Start Menu Locked grrrrrr

Why some sysadmins lock the start menu I don't know.  It just reduces productivity when users are unable to customize the area designed to allow quick launching of favourite apps.

So if you suspect there is a group policy locking this down try this.

1. Set this key to 0
   
   HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer
   LockedStartLayout   REG_DWORD    0
   
   As a user you probably won't have permissions.  Elevate then edit the user key below the appropriate SID in HKEY_USERS
   
2. Use the task manager to End Process on explorer.exe
   
3. Then in task manager use File_Run New Task to re-launch explorer

You can now "Pin to Start" for as long as the GPO has not affected the current explorer session.  You would likely have to carry out the procedure again before you could "Pin to Start", after a reboot for example.