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how to add sign out/log off to power menu using Group Policy


Hi All,

Could someone please provide some ideas.

We have just upgraded a bunch of users to windows10. And we need to sign out/log off/lock screen from time to time. But this is not obvious in the default desktop layout and these options not available in the power menu. I would like to add the sign out/log off/lock screen options in the power menu and is this possible to add in the layout as well ? And since we have a large number of users I'm thinking of using the Group Policy to do a mass deployment. I'm using Windows Server2012R2

I've been searching through the settings and policies and in the Group Policy tried enabling the "Add Logoff to the Start Menu" policy setting but that doesn't work. Tried anyway although it doesn't seem to support Windows10. Tried to do the same using the Local Policy Editor on my pc also didn't work.

Please let me know how to add sign out/log off/lock screen to all users pc on their powermenu/layout using Group Policy in the Windows Server2012. Much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

K.

Hello froydo,

I know this doesn't answer your question but Lock is already in the start menu, you find it by right clicking on your account picture.

Ctrl+ Alt + Del also works.

Thanks philc43.
But I'm already aware of those commands. The issue is not me , but the whole bunch of users who don't know them. Short of lots of training sessions , I was thinking of just enforcing via Group Policy so they can see those options right away once they hit the power menu or desktop layout. Any ideas there ? Thank in advance.

This might be a good solution for you, Option Three in this tutorial to sign out / shutdown from a Windows dialog: Shut Down Computer in Windows 10 - Windows 10 blog

Make a desktop shortcut for it, users only need to double click the shortcut and select preferred option:


(Video from Windows 10 instructional videos by windowssh blog members - Windows 10 blog)

The groups for the Quick Access menu (x-menu) are defined in %LocalAppData%lMicrosoftWindowsWinX
desktop.ini contains the localized names for the items.
There are also compatibility entries in the registry for items in each group (registry find: WinX).

Unfortunately, that's as far as I ever got - sign out seems to be a global setting and not a per-user setting.

To get around all of the issues(minor grumblings) I had with sign-out, I grabbed a VB script, created a shortcut to it, assigned an icon and pinned that to my taskbar.


The zip folder in the download below contains 3 files;
pwrBtn.vbs,
pwrBtn.lnk, and
[pwrCycle] twinui_5952.ico

You will probably have to make a shortcut that matches the locations on your machine - the one in the download has an icon reference and a target folder of D:\_setSys askStart



Executing the VBS gives you the same output as shown in Kari's post. I'm not sure if there's a LOCK in either the Alt+F4 or the VBS (easy to test with Alt+F4)

If you find more about Group Policy and winX, please let me know. Thanks.
  • pwrBtn.zip (3.4 KB, 5 views)

Many thanks Kari,

That's awesome! I've just tried that on my pc - works great, except when I deploy to the other users I anticipate some users would just click the icon and just press enter, while thinking they are just logging off before they go home or out for lunch but instead shutting down the pc. I've tried modifying several variations of objshell.ShutdownWindows to objshell.LogoutWindows , Logoff, Signout, Signoff ,etc but none of these seem to work. Would be nice if the default is "SignOut" instead of "Update and Shutdown"

And thanks Slartybart, I was afraid that might be the issue - that Sign out is a global issue and hence no such variable for us to add there.

You are welcome

how to add sign out/log off to power menu using Group Policy