Hi everybody, I have a VM (ESX) running Windows Server 2008 r2 SP1 with WSUS 3.0, MDT 2010 Update1, WDS, and some other applications (F-Secure 9 for Windows Servers), which is experiencing some strange issues. After some updates and restarts I found it this morning with all of its shortcuts missing, as well as Administrative Tools. I scrolled through the system log but can't really see anything related to the issue. I managed to resolve the Deployment Workbench by repairing the MDT installation in the Programs and Features menu, but can't really say that's an acceptable solution. Does anyone have any ideas to might be the cause of this issue? /Pelle

Hello, did you enable all required features for RSAT with add features? If you miss the AD tools like dsa.msc etc. you have ton install the AD DS tools from the add server role. This will NOT install AD.Best regards Meinolf Weber Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.

Hello, did you enable all required features for RSAT with add features? If you miss the AD tools like dsa.msc etc. you have ton install the AD DS tools from the add server role. This will NOT install AD.Best regards Meinolf Weber Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.

Thanks for your reply, I'm not too familiar with RSAT but I don't think that is the issue. I'm not using this server to remotely administer other machines or active directory. I use remote desktop from my client, Win7 Ent, to connect to the MDT server, which is experiencing these issues. And as I mentioned it seems like it's only the shortcuts that are missing - not the actual files. Using the Server Manager I can reach the WSUS console as well as the WDS etc.. MDT 2010 however is installed seprately so that's why using the repair tool enables its shortcuts again. The menu for Administrative Tools is entirely empty.

Thanks for your reply, I'm not too familiar with RSAT but I don't think that is the issue. I'm not using this server to remotely administer other machines or active directory. I use remote desktop from my client, Win7 Ent, to connect to the MDT server, which is experiencing these issues. And as I mentioned it seems like it's only the shortcuts that are missing - not the actual files. Using the Server Manager I can reach the WSUS console as well as the WDS etc.. MDT 2010 however is installed seprately so that's why using the repair tool enables its shortcuts again. The menu for Administrative Tools is entirely empty.

Hi, According to your description, the issue occurs when you connect to the server via remote desktop. How about log on to the server directly? You can also try another user account. I noticed that you said “all of its shortcuts missing”, do you mean all the shortcuts on the Start Menu? What can you see on Start Menu now? Do you see any errors during logon or when using the system? Have you got all the available updates installed properly? Please find Administrative Tools item under the Control Panel, click to open it. Is this folder empty? If so, please open %Systemroot%\system32, create shortcut of the programs, like dsa.msc, copy the shortcut to Administrative Tools folder under Control Panel. Please also check the following registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders Check if there is a value Common Administrative Tools, if so, it should be C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools. Assume Windows is installed on C: drive. The issue also can be caused due to some third party programs, please check the results in Clean Boot mode as well. Refer to: 1. Click "Start", go to "Run", and type "msconfig" in the open box to start the System Configuration Utility. 2. Click the "Services" tab, check the "Hide All Microsoft Services" box and click Disable All (if it is not gray). 3. Click the "Startup" tab, click "Disable All" and click "OK". 4. Restart your computer. If the "System Configuration Utility" window appears, please check the box and click "OK". What is the result in this mode? Thanks. NinaPlease remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hi, According to your description, the issue occurs when you connect to the server via remote desktop. How about log on to the server directly? You can also try another user account. I noticed that you said “all of its shortcuts missing”, do you mean all the shortcuts on the Start Menu? What can you see on Start Menu now? Do you see any errors during logon or when using the system? Have you got all the available updates installed properly? Please find Administrative Tools item under the Control Panel, click to open it. Is this folder empty? If so, please open %Systemroot%\system32, create shortcut of the programs, like dsa.msc, copy the shortcut to Administrative Tools folder under Control Panel. Please also check the following registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders Check if there is a value Common Administrative Tools, if so, it should be C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools. Assume Windows is installed on C: drive. The issue also can be caused due to some third party programs, please check the results in Clean Boot mode as well. Refer to: 1. Click "Start", go to "Run", and type "msconfig" in the open box to start the System Configuration Utility. 2. Click the "Services" tab, check the "Hide All Microsoft Services" box and click Disable All (if it is not gray). 3. Click the "Startup" tab, click "Disable All" and click "OK". 4. Restart your computer. If the "System Configuration Utility" window appears, please check the box and click "OK". What is the result in this mode? Thanks. NinaPlease remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hi Nina, thanks for your reply. It doesn't matter wether i connect with remote desktop, or the vsphere client console, nor does it matter which user account I'm logging in with. It's actually not ALL shortcuts, but pretty much :).. Windows update is missing from the start menu.. The administrative tools folder is empty.. The MDT Workbench was gone except for it's start menu folder, and the same goes for WAIK. Some shortcuts are still there though - Accessories for example (edit: actually there's even a lot of shortcuts missing from accessories. The ones that are there is: cmd, notepad, run, explorer, ease of access and system tools...). There is a registry key for administrative tools in Shell Folders, but not in User Shell Folders - is that allright, or is something missing here? Looking at the non-microsoft services in msconfig, there's really nothing out of the ordinary. All of those services are running on all my other servers, so I doubt they would be causing any problems here. The server is a pretty recent deployment, installed with the W2K8R2SP1 iso downloaded from MS. At this moment I'm suspecting there's an update that somehow isn't working too well with this specific configuration. I might be reinstalling the server and choose its updates more carefully, but I'd prefer not to, 'cause the server is working correctly otherwise.

