When I built our Windows 10 Pro SOE with MDT, I used Import-StartLayout to import a custom LayoutModification.xml file, which customised the layout and pinned items of both the Start menu and Task bar.
This worked great for Windows 10. However, when these same SOE machines get upgraded to Windows 11 via Windows Update, the result is that clicking the start menu from the taskbar (or keyboard button) does nothing. Same for the search bar. Both are totally unresponsive. On top of that, at a UI level, the taskbar is the Windows 10 style and located in the bottom-left of the screen.
I more or less understand the cause - Windows 11 is known to drastically handle start menu layout differently, requiring a JSON file and storing layout data in a "Start.bin" file (or start2.bin on later feature builds of W11). It is obviously designed in a totally different way, so there's no expectation of Windows 10 layout modifications functioning the same.
Unfortunately, I am yet to discover a way to reset the taskbar to its default Windows 11 state - It's inheriting the layout modifications from Windows 10.
Has anyone been in the same boat, having created a custom layout only to realise machines didn't play nicely after being upgraded? Besides that, I'm open to any and all ideas on what is proving to be quite an obstinate issue.
Note: MEM and Intune are not options in my environment.