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September 01, 2005

How can I enable the Quick Launch toolbar via a logon script or Group Policy?

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John Savill
User Configuration
InstantDoc #47605
FAQ for Windows
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A. Typically, to enable the Quick Launch toolbar, you right-click the taskbar and on the Toolbars menu select Quick Launch. This selection updates the TaskbarWinXP value under the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams\Desktop\ registry subkey. However, it's a binary value that contains information about the entire taskbar configuration. Here's a sample value:

"TaskbarWinXP"=hex:0c,00,00,00,08,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,b0,e2,2b,d8,64,57,d0,11,a9,6e,00,c0,4f,d7,05,a2,22,00,1c,00,0a,10,00,00,1a,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,4c,00,00,00,01,14,02,00,00,00,00,00,c0,00,00,00,00,00,00,46,81,00,00,00,11,00,00,00,12,66,64,6a,9f,e4,c4,01,ab,dc,2d,b9,15,a5,c5,01,ad,9d,70,e0,3e,8e,c5,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,1b,02,14,00,1f,50,e0,4f,d0,20,ea,3a,69,10,a2,d8,08,00,2b,30,30,9d,19,00,2f,43,3a,5c,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,5c,00,31,00,00,00,00,00,10,33,89,b1,10,00,44,4f,43,55,4d,45,7e,31,00,00,44,00,03,00,04,00,ef,be,39,31,2c,41,13,33,6c,b9,14,00,00,00,44,00,6f,00,63,00,75,00,6d,00,65,00,6e,00,74,00,73,00,20,00,61,00,6e,00,64,00,20,00,53,00,65,00,74,00,74,00,69,00,6e,00,67,00,73,00,00,00,18,00,50,00,31,00,00,00,00,00,13,33,54,bb,10,00,4a,4f,48,4e,7e,31,2e,53,41,56,00,00,36,00,03,00,04,00,ef,be,92,31,3c,0a,13,33,58,bb,14,00,00,00,4a,00,6f,00,68,00,6e,00,2e,00,53,00,41,00,56,00,49,00,4c,00,4c,00,54,00,45,00,43,00,48,00,00,00,1a,00,64,00,31,00,00,00,00,00,f3,32,75,a9,13,00,41,50,50,4c,49,43,7e,31,00,00,4c,00,03,00,04,00,ef,be,92,31,3c,0a,13,33,8c,b9,14,00,36,00,41,00,70,00,70,00,6c,00,69,00,63,00,61,00,74,00,69,00,6f,00,6e,00,20,00,44,00,61,00,74,00,61,00,00,00,40,73,68,65,6c,6c,33,32,2e,64,6c,6c,2c,2d,32,31,37,36,35,00,18,00,42,00,31,00,00,00,00,00,01,33,5c,b3,14,00,4d,49,43,52,4f,53,7e,31,00,00,2a,00,03,00,04,00,ef,be,92,31,3c,0a,13,33,8c,b9,14,00,00,00,4d,00,69,00,63,00,72,00,6f,00,73,00,6f,00,66,00,74,00,00,00,18,00,52,00,31,00,00,00,00,00,92,31,41,0a,10,00,49,4e,54,45,52,4e,7e,31,00,00,3a,00,03,00,04,00,ef,be,92,31,3c,0a,13,33,46,ba,14,00,00,00,49,00,6e,00,74,00,65,00,72,00,6e,00,65,00,74,00,20,00,45,00,78,00,70,00,6c,00,6f,00,72,00,65,00,72,00,00,00,18,00,48,00,31,00,00,00,00,00,f5,32,e8,ae,11,00,51,55,49,43,4b,4c,7e,31,00,00,30,00,03,00,04,00,ef,be,92,31,41,0a,13,33,80,b9,14,00,00,00,51,00,75,00,69,00,63,00,6b,00,20,00,4c,00,61,00,75,00,6e,00,63,00,68,00,00,00,18,00,00,00,60,00,00,00,03,00,00,a0,58,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,74,68,61,6e,6f,73,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,c6,c6,5c,2d,6f,2a,91,44,ac,2e,75,bd,2a,4f,d8,4d,cf,91,12,c5,92,50,d9,11,93,cb,00,0c,6e,76,5b,60,c6,c6,5c,2d,6f,2a,91,44,ac,2e,75,bd,2a,4f,d8,4d,cf,91,12,c5,92,50,d9,11,93,cb,00,0c,6e,76,5b,60,10,00,00,00,05,00,00,a0,1a,00,00,00,3d,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,de,00,00,00,60,07,00,00,00,00,00,00,1e,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,1e,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,aa,4f,28,68,48,6a,d0,11,8c,78,00,c0,4f,d9,18,b4,08,03,00,00,60,0d,00,00,00,00,00,00,1e,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,1e,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00