Hi Nina, thanks for your reply. It doesn't matter wether i connect with remote desktop, or the vsphere client console, nor does it matter which user account I'm logging in with. It's actually not ALL shortcuts, but pretty much :).. Windows update is missing from the start menu.. The administrative tools folder is empty.. The MDT Workbench was gone except for it's start menu folder, and the same goes for WAIK. Some shortcuts are still there though - Accessories for example (edit: actually there's even a lot of shortcuts missing from accessories. The ones that are there is: cmd, notepad, run, explorer, ease of access and system tools...). There is a registry key for administrative tools in Shell Folders, but not in User Shell Folders - is that allright, or is something missing here? Looking at the non-microsoft services in msconfig, there's really nothing out of the ordinary. All of those services are running on all my other servers, so I doubt they would be causing any problems here. The server is a pretty recent deployment, installed with the W2K8R2SP1 iso downloaded from MS. At this moment I'm suspecting there's an update that somehow isn't working too well with this specific configuration. I might be reinstalling the server and choose its updates more carefully, but I'd prefer not to, 'cause the server is working correctly otherwise.

Hi, Thanks for your update. It is normal if we cannot find Common Administrative Tools under User Shell Folders, please confirm whether the value is correct under Shell Folders. Can you see the Windows Update shortcut under C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu? Please try another user account, same result? Please also open %Systemroot%\system32, create shortcut of the programs, like dsa.msc, copy the shortcut to Administrative Tools folder under Control Panel, any progress? I see that you have checked non-Microsoft services via msconfig, it is still recommended to disable all these services as suggested. Thanks. NinaPlease remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hi, Thanks for your update. It is normal if we cannot find Common Administrative Tools under User Shell Folders, please confirm whether the value is correct under Shell Folders. Can you see the Windows Update shortcut under C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu? Please try another user account, same result? Please also open %Systemroot%\system32, create shortcut of the programs, like dsa.msc, copy the shortcut to Administrative Tools folder under Control Panel, any progress? I see that you have checked non-Microsoft services via msconfig, it is still recommended to disable all these services as suggested. Thanks. NinaPlease remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Once again, thanks for the time and effort you're putting into this matter. I've got most of the administrative tools shortcuts back again by copying them from another server, and it seems like they are staying in place still =). No, the Windows Update shortcut is not to be find under C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu. I did try with different user accounts with same result. What might this indicate? The registry key for common administrative tools under shell folders has a value of "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools", so that seems to be correct. The reason I'm not too willing to disable the services is because most of them are anti-virus related. I did however disable all the non-microsoft and non-anti-virus services with no result.

Once again, thanks for the time and effort you're putting into this matter. I've got most of the administrative tools shortcuts back again by copying them from another server, and it seems like they are staying in place still =). No, the Windows Update shortcut is not to be find under C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu. I did try with different user accounts with same result. What might this indicate? The registry key for common administrative tools under shell folders has a value of "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools", so that seems to be correct. The reason I'm not too willing to disable the services is because most of them are anti-virus related. I did however disable all the non-microsoft and non-anti-virus services with no result.

