UPDATE: June 21, 2016 – Microsoft has released a free repair tool for the Windows 10 START menu. You can read very brief explanation and download it here.
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It was a dark and stormy nighty in April when I installed Windows 10 build 10041 (on the fast ring) and the START button stopped working… ok enough fun. If you have installed a recent Windows 10 build you may find that the START button and all of the modern apps either do nothing or error out with messages about .NET or PARENTAL CONTROLS.
In my case I just installed a free START menu utility (I like START 8 or CLASSIC SHELL) that you might have install on Windows 8, and waited for Microsoft to release the next build of Windows 10 that I hoped would be installed automatically as I am on the FAST RING. It did not because Microsoft changes Windows Update to be a ‘Modern App’ which means it will not run. Soooo, I thought was pretty smart to just download the build 10074 ‘.EBD’ upgrade file from a site and run through the conversion to .ISO and then do an in-place upgrade (which just means run SETUP from the DVD and tell it to upgrade). That did work… for 3 days. This morning my START menu was dead again, AAARRRG!
Microsoft needs to get its Application developer jobs to fix this but until they do, here are solutions that have worked for us:
The I found the fix:
Thank you UHLIK from THIS thread on the Microsoft Forum after reading THIS thread on the forum.
Another fix for the The Start Menu Does Not Work problem is:
UPDATED: August 19, 2015: A third fix I have used successfully is:
A forth fix I found came directly from Microsoft Partner support:
If none of these fix the Start Button, you can try our advanced solution to the Windows 10 Start Button not working, which has solved the issue for me twice already this month and you can read about it here.
If you have had enough, you can just give up and REFRESH you machine.
This will reinstall Windows 10 but it will keep all of your files (Documents, Pictures…) but it will kill all of the programs that have been installed. Everything that is dead will be in C:\WINDOWS.OLD so you can fish out anything that is missing, but you will have to reinstall your programs, like Microsoft Office.
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http://www.thewindowsclub.com/start-menu-does-not-open-windows-10
DON'T DO THE powershell approach any more. It will break the Windows 10 apps and store
I broke mine, and only a restore point saved it.
PowerShell Command fixed it for me.
and it also fixed my image & video files not opening in 'Photos' by default (this was throwing an error before).
Thanks URTECH.ca
Oddly I had the windows Firewall turned off. This prevented that from coming on. As soon as I restored the Firewall it came back up again.
Check your Firewall settings people. (This pc is installed on a domain Environment so that's why I had it turned off)
I noticed 2 week ago I was getting a window, "Critical Menu Error. Log-Off and we will try to fix the problem" or something like that.
I tried #4 above. It worked for me.
doesnt work
even the updated link you supplied doesnt work
but then i know that installing Coreldraw x3 broke the start button and the action center so probably some files were replaced with the earlier version which created this problem
ill wait till the soluion is published and probably will use the classic start button replacement till it is done
thanks anyways
I have had each of these fixes correct the problem for me (and my clients) personally so I stand behind them. That being said, when you say DOESN'T WORK I don't know what you are specifically referring to. When all else fails, I have had http://www.urtech.ca/2015/09/solved-fix-windows-10-start-button-does-nothing-in-10-minutes/ work 100% of the time.
Thank you. This worked for me.
Option 5 worked for me. It deleted all my programs, but it's a small price to pay if it means that my start menu works!
Tried everything none worked ended up going back to a restore point from a couple of weeks ago. Thank god it worked http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/windows-10-recovery-options
I might be a bit late to the party but this just happened on my Win10 install. I found a quick and easy solution that worked for me. Hit win+R and run the control panel. Under 'System and Security' click the 'Find and fix problems' link. I ran the 'Fix problems with Windows Update' troubleshooter and the problem was fixed in seconds. If anyone else is having this issue please try this solution and let us know if it helps.
the one fix with windows update didnt work
no need to uninstall anything, i also run Avast and all i did was do this..
crt alt del to bring up task manager
click file
run new task
enter msconfig w/admin privileges
go to boot section, click on safeboot and network
ok to restart
after restart just repeat the process but unclick the safe boot square in msconfig
restart again..
you should be good.
This works! Even fix search button problems.
Well, safe mode does work; but after switching back to regular boot (no the same user). It fails again.
Thank You! I've tried some other methods I found on the internet, but eventually the problem has always returned. This solution took like a minute and works well, so even if the problem shows up again, I can deal with it very quickly now.
this option worked for me and many thanks to you. if the problem repeats again m gonna repeat the process again as well.
Another +1 from me - after trying all the others save a reset/rollback this was my saviour.
Great! this worked, although at first it took ages to restart, which made me think that this method was going to ruin my PC. However, in the end this worked!
This worked like a charm!
I tried all of the options in the article and none worked for me, this did though, thank you
Hi Michelle; I would ensure you have updated your Windows 10 to 1511 (November update) and try http://www.urtech.ca/2015/09/solved-fix-windows-10-start-button-does-nothing-in-10-minutes/ .
Fantastic! Thank you - worked perfect!
Thank you, 4th solution worked for me. Bookmarked this page.
Could you please me to remove Xbox and solitairecollection from Alluser...Using MDT deployment
Hi Sarath;
I am just playing with MDT now and while I am sure there is a way, I don't know what it is. :(
I installed Win10 two months ago but couldn't figure out how to get the Start menu or modern apps to open. I reverted back to Win7. Today, I tried again with Win10 and found this post. Fix #2 worked for me and I'm now fully upgraded to Win10. Thanks for posting this.
I tried the steps above.
#1 could not locate.
#2 did not work
#3 have not tried yet
#4 some lines still showed X% processing - did not work
About to go to the other sight and try the "10 minute fix"
Last entry, tried from another site and got WDF_VIOLATIONS error and system restarted without completing action.
Hit ctrl-alt-del. Then click the power button at lower right corner of your screen. Then click restart. Tap F8 continuously, at windows boot, until your computer gets to the login screen. Then login normally. Your start menu should be back. This works for me.