I'm testing Windows 8.1 EE with Server 2012 for a school where I need to configure a common layout that users are unable to change. So, I have configured a start layout and exported it via Powershell to the server and it works fine across my various test user ids apart from a couple of things.
If I create tiles on the start screen which point to specific websites such as Scratch, they only work on the user I exported the start layout from - they don't appear on other user start screens under the same GPO. I can get round this by creating a desktop
shortcut in the GPO under User Config/Prefs/Win settings/shortcuts. It's a bit crude but it works so if there is a straightforward way of creating tiles that do this I'd prefer that..
The other challenge is getting a documents tile on the start screen. I'm using roaming profiles and folder redirection as pupils could log onto any machine and once again, I can set this up and export the start layout to the server but only the user whose start screen I exported gets the documents folder on their start screen when the GPO is applied. The other users just get a blank space. I guess when I create the tile it's pointing to the specific users folder on the server which other users won't have access to so it needs to pick up the specific username of whoever is logged on...
Any suggestions would be appreciated... Thanks