Hi Have you had any luck with this i have the exact same problem but I have Server 2008 not R2 All shortcuts just have disappeared from all users and all default locations is there a way to fully reset the default windows profile folders This has happened to me twice now on the same server, I run about 60 windows server 2008 and 2008 R2 servers with various applications and only this deployment server has the problem, so i think it is somthing to do with that I have tried looking in the event viewer and also tried everything in this post including removing the non MS servcies and nothing seems to work thanks for any help

Hi Have you had any luck with this i have the exact same problem but I have Server 2008 not R2 All shortcuts just have disappeared from all users and all default locations is there a way to fully reset the default windows profile folders This has happened to me twice now on the same server, I run about 60 windows server 2008 and 2008 R2 servers with various applications and only this deployment server has the problem, so i think it is somthing to do with that I have tried looking in the event viewer and also tried everything in this post including removing the non MS servcies and nothing seems to work thanks for any help

Any luck? I am having the same issue. Thanks, Chris

Any luck? I am having the same issue. Thanks, Chris

Also having the same problem: Start menu shortcuts are missing, Administrative tools is empty and I'm getting a "Location not available"-error message when trying to open Administrative tools from the Control panel: Error message says: "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools refers to a location that is unavailable. It could be on a hard drive on this computer, or on a network. Check to make sure that the disk is properly inserted, or that you are connected to the internet or your network, and then try again. If it still cannot be located, the information might have been moved to a different location." When looking for the above mentioned folder I noticed that the folder C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows only contains three folders: Caches, DeviceMetadataStore, and WER. No folder named Start Menu! Any idea what's causing this?

Also having the same problem: Start menu shortcuts are missing, Administrative tools is empty and I'm getting a "Location not available"-error message when trying to open Administrative tools from the Control panel: Error message says: "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools refers to a location that is unavailable. It could be on a hard drive on this computer, or on a network. Check to make sure that the disk is properly inserted, or that you are connected to the internet or your network, and then try again. If it still cannot be located, the information might have been moved to a different location." When looking for the above mentioned folder I noticed that the folder C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows only contains three folders: Caches, DeviceMetadataStore, and WER. No folder named Start Menu! Any idea what's causing this?

I am also having the same problem described here. We use Windows 2008 Server R2 SP1 for WDS and Deployment Workbench. I never really guessed my "Server Manager.Ink" missing was a BIG problem for a week, until I went to try and figure out why this error occurs when I log into the local Admin. We don't have any other users that log into this machine, and I don't really want to try a new user when I already know it won't work based off of everyone else's comments here. As people before me have stated. All our shortcuts are missing from their respected admin tools locations, but they are still in the C:\Windows. I'm guessing a bad patch? I keep our server up-to-date as possible, but without installing features I don't need. Keep in mind... I didn't do anything. Add/remove features/roles... etc..

I am also having the same problem described here. We use Windows 2008 Server R2 SP1 for WDS and Deployment Workbench. I never really guessed my "Server Manager.Ink" missing was a BIG problem for a week, until I went to try and figure out why this error occurs when I log into the local Admin. We don't have any other users that log into this machine, and I don't really want to try a new user when I already know it won't work based off of everyone else's comments here. As people before me have stated. All our shortcuts are missing from their respected admin tools locations, but they are still in the C:\Windows. I'm guessing a bad patch? I keep our server up-to-date as possible, but without installing features I don't need. Keep in mind... I didn't do anything. Add/remove features/roles... etc..

Anybody???

Anybody???

Right click the start button select properties, select the customize button under the "start menu" tab, scroll to the bottom. under system administrative tool choose "Display on the all programs menu and the start menu". Problem Fixed

Right click the start button select properties, select the customize button under the "start menu" tab, scroll to the bottom. under system administrative tool choose "Display on the all programs menu and the start menu". Problem Fixed

Right click the start button select properties, select the customize button under the "start menu" tab, scroll to the bottom. under system administrative tool choose "Display on the all programs menu and the start menu". Problem Fixed

I guess nobody will say anything. I might start a new thread, because of this.

I guess nobody will say anything. I might start a new thread, because of this.

