Using PowerShell to unpin the AppStore in Windows 10 – Workaround

I can’t find a way to unpin the AppStore in Windows 10. So I wen’t about it another way.
I reset the taskbar to have nothing and then I added everything back that I wanted.
I am using this in my OSD/RunOnce PowerShell script to customize the user’s desktop.

First of all I am using this function to manipulate the registry:

Function ChangeRegistry{
PARAM(
$ErrorActionPreference = "SilentlyContinue",
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]$registryPath,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]$Name,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]$Value ,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]$PropertyType,
$Comment
)
Try {
 $RESULT=Get-ItemProperty -Path $registryPath -Name $Name | Out-Null
 New-ItemProperty -Path $registryPath -Name $Name -Value $Value -PropertyType $PropertyType -Force | Out-Null
}
Catch [System.Management.Automation.PSArgumentException] {
  New-ItemProperty -Path $registryPath -Name $Name -Value $Value -PropertyType $PropertyType -Force | Out-Null 
}
Catch [System.Management.Automation.ItemNotFoundException] {
  New-Item -Path $registryPath -Force | Out-Null
  New-ItemProperty -Path $registryPath -Name $Name -Value $Value -PropertyType $PropertyType -Force | Out-Null 
}
Finally { 
$ErrorActionPreference = "Continue" 
Write-host "$($Comment)$($Name): $Value"
}
}

Next I reset the Taskbar:

Write-Host "Setting up Start Menu" -ForegroundColor Green
ChangeRegistry -registryPath "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Taskband" -Name "Favorites" -PropertyType "Binary" -Value ([byte[]](0xFF))
ChangeRegistry -registryPath "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Taskband" -Name "FavoritesResolve" -PropertyType "Binary" -Value ([byte[]](0xFF))
ChangeRegistry -registryPath "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Taskband" -Name "FavoritesChanges" -PropertyType "DWORD" -Value 0
ChangeRegistry -registryPath "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Taskband" -Name "FavoritesVersion" -PropertyType "DWORD" -Value 1
Stop-Process -Name explorer -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Finally I use the InvokeVerb method to put back what I want:

$ShellApplication = New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application
$result=$ShellApplication.Namespace("C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Office").ParseName("Microsoft Outlook 2010.lnk").InvokeVerb("taskbarpin")

, ,

2 Responses to Using PowerShell to unpin the AppStore in Windows 10 – Workaround

  1. dave October 12, 2015 at 4:13 pm #

    Hi. Sorry but those last 2 cmd don’t seem to work for me on win10, powershell window. The absence of autocompletion suggests that there is no “ÍnvokeVerb()” action on the $ShellApplication object. I didn’t try any other cmds. Just those last 2 ones trying to add a new taskbar item.

  2. alan November 10, 2015 at 12:28 pm #

    try this instead of the last two…

    (New-Object -ComObject shell.application).Namespace(‘(folder where the application is located’).parsename(‘(exe you wish to pin’).invokeverb(‘TaskbarPin’)

    (New-Object -ComObject shell.application).Namespace(‘C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowershell\v1.0\’).parsename(‘powershell.exe’).invokeverb(‘TaskbarPin’)