Start menu missing all installed programs/apps and pinned items

I'm running windows 10 Pro 1903 and have been having some trouble with my start menu.

The other week pinned items would not work so I done a repair install to fix the problem.

Today suddenly most of my pinned items on the start menu have mysteriously vanished and all my installed programs and apps are missing from the start menu completely! Searching for them in the start menu brings up nothing and the only way to see if they are installed is to go into add remove programs or to go into the install directories to find them.

I just completed another repair install thinking this would fix the problem but it still remains.

I also have this strange unidentified entry in the start menu ms-resource:AppName/Text

Compumind said:

Curious.

Are using the Windows 10 Start Menu or an alternative, like Classic Shell, Start 10, etc.

Thanks.

Just standard Windows 10 Start Menu. I have no idea why this happened, one moment they were all there and working and the next they just disappeared when I went to use the start menu. I hadn't installed anything, restarted, or even logged off.

I spoke to Microsoft help who remotely took control of my PC but they couldn't find a solution or work out why it happened. The only fix is for me to re-install all of my programs or run a repair install for each program from within programs and features to get all the correct links and shortcuts back in the start menu.

So that is what I'm currently in the middle of doing. If it happens again I think I may have to do a complete wipe and fresh install windows without keeping anything.

Thank youBrink, I tried both of those but it didn't seem to fix my problem.
I've got my start menu back to some normal functionality for now, but I'm still getting hangs and freezes when clicking on items, and the start menu even became unresponsive this morning and I had to restart my pc.

I'm kind of wishing I didn't upgrade to 1903 now, is there anyway to roll back or install the version before this?
I'm thinking I might just wipe the system and start completely fresh, no keeping any files, folders or apps. I keep everything on other hard drives so I wont loose anything, my C drive is purely for Windows and Programs.

Compumind, I may just give Classic shell a try for the time being, thank you.

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RamboMcMutNutts said:

I'm running windows 10 Pro 1903 and have been having some trouble with my start menu.

The other week pinned items would not work so I done a repair install to fix the problem.

Today suddenly most of my pinned items on the start menu have mysteriously vanished and all my installed programs and apps are missing from the start menu completely! Searching for them in the start menu brings up nothing and the only way to see if they are installed is to go into add remove programs or to go into the install directories to find them.

I just completed another repair install thinking this would fix the problem but it still remains.

I also have this strange unidentified entry in the start menu ms-resource:AppName/Text

The appname/text issue has been around awhile. There is a fix out there, but it's complicated at least for me. It doesn't do anything when you click on it and it's located at the end of the start menu, so I just leave it there hoping that someday MS will have a fix.

Do a check disk. Open a CMD window as Administrator and type:
chkdsk c: /f
It will say your disk is in use and if you want to schedule to next start = Yes
Reboot
Pay attention on the results, specially bad blocks, bad sectors etc

Once back to windows, do a system file check. Open a CMD window as Administrator and type:
sfc /scannow

Brink said:

I'm sorry to hear that Rambo.

As a test, does the Start menu work properly for a new account after creating it and signing in?

I tried creating a new account and the same issue persisted.

I used the 'get help' feature and had Microsoft support take a look at it with remote assistance. They believed it was very rare bug that they have not seen before and were unable to find a solution.

I guess somewhere, something went wrong with my installation somewhere down the line. For now things seem to be okay, but I'm not going to hold my breath!

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RichardC said:

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The appname/text issue has been around awhile. There is a fix out there, but it's complicated at least for me. It doesn't do anything when you click on it and it's located at the end of the start menu, so I just leave it there hoping that someday MS will have a fix.

I done some googling and found some other people that had the same, or somewhat similar problem with missing start menu items and also including the appname/text issue. I saw a complicated fix, but I will also leave well alone as it also looked a little bit too complicated for myself too!