Thanks, but problem isn't fixed at all. It's true, that you can make the administrative tools appear via the "start menu", but it will be gone when you log on the next time. Most of our servers are virtualized under citrix xen. Also the setting "don't show this screen..." from the server manager doesn't have any effect - it reappears every time I log on. And no - we don't have mandatory profiles.

Thanks, but problem isn't fixed at all. It's true, that you can make the administrative tools appear via the "start menu", but it will be gone when you log on the next time. Most of our servers are virtualized under citrix xen. Also the setting "don't show this screen..." from the server manager doesn't have any effect - it reappears every time I log on. And no - we don't have mandatory profiles.

I have the same problem. It seems like the culprit is either WDS or MDT 2010. It's strange really because it just happened one day without doing anything. Also I cannot open Computer Management by right-clicking on Computer in the Start Menu (nothing happens) and the logoff process hangs on "Please wait for the Remote Desktop Configuration" for 10-15 seconds (even after local login).

I have the same problem. It seems like the culprit is either WDS or MDT 2010. It's strange really because it just happened one day without doing anything. Also I cannot open Computer Management by right-clicking on Computer in the Start Menu (nothing happens) and the logoff process hangs on "Please wait for the Remote Desktop Configuration" for 10-15 seconds (even after local login).

OMG, we had the exact same issue last week. Read the fix below. We have multiple Hyper-V Hosts, all identical with 2008 R2 Datacenter. However, one of the Hosts has the WDS Role + MDT 2010 installed. You won't believe what happened in a production environment, when a users asked me to reboot one of the VM's... after opening the Hyper-V console, there were no VM's listed! When I restarted the vmms service, I got an error saying "could not find the file specified". WTF. After examining the logs, in one of the Hyper-V Worker logs, I found an error that the InitialStore.xml file could not be found. First, I wanted to check the disk array using the HP ACU, but the shortcuts in the Start Menu were missing! Then I saw that the Administrative Tools menu was completely empty. Right click on "My Computer"-> Manage didn't work either, so... here we are... a production machine, completely unmanagable. Oh, and one other thing: when I wanted to use Remote Desktop to this host using my Windows 7 machine, I got an error saying that NLA is required! Win7 has NLA support, but I was unable to logon. Thanks to iLO I was able to change the RDP settings to "less secure", and then I was able to connect using RDP again. I started by examining the C:\ProgramData folder. This is where the InitialStore.xml file is stored, and indeed: it was missing, but it felt like A LOT of folders were missing in the ProgramData folder. I logged in on another Hyper-V Host, and compared the ProgramData folder. I was missing 7 folder in ProgramData root and about 12 folders in ProgramData\Microsoft! My solution was to use WSB (Windows Server Backup) and restore the complete ProgramData folder to something like C:\ProgramDataRestore. This is about 30 MB, so you'll have all the missing files within seconds. I made a backup of the current ProgramData folder, and then simply copyed ALL files/folders from the restore folder to the ProgramData folder with NO OVERWRITE, just merge. Log off -> Log on -> everything was fixed! Start Menu was ok, Administrative Tools are back, changed RDP settings to NLA and worked!, Started hyper-v vmms service and started, opened Hyper-V console and YES all VM's where there! To make this fix permanent: first thing to do: move WDS and MDT 2010 to a VM, or a non-Hyper-V Host or whatever.

I have the same problem on a windows 2008 R2 server (a member server in a domain) after installing WDS and MDT 2012 beta 2. If I login as a domain admin I see the folder c:\program data\microsoft\start menu but I can't access it even though file permission indicate I should be able to access it If I login as the server Administrator the "start menu" folder is not there at all It is not under c:\program data\microsoft\windows either It does not even show up under c:\users\administrator I don't have a backup of the program data folder. NM

I have the same problem on a windows 2008 R2 server (a member server in a domain) after installing WDS and MDT 2012 beta 2. If I login as a domain admin I see the folder c:\program data\microsoft\start menu but I can't access it even though file permission indicate I should be able to access it If I login as the server Administrator the "start menu" folder is not there at all It is not under c:\program data\microsoft\windows either It does not even show up under c:\users\administrator I don't have a backup of the program data folder. NM

