Deploying StartIsBack 2.0

Installation types

You should decide which installation type you fancy. It's possible to install StartIsBack per-user or per-machine (HKEY_CURRENT_USER or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE). It's wiser to use all users installation, but you can use per-user installation during testing; you can also allow user to install StartIsBack by himself.

Per-user installation

StartIsBack is installed to %localappdata%\StartIsBack folder.

• Pro: Does not modify system registry
• Pro: Provides easy way to enable StartIsBack per-user
• Con: Does not fit for multi-user Server installation
• Con: Should not be used with roaming profiles

Per-machine installation

StartIsBack is installed to \Program Files\StartIsBack folder on x86 systems; \Program Files (x86)\StartIsBack folder on x64 systems.

• Pro: Just one place to install and update
• Pro: Compatible with all UAC settings
• Con: Could be harder to update

Automated installation and updating

It's wiser to make an image of OS installation with StartIsBack installed for all users. Alternatively, you could use StartIsBack silent setup switches.
To run StartIsBack setup automatically, deploy a Scheduled Task via group policy with the folowing commands (assuming you placed StartIsBack_setup.exe in network shared folder).

Per-user installation

{...}\StartIsBack_setup.exe /silent [/logoff]

StartIsBack will be installed for current user; explorer.exe (desktop shell) will be terminated and won't be restarted. /logoff should be specified if user should be logged off after installation.

Per-machine installation

{...}\StartIsBack_setup.exe /elevated /silent [/logoff]

StartIsBack will be installed for current user; explorer.exe (desktop shell) will be terminated and won't be restarted. /logoff should be specified if user should be logged off after installation.
NOTE: This command should be run elevated, either from elevated script or task set to be run with admininstrator highest privileges.

Automated online activation

StartIsBack can be activated automatically with the license key you bought. This action requires HTTP connection (direct or system IE proxy) allowed for http://startisback.com/activate.php.
Activation data will be written to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\StartIsBack\License or HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\StartIsBack\License, depending on command-line switches. Machine activation will be preffered.

Per-user activation

{...}\StartIsBackCfg.exe /activate YOUR-LICENSE-KEY-NUMBER

Per-machine activation

{...}\StartIsBackCfg.exe /activate /elevated YOUR-LICENSE-KEY-NUMBER
NOTE: This command should be run elevated OR full registry access should be granted on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\StartIsBack\License registry key.

Pinning custom items to Start menu

You can pin files and programs to Start menu, starting with StartIsBack 2.1.2 and StartIsBack+ 1.0. To do that, run
[installation directory]\StartScreen.exe /pintostartmenu pathtofile
You can use environment variables like %windir% in file path.

Configuring and restricting StartIsBack via group policy

StartIsBack is fully compatible with Windows 7 Start menu policies.
Starting with version 2.0, StartIsBack can be configured / restricted with additional group policies.
To install Group Policy on single machine, extract files from this archive to \Windows\PolicyDefinitions
To install Group Policy to domain, extract files from this archive to \\yourdomainname\SYSVOL\yourdomainname\Policies\PolicyDefinitions (Older Windows Server versions may store policy templates in \\yourdomainname\SysVol\yourdomainname\Policies folder)