Policy

Go to the desktop instead of Start when signing in

Microsoft Windows

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Go to the desktop instead of Start when signing in
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Policy overview

Key metadata and intent for this policy.

User
Category
Start Menu and Taskbar
Supported on
Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1 only

Supported OS tags: Windows81, WindowsRT81, WindowsServer2012R2

This policy setting allows users to go to the desktop instead of the Start screen when they sign in. If you enable this policy setting, users will always go to the desktop when they sign in. If you disable this policy setting, users will always go to the Start screen when they sign in. If you don’t configure this policy setting, the default setting for the user’s device will be used, and the user can choose to change it.

Internal name
GoToDesktopOnSignIn
Policy ID
d4b97e00d8d3
Elements
0

Registry values

How enabled and disabled states update the registry.

ScopeRegistry locationTypeEnabled valueDisabled valueCopy
User
Path
Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer
Value name
GoToDesktopOnSignIn
REG_DWORD
HKCU
1
HKCU
2
Registry location
Type REG_DWORD · User
Path
Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer
Value name
GoToDesktopOnSignIn
Hive
HKCU
Enabled value
1
Disabled value
2

Policy elements

Inputs and configuration options exposed by this policy.

This policy has no additional user input fields.