OMG, we had the exact same issue last week. Read the fix below. We have multiple Hyper-V Hosts, all identical with 2008 R2 Datacenter. However, one of the Hosts has the WDS Role + MDT 2010 installed. You won't believe what happened in a production environment, when a users asked me to reboot one of the VM's... after opening the Hyper-V console, there were no VM's listed! When I restarted the vmms service, I got an error saying "could not find the file specified". WTF. After examining the logs, in one of the Hyper-V Worker logs, I found an error that the InitialStore.xml file could not be found. First, I wanted to check the disk array using the HP ACU, but the shortcuts in the Start Menu were missing! Then I saw that the Administrative Tools menu was completely empty. Right click on "My Computer"-> Manage didn't work either, so... here we are... a production machine, completely unmanagable. Oh, and one other thing: when I wanted to use Remote Desktop to this host using my Windows 7 machine, I got an error saying that NLA is required! Win7 has NLA support, but I was unable to logon. Thanks to iLO I was able to change the RDP settings to "less secure", and then I was able to connect using RDP again. I started by examining the C:\ProgramData folder. This is where the InitialStore.xml file is stored, and indeed: it was missing, but it felt like A LOT of folders were missing in the ProgramData folder. I logged in on another Hyper-V Host, and compared the ProgramData folder. I was missing 7 folder in ProgramData root and about 12 folders in ProgramData\Microsoft! My solution was to use WSB (Windows Server Backup) and restore the complete ProgramData folder to something like C:\ProgramDataRestore. This is about 30 MB, so you'll have all the missing files within seconds. I made a backup of the current ProgramData folder, and then simply copyed ALL files/folders from the restore folder to the ProgramData folder with NO OVERWRITE, just merge. Log off -> Log on -> everything was fixed! Start Menu was ok, Administrative Tools are back, changed RDP settings to NLA and worked!, Started hyper-v vmms service and started, opened Hyper-V console and YES all VM's where there! To make this fix permanent: first thing to do: move WDS and MDT 2010 to a VM, or a non-Hyper-V Host or whatever. We have the same exact problem. We just opened a case with Microsoft. We have Windows 2008 R2 Standard. WDS + MDT 2010 and yes, Hyper-V host. It happens twice. First time, we remove/add hyper-v to correct (recreate initialstore.xml). Doing so, I lost all my Snapshots. The second time it happens (NOW), I can't afford losing my vm's snapshots. Does anyone here have a solution better than a backup from this directory (C:\ProgramData\Microsoft) ?. Thanks

OMG, we had the exact same issue last week. Read the fix below. We have multiple Hyper-V Hosts, all identical with 2008 R2 Datacenter. However, one of the Hosts has the WDS Role + MDT 2010 installed. You won't believe what happened in a production environment, when a users asked me to reboot one of the VM's... after opening the Hyper-V console, there were no VM's listed! When I restarted the vmms service, I got an error saying "could not find the file specified". WTF. After examining the logs, in one of the Hyper-V Worker logs, I found an error that the InitialStore.xml file could not be found. First, I wanted to check the disk array using the HP ACU, but the shortcuts in the Start Menu were missing! Then I saw that the Administrative Tools menu was completely empty. Right click on "My Computer"-> Manage didn't work either, so... here we are... a production machine, completely unmanagable. Oh, and one other thing: when I wanted to use Remote Desktop to this host using my Windows 7 machine, I got an error saying that NLA is required! Win7 has NLA support, but I was unable to logon. Thanks to iLO I was able to change the RDP settings to "less secure", and then I was able to connect using RDP again. I started by examining the C:\ProgramData folder. This is where the InitialStore.xml file is stored, and indeed: it was missing, but it felt like A LOT of folders were missing in the ProgramData folder. I logged in on another Hyper-V Host, and compared the ProgramData folder. I was missing 7 folder in ProgramData root and about 12 folders in ProgramData\Microsoft! My solution was to use WSB (Windows Server Backup) and restore the complete ProgramData folder to something like C:\ProgramDataRestore. This is about 30 MB, so you'll have all the missing files within seconds. I made a backup of the current ProgramData folder, and then simply copyed ALL files/folders from the restore folder to the ProgramData folder with NO OVERWRITE, just merge. Log off -> Log on -> everything was fixed! Start Menu was ok, Administrative Tools are back, changed RDP settings to NLA and worked!, Started hyper-v vmms service and started, opened Hyper-V console and YES all VM's where there! To make this fix permanent: first thing to do: move WDS and MDT 2010 to a VM, or a non-Hyper-V Host or whatever. We have the same exact problem. We just opened a case with Microsoft. We have Windows 2008 R2 Standard. WDS + MDT 2010 and yes, Hyper-V host. It happens twice. First time, we remove/add hyper-v to correct (recreate initialstore.xml). Doing so, I lost all my Snapshots. The second time it happens (NOW), I can't afford losing my vm's snapshots. Does anyone here have a solution better than a backup from this directory (C:\ProgramData\Microsoft) ?. Thanks

