Build 10074 - after update Start menu doesn't appear at all

caperjack said:

start10 causing your issue maybe, I mean really ,your evaluating win10 and you run a 3rd party start menu

You are right caperjack, we must evaluate Windows 10 with sod all else installed, that way we can give it a fair chance.

topgundcp said:

Another way to access Settings is to right click on Desktop->Personalize then click on the Back Arrow as shown:

Or use the Windows Key (with the flag symbol, probably bottom left of the keyboard) and use the keyboard shortcut:
<WindowsKey> <i>

Gramps said:

Played around in Win 10 for a while and everything went well. Re-booted into 8.1 and all was fine. Re-booted back into 10 and argh...no task bar/start menu! Hit the Win key and the task bar/start menu came to life. Not sure if the re-install fixed it or the power shell command that is available for fixing the menu. Either way everything seems fine at the moment. More experimenting is in order, add external drive, joystick, and a few other things.

Update: Re-booted back into Win 8.1, got msg that I did not have access to a file (think it was the background pic), background went black, desktop icons were present, however, start menu opened and there were no apps installed! Got an action center msg to verify ID but it would not allow me to sign-in. Opened IE11 and all the favorites were gone. Task bar icons also disappeared. Not sure what caused the issues, maybe something with syncing win 10/8.1. Refresh of 8.1 did not fix the issues. Deleted 10 from the boot menu and deleted the partition. Resorted to doing a full restore to 8.1 using a system image. A little more research led to a way to fix the action center verify msg (change account to local and then back to Microsoft). Will probably re-install 10 again over the weekend. I was using build 10074 on a partition on my primary drive.

Anyone managed to nab that update in a way downloadable outside of Windows Update? Would spare me a pointless reinstall I'd like to put off until my 750 ssd arrives.....

Hey guys, first post. :)) Haha so anyways, i found a workaround for the start menu problem. just turn cortana off and your start menu should operate as normal again

EDIT: This is also a fix for if your taskbar wont auto-hide