If you configure a reference machine for how you want the taskbar to appear, then export the value to a .reg file, it might seem logical that you could then import the file to other users at logon and the change would take effect. Unfortunately this doesn't work.

This registry key loads when the user logs on and is written back when the user logs off; therefore, if you change the registry key while the user is logged on, it will be overwritten when he or she logs off. You'd need to change the key while the user is logged off. This means the registry key would need to be based on HKEY_USERS and the SID of each user on the machine, as the following example shows: Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-4104391588-4119081595-2825493908-1110\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams\Desktop] "TaskbarWinXP"=hex:0c,00,00,00,08,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,b0,e2,2b,d8,... and so on. It would be possible to create a script to perform an iterative scan of HKEY_USERS and set the value discussed earlier appropriately. However, the binary's value is so complex that for the time being, no simple way exists to perform this action by using Group Policy or a script.

End of Article

Reader Comments
There are at least two ways to automate this. One by applying the registry keys during the GUIRunOnce or step T12 (GUIRunOnce = specified in WinNT.sif and is processed during the first initialisation of WinXP), which works like a charm. The other method is by using a tool from Microsoft called toggleql.exe, to be used as commandline util; toggleql 1 to switch on, toggleql 0 to switch off. I have this tool here, and it works perfectly. It is hard to find, but I will post it here and there on the internet, because it has cost me a couple of days to find it, so the least I can do is make it easier for people to find it!

jeroendg January 27, 2006 (Article Rating: )

I have been looking at this issue and have developed the following:

REQUIRED FILES
--------------

[SCRIPT.BAT]
@echo off
echo | psgetsid %ENTER USERNAME HERE% | FIND "S-" > ANSWER.DAT
@copy prefix.dat+answer.dat variab.bat
call variab.bat
del answer.dat
del variab.bat

echo Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 > qlkey.reg
echo [HKEY_USERS\ >> qlkey.reg
find "S-" < ANSWER.DAT >> qlkey.reg
find "Software" < key2.dat >> qlkey.reg
find "," < key2.dat >> qlkey.reg
find "Upgrade" < key2.dat >> qlkey.reg
qlkey.reg

[PREFIX.DAT]
set myvar=

[key2.dat - Taken from the exported registry key]
\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams\Desktop]
"Toolbars"=hex:11,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
"TaskbarWinXP"=hex:0c,00,00,00,08,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,b0,e2,2b,d8,\......And so on until EOF

ADDITIONAL INFO
---------------

Need to download psgetsid and place it in the working directory of the script or windows system dir

Change %ENTER USERNAME HERE% for a valid username (see psgetsid for more info)

RESULT
---------

The registry key is successfully copied to the selected user but it doesn't seem to do anything so I expect there are additional reg keys at work here. If anyone can offer any guidance would be appreciated.

kurrazyman February 01, 2006 (Article Rating: )

Test

schuff March 03, 2006 (Article Rating: )

[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftware\Microsoft\WindowsCurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoSaveSettings"=1 (DWORD)
The solution is above.

schuff March 03, 2006 (Article Rating: )

hi schuff,
thr is no such thing like "NoSaveSettings"=1 (DWORD) instead i found "NoDriveTypeAutorun" in XP
.can u put more light on this.

santosh.mnnit December 06, 2006 (Article Rating: )

To enable the quick launch or to resize it can easily be done using the SOETool from soetool.net.

It uses only API's and works on all systems.

certit November 20, 2008 (Article Rating: )

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