Can't remove pinned section from start menu

Hello,

I'm trying to follow this tutorial to remove the pinned section from the start menu.

Unfortunately applying the registry file under Step 3 of Option 2 to hide the pinned section doesn't have any effect.

This is on Win 11 Pro build 26200.9168 not the insider preview so I don't have an option to disable the pinned section from Settings.

My other computer doesn't have a pinned section visible in the start menu and it is running the same build number so I know there's a working way to disable it.

I can't remember how I removed it on the other system.

I removed all the pinned apps from the pinned section so it is now an empty space. I just want to remove the word "Pinned" and have it only show all apps.

Reading the last line in Brinks tutorial, I don't believe it's yet possible--could be wrong and if so would also like to know how to accomplish removing the "PIN" tab button. I also looked in settings-personalization-start on my machine (Win 11 Pro 26200.9168) and did not have that layout option as Brink's tutorial shows so maybe that's an insider build as he described.

"Starting with Windows 11 build 26300.8553 (Experimental 25H2), build 26100.9267 (RP 24H2), and build 26200.9267 (RP 25H2) for Insiders, you can turn on or off showing the Pinned section on the Start menu".

I only had three items pinned on the start menu and unpinned all of them and it's gone. All I have is either the list or grid for all menu items.

Greybeard70 said:

I only had three items pinned on the start menu and unpinned all of them and it's gone. All I have is either the list or grid for all menu items.

Click to expand...

This is what I thought I most likely did on the other computer but on my laptop I unpinned all items and it still shows "Pinned" at the top with a blank space.

KemikalElite said:

I can't remember how I removed it on the other system.

Click to expand...

Maybe using Vivetool???

KB5120998 is scheduled for public release on September 8, 2026, as part of Microsoft's regular monthly security update rollout for Windows 11 versions 24H2 and 25H2.

Hello @KemikalElite and welcome to ElevenForum.

Unless you're an Insider, that tutorial won't work... yet.

Thanks for your responses.

I was assuming the pinned section toggle in Settings was only on insider builds but I thought there was a chance the registry tweak might work for older versions. Good thing its less than a months wait to the new update, looks like there's a lot of UI improvements and customization coming. Glad to see MS is finally giving users more of what everyone has been asking for since the release of 11.

It still doesn't explain how one PC removed the pinned section just from removing all the pins and another doesn't especially since they're on the same build number. I thought for a minute it might of been a windhawk tweak but that was for an older version of Win 11. I can confirm that all of my PCs are not on any insider preview builds. Modern Windows doesn't make sense sometimes.

In the mean time I'll be using Explorer Patcher with Windows 10 style as a workaround. Its pretty close to the actual Win 10 start menu seeing as I'm upgrading all my PCs from 10 right now.