Windows 10: Anniversary Update - Clean Install. Start menu anomaly

Recreating your existing account is considerably more complex than that- that's what the preceding video is about.

 

OP....is the PC in question the one listed in your system specs. If so, that mobo doesn't support windows 10.....which may be the underlying issue.

P6T7 WS SuperComputer | Motherboards | ASUS Global

 

That's great if it somehow fixes this icon issue. I do know that this didn't work for the stuck menu and taskbar. But if you don't have to delete the account and recreate it, that's a lot better.

Just guessing, but a local admin may somehow rebuild a 'master' icon cache that is used by all the accounts. Doesn't make sense, but sometimes you just take the wins as they come and don't look back. Especially if they work for everyone.

Great find.

OGG

 

Hi to all,

Thanks for the continuing assistance on this thread.....very much appreciated.

OldGuyGeek......

Thanks for the video concerning re-creating the user accounts (and the various tips contained within) which I have saved for future reference. In the past I have used many of these procedures in both Windows 7 and 8/8.1 and so I was fairly conversant with the steps outlined. It did however get me thinking about the "User" account(s) as being the culprit here and maybe even my own OCD toward setting up and customising the user experience and for which I have started several threads over the years both here and on the Severn and Eight Forums....more on this shortly! Given my suspicions, some background may be useful and is further detailed below.

In respect of the system(s) with the issue it is apparent on ALL THREE user accounts set up on both PC's. In fact, both the Desktop and Laptop are setup and customised as "mirror" images of each other for the convenience of the household concerned.

Turning now to the customisation and the background to it!

Back in Windows 7 I was acutely aware of the issue with program settings and the various aspects of data retained in the C: drive (Users folders) which would all too easily be lost were the C: drive to crash (as had happened to me in the past) and be unrecoverable and so my "personal" data was already routinely held on a separate partition (usually on a entirely separate disk) to protect against such eventualities. Naturally, and in common with a number of other users here, it was a small(ish!) step further to customise the setup in "Audit Mode" using the sysprep tool to modify the OOBE to also default the entire user profile to this remote (usually D*Smile drive thus avoiding the losses so eloquently discussed in your video!

Whilst this process was excellent in preventing data loss in Windows 7 I was to experience issues in Windows 8 and subsequent releases as Microsoft "designed out" the procedure ensuring that while the profile worked as before, all functionality with the Store/Metro App (Modern App) interface was removed with no solution or work around and errors generated reporting the User Profile was incorrectly located!

So this necessitated a return to the original setup of C: drive based User (Profile) Folders with the directory path of the individual User-named Folders (e.g. Contacts, Documents etc.) remapped to the D: Drive whilst the (hidden) AppData profile sub folders remained on the C: drive *Sad

This is were my OCD plays a part, I did not like the Microsoft Account generated profiles or even any replacement profiles as they were invariably assigned names in a MS determined format (or as say Tom2) for the latter scenario. This is not the case with "Local Accounts" which always retain the name given during setup/account creation (e.g. Tom, Dick or Harry etc.) which is retained even after subsequent conversion to a Microsoft Account......cool eh?

So my principle customisation involves:

1. Creating "Local Accounts" some/all of which may subsequently be converted to a Microsoft Account sign in
2. Assigning user privilege level to each User Account (usually Administrator)
3. Remapping the default User Folder (e.g. Contacts, Documents etc.) to another drive/partition - sometimes renaming to Tom's Contacts etc. in the process.
4. Setup a Homegroup and a Network, establish file sharing between both systems and map/rename networked drives
5. Customising the default desktop icons to use their old Windows 7 images rather their bland/ugly Windows 10 counterparts.
6. Customising the taskbar with useful tools/shortcuts (e.g. Control Panel, System, Device Manager, Create Restore Point etc.) which assists my troubleshooting especially when giving remote assistance!
7. Adding program icons to the desktop (such that the 'desktop' user experience is very Windows 7 with which most are more familiar)
8. Customising the imageres.dll files so as to remove the "Sheild" overlay from the desktop icons.
9. Install and customise latest Ultimate Windows Tweaker (4.2) (removes "Shortcut" overlay and adds many many other useful tweaks)
10. Add registry tweaks to restore the Homegroup icon and the Outlook "Mail Profile" icon to the desktop
11. Add any custom themes, backgrounds and account images as per user preference
12. Install and setup LogMeIn for remote assistance when required

Does any off this raise any red flags in respect of the problematic start menu icons?

