Microsoft Releases a Start Menu Fix for Windows 10
Every new operating system including new Linux distros, new Apple operating systems or new Android operating systems all have their share of issues, most people refer to as bugs. I would bet Linux, Apple and Android users would argue that each new release is bug-free, but honestly nothing is prefect, Is Windows more buggy? Perhaps. But when you consider the myriad of hardware that works with Windows and all the drivers that Windows must be support, Windows is pretty darn good.
Microsoft makes mistakes. And we can tell you from painful experience that what works on most Windows computers, does not work on all Windows computers.
The biggest bug, at least the biggest bug I’m aware of, is the Windows 10 start menu issue (or bug). For no reason, one day a click on the start button does not open the start menu. You can right-click the start menu and get the so-called “power menu”, but you cannot open the Windows 10 start menu. Woe are those to whom this happens. (Was that good, grammar police?) Woe was I. This happened to me about 2 months ago. I had to do a Windows 10 System Reset (keeping my personal files). However I had to install all of my programs again, and that was a royal pain in the neck.
For months, Microsoft did not acknowledge the start menu bug that agonized hundreds of thousands of Windows 10 users — users who were either wrestling with or who had suffered from the non-responsive, Windows 10 start menu bug.
Finally, finally, finally, Microsoft fessed up and issued a so called Windows 10 Start Menu Troubleshooter (also known as a Microsoft “Fix-it” tool) to help those afflicted fix their broken Windows 10 start menu.
You can download the Microsoft Start Menu Troubleshooter from here.
Once you have downloaded – go ahead and run it. It’s pretty simple.
You just click on “Next”. And then the tool will check your PC for potential problems with your start menu.
Here take a look:
If problems are found, you’ll see a list of them. Then you can choose to let the Microsoft Start Menu Troubleshooter ( Fix-it) fix them, or, if you’re a masochist or are bored to death, you can choose to fix them manually.
The Windows 10 Start Menu Troubleshooter (Fix-it) will check the following:
- Make sure that the start menu and Cortana are installed correctly.
- Application manifest corruption issues.
- Registry issues.
- Start menu tile database corruption issues.
If the Start Menu Troubleshooter (Fix-it) finds no problems, you will see this — a bunch of items that are labeled “Issue not present”.
About three weeks ago Reg Organizer began including a fix for Windows 10 start menu issues too – and you can read more about that here.
So to those of us who knew the pain of having to fix our Windows 10 start menu by doing a Window 10 reset or creating new users account, are glad there are easier ways for you to make things – or at least the Windows 10 start menu problem – right again.
NOTE: Looking at the responses we’re getting, it seems many people are assuming we’re guaranteeing this to work. We are not. In our experience, most Microsoft Fix-its don’t fix anything. We were just making readers aware that Microsoft was, in a roundabout way, admitting there’s a problem with the start menu in Windows 10 and have attempted to prepare a bandage for it. We sure are not going to be responsible for what Microsoft does or says 🙂 We are simply the messenger here. Don’t shoot the messenger.
The taskbar pinned items can disappear at times and the Start Menu leaves you with just tiles, shut down and the apps icon. This is caused by inadvertently activating tablet mode in the notifications – even if you don’t have atablet.
Missing taskbar items are not related to the start menu and can easily be fixed by opening task manager and restarting Explorer.exe (Windows Explorer). As far as tablet mode, if you’re computer suddenly goes into tablet mode without warning, you can turn it off by going to Settings –> System –> Tablet mode and turning it off. If you cannot access Settings from the menu, press Windows Key + A to open the Action Center – and click on All Settings.
Hey, I tried the troubleshooter but all I got was “explore other options” or “close the troubleshooter”. I have had my start menu not work a number of times but usually a restart fixes it.
Ron
We put a disclaimer at the bottom of the article. We are just the messengers here – don’t shoot the messenger.
I ran it and got the same thing, but I clicked on the “view detailed information” and received what you have said above – i.e. no problems found.
My experience was the same as Ron
Peter R
We put a disclaimer at the bottom of the article. We are just the messengers here – don’t shoot the messenger.
Ditto. I got the “check other options” response as well. I ran Reg Organizer yesterday with no adverse problems shown.
We put a disclaimer at the bottom of the article. We are just the messengers here – don’t shoot the messenger.
I’m a computer technician and my experience with this problem is that Windows changes from desktop mode to tablet mode. My personal laptop has this disease. The cure is, obviously, to go to the Action Center and click off tablet mode. Hopefully this patch will fix my laptop, but folks who are having this problem might try this solution.
I’ve only seen this problem twice and both times just using Windows Key + i to open settings – clicking on System and then Tablet mode – and turning off the switch at the top and making sure the “Always ask me before switching” works well. Opening the Action Center and clicking on Tablet Mode switches the computer back to desktop mode, but there is no option to “Always ask me before switching”.
Unfortunately, this did not fix my start menu; the response basically said no solution available. Interestingly, it comes in and out. I did have to open a new account and that works and so does my husband’s (same computer), but my original account does not.
Same here,Joanne….NO FIX, NO SOLUTION. And, yes, mine also appears about once a week or so for just a few minutes. How did you open a new account, please ?
To create a new user account:
If you’re using non-Microsoft user account:
Press the Windows Key + i
In Settings click Accounts
Scroll to the bottom of the page
Click add a Microsoft Account
If you’re ARE using a Microsoft account:
Press Windows Key + i
In Settings click Accounts
Then click Family & other users (on the left side)
Click Add someone else to this PC
It’s good that Microsoft has released an attempted fix for their start menu, but from what it sounds like it doesn’t work very well. Either way, like you said at least they are admitting that there’s something wrong with it. Thanks for sharing the tips.
I haven’t seen the missing start menu problem since Windows 10 updated a month or so ago. That’s not saying it doesn’t still happen, it’s just we work on dozens of computers every week and we have not seen the missing start menu problem. We use to see it often. That’s not to say it never happens, but from our experience it seems to be fixed -or at least much better.