Lost <winkey+x> and <right-click> on start icon + can't pin to taskbar

Up until several hours ago, I could either press the Windows key ("winkey") + X, or <right-click> on the Windows icon at the left end of the task bar to pop up a very handy menu. Clicking on the Windows icon still pops open the Start Menu, though.

Also, I can no longer pin items to the taskbar. I do get the "Pin to Taskbar" pop-up at the cursor when I drag an icon to the taskbar, but it doesn't pin.

I suspect these two issues are related, but don't know how/why.

I ran sfc /scannow and found no errors.

(This is on my notebook with a clean install of Win10 Home.)

For WinX that can stop working if you delete the folder where all those shortcuts live.
If you delete the below folder it will stop working.

C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WinX

That folder is still there with Group1, Group2 and Group3 folders and their contents.

wpcoe said:

That folder is still there with Group1, Group2 and Group3 folders and their contents.

I had something similar; only Network Connections was showing on Win X. Checked the folder suggested and all the entries were there, but all except the Network line had old dates against them (2012). Checked the default user folder and all dates were 2015 - copied all the Win X group files from default user to my user and restarted and all now appear on Win X.

The Windows folder is dated 8/6/2015, the Winx sub folder is dated 7/10/2015, the Group1/Group2/Group3 folders are dated 7/10/2015.

Group1 contains 2 items, both dated 7/10/2015
Group2 contains 6 items, all dated 7/10/2015
Group3 contains 14 items, all dated 7/10/2105

C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Winx appeared to have identical contents and dates, but I renamed the Winx directory for my username, copied a new version from the default user and rebooted, but still no luck: no <Win+x> nor <right-click> on Start icon

Found the culprit. It was an unexpected/unintended side-effect from the registry hack in the Tutorials section to remove the arrow overlay on shortcut icons

That tutorial has now been updated (reverted to) a hack that leaves a faint (almost transparent) square on certain shortcuts (.url shortcuts) but at least it leaves the Winx function and the ability to pin shortcuts to the taskbar intact.