BTW. Non of the blank icons display either a shortcut or shield overlay in their native format, whereas a number of those displaying correctly did do so in their native desktop format!

Davideas......

Thanks for your feedback here.......

As noted above I had already created a further two admin accounts for each machine and all accounts were affected hence my original post......but as they say "nothing ventured, nothing gained"!!

......the systems are now back with their owner but I will give that a go as soon as I have access to a remote login session......I'll keep you posted!!

Dalchina....

Agreed with that........... I suspect that Davideas meant that he created a "further" admin account and found that by subsequently logging out and back into the "original" account that his issue with the "original" account was then resolved?? This may reflect the system rebuilding the iconcache in his case....but worth a try as any additional "blank" account created can soon be deleted.......

Thanks again to all for their input *Smile

 

......just seen OldGuyGeek's reply to Davideas's post (appeared while I was composing my previous reply!)......

Sounds as if we both drew similar conclusions there!!

 

Hi, can I ask to try something very simple?

If you look at
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\
in file explorer you should see the icons that appear in Win 10's start menu. Can you post a screenshot of just some you are concerned about?

Similarly, can you do the same for the same ones (if present) here:
C:\Users\<user folder name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu

Finally, for test purposes, download and install Classic Shell (free).
Please post a screenshot of the same icons as viewed via that.

 

Hi Plankton,

Thanks for your response also.......again appeared whilst composing above reply.........

Answer.... No, one is an EVEN OLDER Abit IP 35 Pro Motherboard system and the other a Packard Bell Easynote LJ61 Laptop both successfully running Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit since release July 15.......and clean installed 1511 update since Nov 15........now clean installed 1607 Anniversary Update........I guess both of which would report as not supporting Windows 10.......careful what you believe - I have found that most of this is vested in the functionality of the Graphics System, Chipset and Processor specs whether the necessary underlying requirements are met irrespective of the label assigned by any manufacturer *Smile

.......In respect of the P6T7 (composing this reply on that right now) .......i7 920 CPU (upgradable to i7 990X), 24 GB Triple Channel DDR3 Low Latency RAM (Upgradable to 48 GB), EVGA Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan Signature (upgradable to quad SLi .....), SATA III (6GB) support, USB 3.0, Wireless AC plus many other high spec system upgrades.......and yes this is also running Windows 10 64 Bit. Specs as outlined would knock spots of many current Windows 10 systems and I expect it to be online for a few more generations yet!!

Interestingly, my previous system (albeit with an unrelated to Windows 10 Power Supply issue) is still going strong:

Abit AA8XE Motherboard, Maxed out with 3.73 GHz Pentium 4 Extreme Edition, 4 GB Dual Channel DDR 2 Low Latency RAM, EVGA Nvidia GeForce 550Ti (Upgradable)........and also running Windows 10 - though had to compromise a bit here as only 32 Bit capable*Sad Due to CPU limitations not meeting the minima for 64 bit under windows 10 despite 64 Bit addressing and 1066 FSB which had run happily on Windows 7 64 bit for many a year.......original build date circa 2003/2004 I seem to recall!

 

Hi Dalchina,

The icons in said folders display correctly in both of those folders (and where appropriate the individual program's sub folder) but as I noted earlier in the thread for some reason (bug?) they do not map across to their associated start menu tile.

When I experimented... (using PowerPoint 2016 as an example) I went to the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\16.0 (IIRC) folder and created a new shortcut (sent to the desktop) from the application itself. I then removed & saved the PowerPoint 2016 shortcut from the C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs folder replacing with the now identically named newly created shortcut.

The tile now showed correctly........signed out and back in again still correct. Now swapped with original shortcut still correct, signed out and back in still correct.......rebooted issue returned. This behaviour was apparent for each icon tested in respect of that (initially created at Windows 10 install) user. Did not try with any of the other (subsequently created) users as they each displayed the same issue and hence my thinking "bug" and the originating post.

I am unable to test further just now as the systems are now back with their owner but I will give that a try when I next have access to a remote login session and will appraise the results!

Curious as to what your thinking is here.......??

 

With the 2 in question, in this reply (older ones)....just because they are running windows 10 doesn't mean that hardware supports the OS. As it stands right now, my guess is....your hardware is using the OS's generic drivers to make the hardware usable but not working correctly. You need to go to each mobo vendors or OEM driver support page and download any 10 drivers, if they are even available. If not, you should probably reinstall the OS that is designed for it...whether it's 7 or 8.1 for proper functionality and compatibility.

 

Hi, some relevant threads (you can find more here by searching for
office icons blank in start menu
e.g.

