windows10-no-start-menu-modern-apps

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:

1: Delete Corrupted AppLocker Files

The I found the fix:

  1. Right-click at Start and run Command Prompt as Admin
  2. Type command:
    ren %windir%\System32\AppLocker\Plugin*.* *.bak
  3. Restart Windows
  4. Be happy

Thank you UHLIK from THIS thread on the Microsoft Forum after reading THIS thread on the forum.

2: Start APPLICATION IDENTITY Service

Another fix for the The Start Menu Does Not Work problem is:

  1. Right-click at Start and click RUN
  2. type SERVICES.MSC and press the enter key
  3. right click on APPLICATION IDENTITY and select START
  4. Be happy… a reboot is not required

3: Use DISM Command

UPDATED: August 19, 2015: A third fix I have used successfully is:

  1. Create a new user and log into it
  2. Right click on the START button and select COMMAND PROMPT (RUN AS ADMINSTRATOR)
  3. Type dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
  4. Restart the PC
  5. Log back into the problematic profile hopefully you’ll find the store and apps work again

4: PowerShell Command to Reregister Packages

A forth fix I found came directly from Microsoft Partner support:

  1. Press Windows Key + R on your keyboard.
  2. Key in PowerShell and hit Enter.
  3. Right click on the PowerShell icon on the taskbar and select Run as Administrator.
  4. Now paste the following command in the Administrator: Windows PowerShell window and press Enter key:
    Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”}
  5. Wait for PowerShell to execute and complete the command. Ignore the few errors (in red color) that may pop up.
  6. When it finishes, try hitting Start and hopefully it’ll start working.

5: Replace the “TileDataLayer” Database – Added Sept 24, 2015:

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.

  1. Right click on the START button
  2. Hold the shift key while selecting RESTART
  3. Select TROUBLESHOOT from the recovery menu
  4. Select REFRESH YOUR PC

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.


235 Comments

Janice Trumbell · September 29, 2015 at 1:17 pm

Like the others., I have had the same problem with the “Start Menu” since upgrading to Windows 10. I did follow your instructions on how to replace the TileDataLayer and so far that seems to have worked. However, do I have to keep the program files that are in the WINDOWS.OLD since I have re-installed my programs? Just thinking about data space. Thanks for posting the info and for your help.

ron M · September 27, 2015 at 5:55 pm

Mr. Matthews
I have reformatted my hard drive and no longer involved with windows 10. I tried every solution I could find and probably made things more difficult if not impossible. Thanks again for your help
Ron M.

Ron M · September 27, 2015 at 4:26 am

Mr. Matthews
I have tried both of these instructions to no avail. This thing has eaten my computer alive and Microsoft still advertising on TV.
Are there any other options?
Thank you so much for your help.

Ron M · September 26, 2015 at 5:59 am

Can you tell me how to enter this in command prompt admin? do I enter all this at once?
.
net user “TempAdmin1″“password1″ /add
net user “TempAdmin2″“password2″ /add
net localgroup administrators “TempAdmin2″ /add
.

Do I enter before signing out?
I have tried this but computer does not add any users.

    Ian Matthews · September 26, 2015 at 8:21 am

    Hi Ron;

    That is a good question and I should have been clearer in my instructions. The answer is type in each line and press ENTER after each one. You can ignore the two lines with . in them; I have those there because of my web publishing tool will format the remaining text badly if I don’t. I have adjust the instructions to reflect this. If your accounts are not being created you likely did not select the COMMAND PROMPT (ADMIN); make sure you select the one with (ADMIN). If you still have trouble creating the accounts you could try: right click the START button, select CONTROL PANEL, select USER ACCOUNTS, select MANAGE ANOTHER ACCOUNT, select ADD A NEW USER IN PC SETTINGS (small blue link near the bottom of the window). This may not work if “PC SETTINGS” is bunged up by the same problem that is causing the START button to not work.

    I hope this helps. Please keep us informed as to your progress 🙂

Ron M · September 24, 2015 at 2:45 pm

When I follow your steps for a refresh I get to a screen that tells me to select my keyboard. It does not give me a way to make this selection.
Can you help?

