How to move or remove apps in All Apps in the Windows 10 start menu

Martin Brinkmann
Oct 20, 2014
Updated • Jul 5, 2017
Windows, Windows 10
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16

If you have had time to use the preview build of Windows 10 on a machine you may have noticed the new start menu right away.

While not identical to the Windows 7 start menu, it is a compromise that brings the old (desktop programs) and the new (apps and live tiles) together.

What you may have noticed as well is that you cannot move or remove apps when you open the all apps listing. Here you find listed all installed apps and desktop programs.

While it is possible to uninstall third-party apps to remove them from the start menu, it is not possible to do the same for native applications such as the Camera, Calendar or Calculator application.

Update: It appears that Microsoft has blocked the tweak in the final build of Windows 10. While you can still move application shortcuts around, it seems no longer possible to remove native ones from the start menu.

To make matters worse, it is also not possible to move those apps in a folder to make room for desktop programs.

The start menu itself does not offer any options but there is a manual workaround. Here is what you need to do:

  1. You find all application shortcuts listed under C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Application Shortcuts/
  2. To display that folder in File Explorer make sure you enable the display of hidden files and folders with a click on View > Hidden Items.
  3. The folder lists all installed applications.
  4. Create a new folder in there and call it apps.
  5. Move all applications that you don't want to see in the start menu's all apps listings root into that folder.

This is the first part of the operation. When you log off and on again or restart the explorer.exe process, you will notice that those apps shortcuts are no longer listed under All Apps. Search won't find them either however.

windows 10 start menu cleanup

We are creating a new folder under All Apps in the second part of this tutorial and add shortcuts to apps that we want to run on the system in there.

  • Open the folder C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\ in File Explorer and make sure the new apps folder that you have created is also open.
  • Right-click there and select New > Shortcut from the context menu.
  • The target of the shortcut begins with explorer.exe shell:Appsfolder\ all the time and ends with !App
  • The middle part is taken from the apps folder name under Application Shortcuts.
  • You can simply paste the full folder name in there most of the time.

Examples:

Disney's Frozen Free Fall's folder name is Disney.FrozenFreeFall_6rarf9sa4v8jt

The shortcut to the app is explorer.exe shell:Appsfolder\Disney.FrozenFreeFall_6rarf9sa4v8jt!app

Microsoft's Bing Finance app folder name is Microsoft.BingFinance_8wekyb3d8bbwe

The shortcut to the app is explorer.exe shell:Appsfolder\Microsoft.BingFinance_8wekyb3d8bbwe!app

Note:

When an app gets updated, it is listed in the root folder again and it is up to you to repeat the process to remove it again. (thanks Deskmodder)

Summary
How to move or remove apps in All Apps in the Windows 10 start menu
Article Name
How to move or remove apps in All Apps in the Windows 10 start menu
Description
Apps cannot be moved in the All Apps listing of the Windows 10 start menu. Find out how to move them anyway.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. Chris D. said on May 12, 2017 at 12:17 pm
    Reply

    This does not work in Windows 10 Enterprise (build? What build?).

    To make matters worse, I only get AppDataRoaming, instead of AppData (I am on a corporate network).

    The “start menu” is full of rubbish shortcuts that I cannot remove or replace. It looks SO sloppy. I wonder which idiot, pardon my French, at Microsoft came up with this kind of “start menu”.

    There are so many (i.e.: several) things in Windows 10 that are either ridiculously designed or plain stupid in the way it looks and functions. I am glad I still have a previous Windows version at home. Windows 10 ain’t ever going to get onto my computers.

  2. belkin device said on November 10, 2016 at 11:40 pm
    Reply

    Not working anymore on my Windows 10 Home Anniversary. There is nothing in that folder except an .ini file, even with ‘show hidden items’. Its a pity.

  3. iceman said on January 15, 2016 at 11:00 pm
    Reply

    In the start menu, just left click on the folder you want to remove, right click on one of the shortcuts in that folder / open file location (an explorer window will pop up), hit ‘up’ once, then manually delete the entire folder.
    After that, the undesired folder will also be removed from the start menu, automatically.

    1. Honore FM said on April 23, 2016 at 5:33 pm
      Reply

      Great tip!
      This is simple method to remove even multiple program menus or folders in startup menu.
      Thanks a lot.

  4. ccc said on December 1, 2015 at 4:35 am
    Reply

    what if I want to take it t forever

  5. Bill said on August 8, 2015 at 10:59 pm
    Reply

    HELP!!!! Get me out of here. I promise never to “upgrade again.” Windows 10 is one giant leap…. Backwards.

