Backup and Restore Backup and Restore Pinned Items on Start Menu in Windows 11


Pin_to_Start_banner.png

This tutorial will show you how to back up and restore all pinned items on your Start menu in Windows 11.

The Start menu is comprised of three sections: Pinned, All apps, and Recommended.

The section at the top of the Start menu is called the Pinned section. This section consists of pins arranged in a grid. The items in this section are a subset of all the apps installed on the PC; not all installed apps are included in this section by default. The number of rows and items in this view are consistent across device panel sizes.

If you like, you can back up pinned items on the Start menu for any account, and restore the pinned items to the Start menu for any account.

The options in this tutorial no longer work in Windows 11 version 24H2+.



Contents



EXAMPLE: Pinned items on Start menu

Pinned_on_Start.jpg





Option One

Backup Pinned Items on Start Menu


1 Open File Explorer (Win+E).

2 Type the path below you want to use into the address bar of File Explorer, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

(current user)
%LocalAppData%\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState

OR

(specific user - requires to be signed in as administrator)
C:\Users\<user profile folder name>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState

Substitute <user profile folder name> in the path above with the actual user profile folder name (ex: "Brink") for the account you want.

For example: C:\Users\Brink\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState


3 Copy (Ctrl+C) the start.bin or start2.bin (22H2+) file.

4 Paste (Ctrl+V) the start.bin or start2.bin (22H2+) file to where you want to save it as a backup.

5 You can now close File Explorer if you like.

start.bin.png





Option Two

Restore Pinned Items on Start Menu


This option requires a backup of the start.bin file from Option One.


1 Open File Explorer (Win+E).

2 Type the path below you want to use into the address bar of File Explorer, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

(current user)
%LocalAppData%\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState

OR

(specific user - requires to be signed in as administrator)
C:\Users\<user profile folder name>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState

Substitute <user profile folder name> in the path above with the actual user profile folder name (ex: "Brink") for the account you want.

For example: C:\Users\Brink\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState


3 Delete (Ctrl+D) the start.bin or start2.bin (22H2+) file from this folder location in step 2.

4 Copy (Ctrl+C) the backup start.bin or start2.bin (22H2+) file from its location you saved it to from Option One.

5 Paste (Ctrl+V) the backup start.bin or start2.bin (22H2+) file to this folder location in step 2.

6 If this is for the current account, restart the Start menu process to apply.

7 You can now close File Explorer if you like.

start.bin.png



That's it,
Shawn Brink


Related Tutorials

 
Last edited:
Click to expand...
BrianB said:
So with Win11 24H2 out, all these backup methods do not work. Can pinned items still be backed up on this version?
Click to expand...
Yes.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (Build 26100.3037)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Precision 3660 Tower Workstation
    CPU
    12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-12900 5.10 GHz
    Motherboard
    64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
    Memory
    32.00 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel UHD Graphics 770
    Sound Card
    Realtek Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell P2714H Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    1 x 512GB NVME PC801 NVMe SK hynix - BOOT
    1 x 1TB Seagate ST1000LM049-2GH172 Internal HDD
    1 x 1TB Seagate STGX4000400 External HDD
    1 x 2TB Seagate STGX4000400 External HDD
    1 x 4TB Seagate STGX4000400 External HDD
    PSU
    300 Watts
    Cooling
    Air
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Wired Keyboard 600
    Mouse
    Microsoft USB Basic Optical Mouse v2.0
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender + Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    BaseBoard Manufacturer Dell Inc.
    BaseBoard Product 0J1CP3
    BaseBoard Version A01
W11's Start Menu layout is preserved in Start.bin (21H2) or Start2.bin (22H2 thru 24H2). This is a binary file, which cannot be edited because it's specially encoded.

The layout only saves which links are pinned. There are no icons included, when the referenced links are read then any associated program icons are fetched. If any pinned app has been removed, you get a broken icon. Start2.bin is a different file because 22H2 and later allow you to create Start Menu icon groups. Whenever a Start.bin file is imported, it's converted to Start2.bin format by 22H2 and later.

If you're currently logged on, Start2.bin cannot be replaced because it's locked in use by StartMenuExperienceHost. The file can be directly overwritten for any user who isn't logged in. To restore it for a live user, you must task killl StartMenuExperienceHost before swapping the file. Afterwards, you can restart StartMenuExperienceHost. @Brink covered that in this tutorial's instructions.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7
Thanks Garlin, I want to say that I did not have any files in the LocalState when I copied it over and the PC was restarted. but I will run my process again and check.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HPZ2G9
    CPU
    12th Gen i5-12500
    Motherboard
    HP
    Memory
    16gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel UHD 770
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Def
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ViewSonic
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    NVMe WD PC SN810 SDCPNRY-512G-1006
    Case
    Pavilion
So replacing startup2.bin does indeed work for 24H2 still. The process I had in place had some adjustments to be made.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HPZ2G9
    CPU
    12th Gen i5-12500
    Motherboard
    HP
    Memory
    16gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel UHD 770
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Def
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ViewSonic
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    NVMe WD PC SN810 SDCPNRY-512G-1006
    Case
    Pavilion
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