November Win10 Update caused Office 2016 icons and others to disappear - Windows 10 Forums

huge (older) post here on office icons with some ideas 200+ have found helpful.
Microsoft Community

 

Hi again plankton,

On the contrary, all drivers as necessary (e.g. Graphics card, chipset) are full WINDOWS TEN drivers there are NO driver issues present here all conflicts fully resolved with latest 'tested' drivers for the system architecture in question and downloaded from either the manufacturer or for more current drivers such as LAN, Chipset etc. From the originator e.g. Intel, Realtek .etc. As I said earlier the architecture is key.....if you know your way around the architecture and match against Windows 10 specs it is quite clear. All system BIOS's and firmwares fully updated to latest spec also.

So far as other peripherals are concerned to quote Logitech Tech Support guru in MOST cases the Windows 7 drivers will be fine in 10, however there maybe issues with the signing in some cases......this bears out my experience.

If we take the P6T7 I have improved the 'capabilities' beyond the point at which these were available but Asus had moved to promote the next generation and did not update BIOS. For example I am able to run the latest LAN drivers in my system because 1. The chipset explicitly supports it and 2. I have updated the BIOS with a modified OROM containing the necessary support.....no doubt Asus would suggest I should upgrade my system to their later model £€$£€$ to gain such functionality.

In respect of the systems with the issue I have made no such modifications what so ever, simply visited the originator sites for the latest supported drivers......like I said full function since July 15, this glitch is more of an annoyance denting my pride rather than as far as I can tell any evidence of major system incompatibility or instability.

Always happy to be proved wrong though *Smile

 

Hi Dalchina,

.............Interesting, it sounds as though icon images have quite a chequered history?

Ironically in my case the "desktop" icons I have created display and work perfectly (e.g. OneNote, Word, Excel & Publisher plus the Adobe ones..) as do those in the folders it's just those pesky tiles.....I just wonder if MS have changed the way icons populate.

Unfortunately the office generated shortcuts appear hardcoded and as such it is not possible to update the icon image through properties as one normally would.

 

Hi, can you advise whether these work for you - from the 2nd URL, adapting paths as necessary:
a. I had the same issue as everyone here and I think I've FINALLY figured out a solution!

Go to c:/Program Files/Microsoft Office/Office 14
Right click on each program icon individually and unpin from BOTH your Taskbar and/or Start Menu. (e.g. EXCEL.EXE, MSACCESS.EXE, MSPUB.EXE, OUTLOOK.EXE, POWERPNT.EXE, WINWORD.EXE, etc.)

Then right click and select "Pin to Start Menu" (not to Taskbar).

Do this for each program you want to eventually make it onto your Taskbar.

Now go to Start and then for each program (that should now show in start menu with the actual Microsoft Office icon), right click and select "Pin to Taskbar".

You can then Remove each one from the Start Menu if you wish by right clicking again and selecting "Remove from this List".
Your icons should now be back to their original format.
I've rebooted my system several times so far and the icons have remained.
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b. Make sure you have not disabled UAC or the icons will go away. Happened to me, and as soon as I set UAC back to default they all came back.

c. From the Start menu, open Microsoft Office->Microsoft Office 2010 Tools->Microsoft Office Picture Manager. Click Help and select Detect and Repair. Select 'Restore my shortcuts while repairing' and click Start. After this all my Office icons came back!

 

Hi Dalchina,

It would appear that in this case the poster had issues with icon population on the Task Bar and Start Menu (guessing by the dates with Windows 7).

In my case I did have one icon which misbehaved for which in addition to the "Start Menu Button List" tiles I had also chosen to populate on both the Task Bar and the Modern App interface Start Menu tiles (i.e. Pin to Start Menu and Pin to Task Bar) this was Ultimate Windows Tweaker 4.2.

If I think back, as I recall, it populated OK on the Task Bar but was a generic blank on the App Tiles Start Menu (Modern App Interface) this was restored OK in all locations once I had experimented with changing the icon from the shortcut's properties as contained within the "C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs" folder. NB. as stated previously this technique was NOT available for the Office 2016 shortcuts in the C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs folder as those generated on Office install appear to be hardcoded such that from the properties dialogue the button providing a means of replacing the icon is "greyed out" as is the "open file location" button. This is the reason I recreated experimental icons from the application files residing in the "C:/Program Files/Microsoft Office/Office 16" folder!

Don't know if the above info offers any further clues?

 

Would be interested if you can follow #19. Understand about the differences in Office shortcuts.