  6. Pat Lyons said on August 7, 2015 at 8:09 am
    Reply

    How CAN I COMPLETELY UNINSTALL WINDOWS 10

    1. Bill said on December 27, 2015 at 7:28 pm
      Reply

      If you have your original Windows 7 install disk, re-install it. If you have any data on the pc of course, back it up external somewhere first. And I agree wholeheartedly with all the comments here. I didn’t know the history of Metro but recall MS was looking to hire Linux programmers. My main pc is is Linux (Arch) with W7pro64 & WinXPhome installed as virtual guests on the LInux host. A second pc i recently decided to take a look at W10 (from W7pro64 update) and its everything everyone has said here, and the workarounds don’t work in the version I have (12/23/2015). I installed some free program from the web to remove Cortana, It made her inoperable along with the Start Menu Search but doesn’t remove her entirely – she’s still all over the registry and several dll’s and still shows up in the Start Menu All Apps, I suspect MS has it so MS can make it operable again regardless of user preferences.
      Now Windows in a virtual environment is the way to go – keep a good backup so if/when it fails, simply overwrite the screwed up guest with the good backup. Its much more secure on a Linux host.

  7. IntoTheTrashItAllGoes said on July 31, 2015 at 2:31 am
    Reply

    TheChairman and FedUpWithWindows all brought up points I agree with, and yes, I’m about done myself. Spent an entire day looking into the OS and am not happy. Some mild improvements, of course, such as the return of a form of the Start Menu, but then there’s all the carryover design philosophy from Windows 8 that bleeds into developer-critical areas that the ordinary user has no business looking into to begin with. Once the majority of what you’re looking for falls under the “Advanced…” button, even commonly used settings that were out in the open in previous iterations, you realize who, once again, this OS is intended for.

    “Settings” buddies up with Metro GUI to be the worst thing to come out of Windows. I thought the cluttered mess of tiles in Metro was bad, but little did I know how bad things would get when the UX design philosophy seeped even further into Windows. Nothing to be said about Edge since it uses the same UI. Closed the browser the moment I realized what I stepped into.

    This “if it isn’t broken, let’s redesign it anyway to maximize ” has got to come to a grinding halt before all we’re left with is a “Start Browser” and “Go to Facebook” button.

    In the meantime, I’m purging my secondary computer of Windows 8/10 and getting a Linux distro. Main desktop is staying with Windows 7 until the bitter end.

  8. TheChairman said on November 2, 2014 at 8:18 am
    Reply

    It’s bad enough that Microsoft plagiarized Gnome3 Unity and sold it as ‘Metro’… an EPIC FAIL on both Linux and Windows.

    Worse, they are now trying to force-feed us a bastardized version of ‘Retro’ Metro (Apps) and rebranding it as ‘Windows 10’.

    It seems MS is still not taking complaints about Win 8 seriously. Why can’t we strip the Metro monstrosity from Start Menu?

    The logical solution is obvious: offer two SEPARATE modes. Let the user choose.

    1) Start Menu & Desktop for mouse/keyboard users (PC and workstation users)
    2) Start Screen & Apps for touch-based ‘consumer’ devices (tablets, phones)

    Get a clue MS. Fire the Metro team, restore Aero with a -real- Start Menu, and stop pushing ‘Live App’ screens on everyone.

    1. FedUpOfWindows said on November 9, 2014 at 5:18 pm
      Reply

      Couldn’t agree more.

      Just VM’ed Windows 10 and am sick of this latest M$ rubbish.

      Can’t even see how to remove OneDrive it’s not in installed programs, windows updates or windows features.

      When are you going to listen M$.

      I don’t want your cloud, I don’t want your metro, I don’t want your apps, take your crap off of my computer and never infect it with this rubbish again.

      Give me a desktop environment for a keyboard and mouse – I will never get touch screen for sitting at my desk, are you complete imbeciles?

      Give me a menu widget that I can access what I need, when I need it, with a powerful search, a taskbar to manage my windows and a system tray.

      Then leave me to decide what is installed and what is pinned to what, I also want smooth curves not 1980’s square – it’s like your design team only had an etch-a-sketch to work with?

      Until you work this out I will stick with Windows 7 and never buy windows again.

      Considering I bought Windows 95 / 98 / XP / Vista (bad mistake!) / Win 7, you should consider me your target audience as an avid MS Windows user!

      I now run Linux Mint on one machine at home because of Windows 8, and it looks like I won’t be running Windows 10 either!

  9. Steve said on October 24, 2014 at 12:38 am
    Reply

    Have you tested this in 9860? I didn’t get around to trying this until after updating to that, and it doesn’t seem to work.

    I created the apps folder and moved all but one app from C:\Users\Steve\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Application Shortcuts\ to that folder.

    I added one shortcut in C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\ just to test.

    I restarted the explorer.exe process. No change.

    I signed out and back in. No change.

    I haven’t rebooted yet. If I do that and it fixes the issue I will come back and add to this comment.

    1. malinus said on July 22, 2015 at 6:51 pm
      Reply

      Doesn’t work for me eater on 10240…
      It’s a shame as this trick is really a must, from my point of view

  10. anon said on October 21, 2014 at 4:57 am
    Reply

    Hi Martin, can you add run command, administrative tools and shortcut to computer (with its contextual right click) and control panel on the right side of Windows 10 start menu?

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on October 21, 2014 at 8:03 am
      Reply

      You can add the control panel link there and maybe with some trickery the others, but not by simply dragging and dropping.

      1. anon said on October 21, 2014 at 8:58 am
        Reply

        Thanks for answering, hope MS do something about this in final release but I somehow doubt it. Another regression, another searching for workaround… sigh.

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