The company has detailed a feature exclusively available in Windows 8.1 Enterprise

Oct 31, 2013 23:31 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has made many changes to Windows 8.1 that are aimed not only at consumers, but also at enterprises looking for more control of their businesses.

One of the features exclusively available in the Enterprise version of Windows 8.1 is called Start screen control and gives IT pros the possibility to configure the layout of the Start screen for a specific user group and prevent any changes from being applied.

After setting up the layout, admins need to export it to an XML file using the following PowerShell command:

PS C:\> Export-StartLayout –As XML –Path \\contoso-mgmt\Layouts$\ManagedUser.xml

“Next, you can specify a path to this layout file using Active Directory Group Policy. From the Group Policy Management Editor, navigate to ‘User Configuration \ Policies \ Administrator Templates \ Start Menu and Taskbar’ where you can find the ‘Start Screen Layout’ policy setting,” Microsoft said.

Simply turn on this option and write down the correct path to the layout file and you should be ready to go.

Note that this particular feature is only available in the Enterprise version of Windows 8.1, so it’s not included in the core or Pro builds.