C VanWinkle · September 18, 2015 at 1:18 pm

After trying everything listed here and on other sites, I ended up doing a system restore point, which worked for me, HOWEVER — please read how this had to be done:
The restore would fail, every time, whether from within Windows, or from the boot recovery mode.
Finally, I tried chkdsk. To do this, open command prompt (or power shell) AS ADMIN, type in chkdsk c: /f . If your Windows OS is on another drive, substitute that for c:. This will look for and attempt to repair errors on the hard drive. You can also use /r instead of /f, this will look for bad sectors as well; it will also increase the time to do the scan considerably, but additionally does everything /f does.
After you hit enter, it will give you an error that it cannot be run at that time, go ahead and follow through to schedule a scan on your next reboot. Reboot windows, chkdsk will run.
Only after I did this, could I get one of my restore points to work.
Don’t know if it will work for you, but that’s how I fixed this issue.

Parpaluck · September 16, 2015 at 3:10 pm

Looks like I found a permanent fix. It has worked for me for one week now. The fixing is kinduv complex and involves:

1) the Command Prompt (for creating 2 local accounts);
2) PowerShell to add the missing components to the Microsoft account (the one that gets corrupted after a couple of days following the upgrading to Windows 10)
3) Deleting the old and corrupted Database in the original Microsoft account (C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\AppData\Local\TileDataLayer)

I published the complete instructions to make Windows 10 upgrade work for the vast majority of users who upgraded from Windows 7. You might want to print all steps and follow them carefully:
http://forums.saliu.com/windows-10.htm
(Section VII: The Final Solution — It Looks PERMANENT… REALLY!)

Ion Saliu,
Rehabilitated Windows 10 Victim
“A good man is an axiomatic man; an axiomatic man is a happy man. Be axiomatic!”

Tom Whelan · September 16, 2015 at 9:37 am

Hi Raven,

Thank you. Methods 1,2&3 failed but PowerShell worked. I couldn’t access it as Administrator but I got it through Ctrl+Alt+Delete.

Great stuff Raven.
Appreciated.
Cheers.

Myles · September 13, 2015 at 7:54 am

4th option for me basically worked, but it also removed ALL of my x86 apps from the start menu. Not just from the main screen either, but from the entire “All Apps” list. Only modern apps are still there and launch. x86 apps are still installed and work if i launch from a desktop shortcut or from the programs folders on C: drive. I’m also using Insider Preview 10532 might have something to do with it.

Tupa · September 13, 2015 at 6:23 am

The first solution worked, but after that the computer is working very slowly to complete everything. Any idea what could have happened?

Natalie · September 12, 2015 at 6:28 am

Hi,

This might be a stupid question but how do you set up a new user without going through the start menu?

Bob White · September 9, 2015 at 2:33 pm

Just happened again –
right after using CCleaner v4.19.4867 64bit
Both Start Menu & Calendar (calendar pop-up when you left click time – bottom left screen) stopped working
CCleaner causing error?

fixed with Run(as Admin) + Powershell + Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”}

Bob · September 8, 2015 at 5:10 pm

#4 worked for me but menu disappeared when I rebooted. Is there a PERMANENT solution?

(Thanks for these other fixes by the way. I am sure Microsoft appreciates your fixing their crap)

Radomir · September 2, 2015 at 4:45 am

A forth fix I found came directly from Microsoft Partner support:

Press Windows Key + R on your keyboard.
Key in PowerShell and hit Enter.
Right click on the PowerShell icon on the taskbar and select Run as Administrator.
Now paste the following command in the Administrator: Windows PowerShell window and press Enter key:
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”}
Wait for PowerShell to execute and complete the command. Ignore the few errors (in red color) that may pop up.
When it finishes, try hitting Start and hopefully it’ll start working.

BUT YOU MUST HIT ENTER BEFORE U TYPE powershell IN CMD

    Leland Cox · September 15, 2015 at 9:53 pm

    I tried all of the FIXES for this problem and this one worked for me! Thanks so much!

PoppiSeed · September 1, 2015 at 8:04 pm

The last option, the refresh also worked for me. It was a pain but I’m relieved to have my start button and Cortana working again. Thanks for the information.

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