The case of the empty Start Menu (Windows 10)

<#
.SYNOPSIS  
    Restore pinned items in Winows 10 Start Menu.
.DESCRIPTION
    This script was build to (temporarily) fix a issue with RES Workspace and pinning items in the Start menu of Windows 10.
    In some occasions (Non-Persistent environments) it could happen that the Start Menu was empty after login while the xml file contained items.
    Currently this issue is being examined by RES and while they try to fix this issue this script can fill the Start Menu for you, so the users have a filled Start Menu.
.NOTES
    File Name  : PinStartItems.ps1
    Author     : John Billekens - blog.j81.nl
    Requires   : Windows 10
.LINK
    http://blog.j81.nl
.EXAMPLE
    .\PinStartItems.ps1
.EXAMPLE
    powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass .\PinStartItems.ps1
#>

[CmdletBinding()]
param ()

function Query-ShellExperienceHost {
    [cmdletbinding()]
    param (
        [string]$Username
    )
    # Get ShellExperienceHost process info for the user specified
    $process = Get-Process -IncludeUserName -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Where-Object { ($_.Username -eq $UserName) -AND ($_.ProcessName -like "ShellExperienceHost")}
    if (-not ([string]::IsNullOrEmpty($Process.Id))) {
        # Get thread info and get active threads
        $query = "SELECT ThreadState,ThreadWaitReason,ProcessHandle FROM Win32_Thread WHERE ProcessHandle = $($process.Id)"
        $oThread = Get-CimInstance -Query $query
        $out = New-Object psobject -Property @{
            SessionID = $process.SessionId
            ProcessID = $process.Id
            ActiveThreads = ($oThread | Where-Object { (-not ($_.ThreadState -eq 5)) -OR (-not ($_.ThreadWaitReason -eq 5)) }).Count
        }
    }
    return $out
}

# Create eventlog item "PinStartItems"
New-EventLog -LogName Application -Source PinStartItems -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

# Get current user
$sUserName = & $env:Systemroot\System32\whoami.exe

try {
    # Get ShellExperienceHost process data
$iBreak=0
    while ($iBreak -ne 10){
        # Sometimes it can happen the proces isn't available yet, it will wait until ready (max 30sec)
        $oOutput = Query-ShellExperienceHost -UserName $sUserName
        if (-not ([string]::IsNullOrEmpty($oOutput.SessionId))) {
            Start-Sleep -m 500
            Break
        } else {
            $iBreak++
            Start-Sleep -s 3
        }
    }
    if ($iBreak -ge 10) {
        Throw "ShellExperienceHost wasn't running on time"
    } 
    # Specify the exported file (when not using RES Workspace, copy the exported start layout file in xml format locally first)
    $tilefile="$($env:LOCALAPPDATA)\RES\WM\$($oOutput.SessionId)\WMTileFile.xml"
    if (test-path $tilefile) {
            # Set policy to import the start layout
            $sRegPath = "HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer"
            if (-not (Test-Path -Path $sRegPath)) {
                New-Item -Path $sRegPath -Force | Out-Null
            }
            New-ItemProperty -Path $sRegPath -Name LockedStartLayout -Value 1 -PropertyType DWORD -Force | out-null
            New-ItemProperty -Path $sRegPath -Name StartLayoutFile -Value $tilefile -PropertyType String -Force | out-null
            # Kill the process so the layout can be applied
            Stop-Process -Id $oOutput.ProcessID
            $iBreak=0
            while ($iBreak -ne 10){
                # Sometimes it can happen the proces isn't available yet, it will wait until ready (max 30sec)
                $oOutput = Query-ShellExperienceHost -UserName $sUserName
                if (($oOutput.ActiveThreads -eq 0) -and (-not ([string]::IsNullOrEmpty($oOutput.ProcessID)))) {
                    Start-Sleep -m 500
                    Break
                } else {
                    $iBreak++
                    Start-Sleep -s 3
                }
            }
            if ($iBreak -ge 10) {
                Throw "ShellExperienceHost wasn't ready in time"
            } else {
                # Remove the policy items to make it possible to pin new items
                Remove-ItemProperty -Path $sRegPath -Name LockedStartLayout -Force | out-null
                Remove-ItemProperty -Path $sRegPath -Name StartLayoutFile -Force | out-null
                Stop-Process -Id $oOutput.ProcessID
            }
            Write-EventLog -LogName "Application" -Source "PinStartItems" -EventID 1 -EntryType Information -Message "`"$sUserName`" ($($oOutput.SessionId)): Restoring pinned items to the Start Menu was successfull" -Category 0
    } else {
        # The xml file was not found at the given location
        Write-EventLog -LogName "Application" -Source "PinStartItems" -EventID 2 -EntryType Warning -Message "`"$sUserName`" ($($oOutput.SessionId)): File `"$tilefile`" was not found." -Category 0
    }
} catch {
    # An error was occured, log to eventlog
    $errmessage = "`"$sUserName`" ($($oOutput.SessionId)): Restoring pinned items (`"$tilefile`") to the Start Menu was failed.`r`n`r`nError:`r`n$(($_.Exception.Message) -join [Environment]::NewLine)"
    Write-EventLog -LogName "Application" -Source "PinStartItems" -EventID 5 -EntryType Error -Message $errmessage -Category 0
}

%systemroot%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass %rescustomresources%\Scripts\PinStartItems.ps1