I just moved my WDS service to another server. I shall wait and see if it happen again.... BTW, Microsoft told me that they are working on that case but no ETA for an actual patch. /fail

I just moved my WDS service to another server. I shall wait and see if it happen again.... BTW, Microsoft told me that they are working on that case but no ETA for an actual patch. /fail

Installed WDS last week. Having this issue after first reboot. So they know theres an issue and they're building a patch yet they leave this crap up so people can hose their servers. Makes sense to me.

Installed WDS last week. Having this issue after first reboot. So they know theres an issue and they're building a patch yet they leave this crap up so people can hose their servers. Makes sense to me.

Hi All, I have the same issue. Server 2008 R2 with MDT & WDS installed. It's a VM on ESXi 4.0. After the last lot of windows updates the start menu is missing. To resolve the issue did the following: 1. Restored"C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu" from a backup 2. Right clicked the start menu >properties > Start menu Tab> Customize> Click the "use default settings" button. My start menu was restored and working but after a reboot it's missing again. Is there a patch I can roll back to resolve this issue? We have nearly 600 servers and this is the only one I've noticed this issue on so far, which makes me think it's a WDS or MDT patch.

Hi All, I have the same issue. Server 2008 R2 with MDT & WDS installed. It's a VM on ESXi 4.0. After the last lot of windows updates the start menu is missing. To resolve the issue did the following: 1. Restored"C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu" from a backup 2. Right clicked the start menu >properties > Start menu Tab> Customize> Click the "use default settings" button. My start menu was restored and working but after a reboot it's missing again. Is there a patch I can roll back to resolve this issue? We have nearly 600 servers and this is the only one I've noticed this issue on so far, which makes me think it's a WDS or MDT patch.

Hi, we are also having the same issue. running MDT 2010 & WDS. this is the 2nd time now that its happened. it looks like it deletes the programdata folder. restoring it from a shadowcopy seems to get it back working normally.

Hi, we are also having the same issue. running MDT 2010 & WDS. this is the 2nd time now that its happened. it looks like it deletes the programdata folder. restoring it from a shadowcopy seems to get it back working normally.

Hi All, I have the same issue. Server 2008 R2 with MDT & WDS installed. It's a VM on ESXi 4.0. After the last lot of windows updates the start menu is missing. To resolve the issue did the following: 1. Restored"C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu" from a backup 2. Right clicked the start menu >properties > Start menu Tab> Customize> Click the "use default settings" button. My start menu was restored and working but after a reboot it's missing again. Is there a patch I can roll back to resolve this issue? We have nearly 600 servers and this is the only one I've noticed this issue on so far, which makes me think it's a WDS or MDT patch. Same issue here. WDS, MDT both installed on 2008 R2 VM on an ESXi 5.0 host.

Hi All, I have the same issue. Server 2008 R2 with MDT & WDS installed. It's a VM on ESXi 4.0. After the last lot of windows updates the start menu is missing. To resolve the issue did the following: 1. Restored"C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu" from a backup 2. Right clicked the start menu >properties > Start menu Tab> Customize> Click the "use default settings" button. My start menu was restored and working but after a reboot it's missing again. Is there a patch I can roll back to resolve this issue? We have nearly 600 servers and this is the only one I've noticed this issue on so far, which makes me think it's a WDS or MDT patch. Same issue here. WDS, MDT both installed on 2008 R2 VM on an ESXi 5.0 host.

running WDS, MDT on 2008R2 on ESXi4.0 and we too have this issue. this is a worry indeed! no word from MS as yet?

running WDS, MDT on 2008R2 on ESXi4.0 and we too have this issue. this is a worry indeed! no word from MS as yet?

