list of customization policies out too

The new Start menu is now rolling out and there is whole list of Group policies and CSPs that Microsoft has shared.

Earlier today we learned of Microsoft's alleged unreleased Edge-based OS that would be powered by the web and AI, known as "Project Aion". In this OS, the tech giant wanted to replace the Start menu button with Copilot and more.

Speaking of the Start menu, Microsoft has begun rolling out the new Start menu to enterprises and organizations this week, and as such, it has released the various policies and accompanying settings which IT administrators and system admins can use to enable them.

For anyone not familiar, Microsoft began testing the new Start menu last year, and recently, at the end of May, the company released several of those features in the new Experimental (formerly Dev) channel under the build 26300.8553. If you recall, Microsoft did a similar revamp of the Start menu last year too, wherein it added several enhancements and improvements.

As a refresher, with this new update, Microsoft added modularity, resizability, and more. You can check out our dedicated coverage on the topic here.

As such the company has now published the complete set of administrative policies that accompany the redesigned Start menu so that admins can see how the new experience behaves across managed Windows 11 devices. The documentation covers both Group Policy as well as MDM deployments through the Start Policy CSP, with settings across layout, app lists, recommendations, account options, pinned folders, and power controls.

These new policies allow them to enforce custom pinned app layouts using JSON, lock users from modifying Start, hide the Recommended section, disable category view, control the visibility of recently added and most-used apps, and even force a specific Start menu size, among others. You can check them out in full detail at the source links on Microsoft's official Learn website.

Source: Microsoft (link1, link2)

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Posted Friday 3 July 2026 at 1:13 pm AEST (my time).

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