Windows 10 All Apps menu not showing shortcuts

Running Windows 10 64-bit; 8 GB RAM

I've been advised that the folder:

c:\Users\<my name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

contains the folders and shortcuts that are shown in the All Apps menu.

However, there are some programs and folders in there that don't show up in the All Apps menu. For example, I just installed a new program, and the installation created a folder for the app in that folder - and that folder shows up in the All Apps menu, great. But if I then manually add a shortcut to that folder, it doesn't show up in the All Apps menu.

What am I missing? Is there some extra step I don't know about?

Basically, I want to configure my All Apps menu, moving/creating shortcuts and folders, and what I find online isn't working.

Thanks for any help.

Hello Budfudder and welcome to TenForums :)

Have a look at this tutorial. https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/...dows-10-a.html

You will see that there is more than one location that is used for the Start menu items. The various options given in the tutorial should help you sort out your start menu. Also check the comments in the tutorial thread as they have some helpful suggestions.

philc43 said:

Hello Budfudder and welcome to TenForums :)
Have a look at this tutorial. https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/...dows-10-a.html
You will see that there is more than one location that is used for the Start menu items. The various options given in the tutorial should help you sort out your start menu.

Thanks a lot.

I went to that location, and did the first step - copy and paste the folder location %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs into Explorer.

Immediately I can see there are problems - the first group shown in the folder (%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs) does not show in my All Apps menu. Looking further, I can see that:

- my All Apps menu contains both groups and items that are not in the folder location (I assume they are getting these from some other location, but I don't know where - it's not C:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs, which is where I expected to find them)
- the folder location contains both groups and items that are not shown in my All Apps menu.
Is something corrupted?

I recommend you consider using Classic Shell (CS) which is far more configurable than the Start Menu. You can configure CS so mouse hover opens CS and left mouse click opens the Start Menu - so you can use whichever menu you want.

Budfudder said:

Thanks a lot.

- my All Apps menu contains both groups and items that are not in the folder location (I assume they are getting these from some other location, but I don't know where - it's not C:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs, which is where I expected to find them)
- the folder location contains both groups and items that are not shown in my All Apps menu.
Is something corrupted?

Don't forget that we are only dealing with the desktop apps in these folders. There are also the newer Windows Store Apps that are different and their shortcuts are buried elsewhere in the system and can't be accessed as far as I know. The only way to remove them from the All Apps menu is to completely uninstall the program. Reading through the comments to the end of the thread in the tutorial I highlighted will show how difficult it is to manage these folders, shortcuts inside sub-folders do not always show up.