Start Menu Corrupted - ms-resource:appDisplayName

So lately I was faced by the following symptoms :
1 - Alot of apps not appearing on start menu where I can only run them through store
2 - Mysterious app called : ms-resource:appDisplayName appearing on start menu that can't be deleted / uninstalled
3 - All my previous sorted tiles were reseted

I managed to research and here is what I attempted along the way :
1 - I found number of pages that claimed start menu now is no longer a matter of links to sort , but more like yet another database managed by indexing service (which I doubt because it doesn't really show everything installed) and it suggested running re-indexing to sort start menu shortcut issues where I did that but status remained the same
2 - Suggestions of re-installing apps where the hidden apps still did not show after re-installation
3 - Suggestion to reset store using WSReset.exe (nothing)
4 - Suggestion to run Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers| Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”} to totally reset the store (nothing)
5 - Suggestion to Run > shell:AppsFolder and then right click apps to find their locations and sort them where the apps showing are found their , their location lead to older windows folder structure of start menu where the rest of the missing software shows but they still wont show on start menu

So any hints on how to edit the bloody menu to reflect store apps installed and adding other missing installed software shortcuts ?

You can repair install Windows 10 without losing your personal files, settings and installed programs.

How to Do a Repair Install of Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade

FreeBooter said:

You can repair install Windows 10 without losing your personal files, settings and installed programs.

How to Do a Repair Install of Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade

I cant do an in place upgrade , this laptop had previously OEM windows 8.1 that was later upgraded to windows 10 , I couldn't find an iso anywhere that was compatible to do that .

I doubt that this might fix things still because windows specifically keep same apps and everything so might keep same structure of start menu as well .

So there is no way to edit start menu in windows 10 ? like add or remove shortcuts like we used to do in previous windows ?

Yes you can do a repair install of Windows 10 all you need is Media Creation Tool.

I have repaired many Windows 10 problems by doing repair install of Windows 10, you will not know if repair installing Windows 10 will help resolve your issue if you don't do a repair install.

You can't edit Start Menu manually.

This is what I get when I run MCT , I think OEM upgraded versions have no proper iso

No you have already upgrade to Windows 10 this error has nothing do with OEM.

Fix: Error Code 0x80072f76 0x20017 in Windows 10

After researching turns out it was an isp issue , so i solved it via vpn , problem is after 7 hours to download over slow vpn and install and update nothing what so ever changed

any other suggestions on how to tweak start menu ?

Sorry to hear repair installing Windows 10 have not resolve the problem. If you have not please execute below commands one at time.

1. Open the Command Prompt as administrator by typing cmd.exe into Start Menu, right click cmd.exe and select Run as administrator.

2. Execute following commands:

Code:

Dism /online  /cleanup-image  /restorehealth

Sfc  /scannow

In case the above operating system repairs do not fix the start menu problem you can try these and report the results into the thread:

1) create a new user and test the start menu with the new user:
2) open administrative command prompt and type: net user test /add
3) shutdown /r
4) sign on with the new user named test > check the start menu

5) re-register the start menu:
6) open administrative powershell and copy and paste this command:
Get-appxpackage -all *shellexperience* -packagetype bundle |% {add-appxpackage -register -disabledevelopmentmode ($_.installlocation + “\appxmetadata\appxbundlemanifest.xml”)}

Please report results into the thread.

So after further searching , I found out the following odd facts :

So this is the odd app showing in start menu with several other missing apps .

Now few forums suggested this to be a sign of corruption example here .

So forums suggested too that there is a tool to fix corruptions called Start Menu Troubleshooter which wasn't easy to find .

Like always all MS Troubleshooters it managed to state the obvious :



So searching on for means to fix the corruption since Microsoft was vague enough about this I came across this page here :

Step 4: Replace the corrupted databaseBrowse to C:\Users\OtherNewAccountYouAreNotUsing\AppData\Local\TileDataLayerRight click on the folder Database and click copy.Now browse to C:\Users\UserAccountExperiencingProblems\AppData\Local\TileDataLayerRename the Database folder in that account to Database.oldNow paste the Database folder you copied from the other user account. This will remove all modifications and shortcuts you've added to the start menu but hey...at least it'll work now!

The odd thing is my old profile has an XML based setting file and empty database folder :


While new profile has no XML file but a database folder :


Any body came across these blahs before ?! @Brink think these are familiar ?