Start menu and other taskbar items won't open

finally have a solution, after seeking help on another forum! thought this would help in case anyone else gets the same problem in the future and has tried all the solutions i have. might be worth trying some of these earlier steps shown here first, rather than going straight to the end, as your problem may be slightly different to mine (i don't think most people will have had to try quite as many solutions as i have!):

first i tried some of the steps here, and used the start menu troubleshooter: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...t-menu-cortana

however, the troubleshooter showed me the following, but said it wasn't able to fix the issue:
"Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost" and "Microsoft.Windows.Cortana" applications need to be installed correctly.

i then tried the following suggestion:

Registering the two identified problems:

• Microsoft.Windows.Cortana
• Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost

Assuming your Windows is installed on the C drive, then try the following:

• In your search box type powershell
• In the search results right-click on Windows PowerShell and select Run as administrator
• When prompted by the User Account Control click Yes
• In the Administrator: Windows PowerShell window type or copy & paste the following:

Code:
Add-AppxPackage -register "C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy\appxmanifest.xml" -DisableDevelopmentMode
Press Enter key then type or copy & paste the following:

Code:
Add-AppxPackage -register "C:\Windows\SystemApps\ShellExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\appxmanifest.xml" -DisableDevelopmentMode
Press Enter key

Sample image



When done close the Windows PowerShell window and any other open programs.

Now Restart computer.

That didn't work for me personally, so I next tried this:

Boot into Safe Mode

Press Windows Key + R key then in the run dialog type msconfig and click OK

Now select the Boot tab then check the Safe Boot option and click Apply/OK and restart computer.

This should take you to Safe mode. Sign in, and see whether the Start menu works there.

Now repeat above steps, but this time in the Boot tab remove the check next to Safe boot then click Apply/OK so you can restart and boot into a normal Desktop mode.

This again didn't work for me, but this final solution DID:

In-place upgrade of the operating system.

Basically, that involves downloading the latest Windows.iso image from Microsoft, then mounting the image and running the Setup.exe with the intention of reinstalling Windows 10 over the top of itself. You can choose to save files and settings during the process, but be aware that third party applications may end up in a Windows.old folder, so you may need to re-install those later.

This article on this Forum explains how to go about getting the Windows.iso image, which you need to download.

https://www.windows10forums.com/arti...ows-10-iso.35/

When you have that, then opened and run it, and eventually receive the Windows.iso file, you then right-click on this download and select Mount, then in the folder that opens, click the Setup.exe to begin the process. In the later stages, you can't use your PC (it warns you at this stage about this), so make sure you don't have urgent work to do at this time! Or you can put it off til later. It didn't take too long for me, I went away to do some cooking, came back and it after signing in, it took a few minutes just to set itself up.

After that, Start menu, taskbar icons etc all worked fine! So persevere, and you will get results!

If you are going to later re-install any third party programs, then perhaps do one at a time, and wait to make sure its not one of these third party programs that is somehow interfering with the Start menu.

If you'd rather not go down this route, then the only other option would be to make use of a Restore point you may have which pre-dates the date your Start menu stopped working. Or even resetting your PC completely, first keeping your apps and files, and if that doesn't work, backup your files and reset completely.

Let me know if anyone has any questions regarding the solutions I found or my results with each step. Would be happy to help. Very frustrating experience but very pleased now!

@kimkl

haha, yes i always try to find solutions to problems online, and almost never take my computers to the shop unless it's REALLY dire and something i obviously cannot do myself (i.e. having to take apart hardware etc). it's great to be able to fix problems yourself for free, rather than having to pay ridiculous amounts at a shop (£50 or so for a diagnostic fee alone? no thanks!)

the only time i have had sent my laptop away was to fix the audio jack a couple of months ago. it just wouldn't work, no matter what i tried (though if i reset it, it would start working again, and after a few days stop again, very weird), and clearly was more of a hardware issue. so luckily, i was able to get it sent off to the manufacturer and repaired for free under my warranty. took maybe 2 weeks to get it sent off and returned (luckily i had a spare older laptop to use)

anyway, it's amazing the resources you can get online, and there's usually at least someone out there who has faced the same problem, and someone else who knows how to fix it, so i thought eventually i would get something done about it (or if not, have to send it off again!). it just wasn't a problem i could ignore. persistence pays off in the end!