Customize Windows 8.x Start Menu from Task Sequence

Very simple task.

First from a reference computer where all applications which will be in the deployed image are installed customize the start menu as required.

From an elevated powershell run the following:

Export-StartLayout -as BIN -Path C:\Temp\StartLayout.bin

There are many ways of placing it to the task sequence. I like to include it to the MDT Toolkit (in this example I will place it in the scripts folder) so I don't have to create an extra package and then from the task sequence create a new Run Command Line with the following command:

C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowershell\v1.0\powershell.exe -noprofile -windowstyle hidden -command Import-StartLayout -LayoutPath %SCRIPTROOT%\StartLayout.bin -MountPath %SYSTEMDRIVE%\

Just make sure you create the Run Command Line when the MDT Toolkit is cached in the computer.