Add me to the list. I can still manage the computer. I just lost a crap load of shortcuts and all administrative tools shortcuts are missing.

Add me to the list. I can still manage the computer. I just lost a crap load of shortcuts and all administrative tools shortcuts are missing.

righto.. after a pretty lengthy session with MS support online, a very helpful chap (Kevin) has found a fix and somewhat of an explanation. the fix: RDP to another R2 (non MDT) server and open the admin tools folder, and copy the admin tools folder to the MDT one get the properties of all the shortcuts/icons. ensure they (I did it via copy & paste) are the same targets. in server 2008 they point to executables, but in R2 they point to MSC files.. not sure what's caused it, and he said he'd pass it on to the development team, and what concerns me more is the fear of 'other' changes I've not yet experienced caused by the same situation. my suspicion is that some MDT update is not sufficiently structured to detect the difference between R2 and the old 2008. worth a try, but looks good for the few Icons I've changed so far.

righto.. after a pretty lengthy session with MS support online, a very helpful chap (Kevin) has found a fix and somewhat of an explanation. the fix: RDP to another R2 (non MDT) server and open the admin tools folder, and copy the admin tools folder to the MDT one get the properties of all the shortcuts/icons. ensure they (I did it via copy & paste) are the same targets. in server 2008 they point to executables, but in R2 they point to MSC files.. not sure what's caused it, and he said he'd pass it on to the development team, and what concerns me more is the fear of 'other' changes I've not yet experienced caused by the same situation. my suspicion is that some MDT update is not sufficiently structured to detect the difference between R2 and the old 2008. worth a try, but looks good for the few Icons I've changed so far.

I found that no matter what i did, after a reboot they were gone again. I blocked windows updates from applying, restored it back before the updates and it's been fine since then

I found that no matter what i did, after a reboot they were gone again. I blocked windows updates from applying, restored it back before the updates and it's been fine since then

hmm.. well I just rebooted mine and they're still there.... and working I also note that he was in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders but I'm not sure if/what he changed in there... I suspect he was just ensuring that "Common Administrative Tools" still pointed to "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools"

All, My WDS&MDT2010SP1 server is running with real machine, I got the exactly same error. Meanwhile, there is only one item KB976902 on the installed update list. I have tried logging in as local administrator, another domain admin user, but still cannot get Administrative menu back. Moreover, when I click the "Administrative Tools" on the control pannel list, it says "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools refers to a location that is unavailable..." I searched entire local drives, but no result shows "Windows Deployment Service" or "Microsoft Deployment Toolkit" shortcut. Any one got solution?

All, My WDS&MDT2010SP1 server is running with real machine, I got the exactly same error. Meanwhile, there is only one item KB976902 on the installed update list. I have tried logging in as local administrator, another domain admin user, but still cannot get Administrative menu back. Moreover, when I click the "Administrative Tools" on the control pannel list, it says "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools refers to a location that is unavailable..." I searched entire local drives, but no result shows "Windows Deployment Service" or "Microsoft Deployment Toolkit" shortcut. Any one got solution?

deployment workbench shortcut: "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Deployment Toolkit\Bin\DeploymentWorkbench.msc" windows deployment (services) shortcut: %windir%\system32\WdsMgmt.msc windows system image manager shortcut: "C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\Image Manager\ImgMgr.EXE" hth

deployment workbench shortcut: "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Deployment Toolkit\Bin\DeploymentWorkbench.msc" windows deployment (services) shortcut: %windir%\system32\WdsMgmt.msc windows system image manager shortcut: "C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\Image Manager\ImgMgr.EXE" hth

Also having this same issue. I'm wondering if this is fixed with MDT 2012? I am considering rebuilding the OS and going with MDT 2012 just to bypass this issue.

Also having this same issue. I'm wondering if this is fixed with MDT 2012? I am considering rebuilding the OS and going with MDT 2012 just to bypass this issue.

i found my issue was due to having the Beta Version of the MDT 2012 we regressed to 2011 and all is has been fine since I built a test VM with the beta and after about 1 week of being fine the admin tools went again