Windows 10: Cannot pin anything to Start Menu

1. The only shortcuts I have are Edge and Settings. They can be unpinned, but not added back
2. Nothing happens when attempting to do so.
3. Can pin to taskbar
4. .lnk files work file
5. SFC failed to find anything or repair anything
6. Ditto with DISM
7. New user profile has same issue
8. Restarting the explorer process brings back the Edge and Setting shortcuts

:)

 

Drag-and-Drop to Start button: "Pin to Start menu" prompt appears, but nothing gets pinned to the menu

When I drag various shortcuts from my desktop to Start button, a floating prompt appears over the Start button. It says: "Pin to Start menu". However, dropping shortcuts over Start button does not pin anything to Start menu. Nothing at all happens, actually.

So, what is the meaning of that "Pin to Start menu" prompt? Any why doesn't it really pin anything?

 

Desktop Fiasco

Hi (To whom it may concern )

The Problem ?

• Cannot right click anything in the right click start button. I cannot get any app or systems to function
• I cannot pin anything to the start menu or the taskbar
• I can type WINDOWS key + R to get the run menu but cannot run most of the items . No Command prompt
  

no file explorer . etc... I have tried most of the tasks in these forums and am still having these issues, : (

Sincerely .... about to buy a Mac ....

Sean

 

Whilst you can try e.g.
Start Menu Troubleshooter in Windows 10 Windows 10 Customization Tutorials
Reset Start Layout in Windows 10 Windows 10 Customization Tutorials
Clear Live Tile Cache on Start in Windows 10 Windows 10 Performance Maintenance Tutorials

the fact that this occurs in a new user profile, together with what you have tried, suggests you may want to consider an
in-place upgrade repair install which keeps all programs and data and most settings.

** If you have the Creator's build, use the current iso.
If you have the Anniversary build, use an Anniversary build boot disk or iso.

Precede it with this in case sthg has happened to your disk:
Download and run Hard Disk Sentinel (trial) and make sure all disks are reported as good.
If not, do not continue, and post back .

And with this in case sthg has happened to your file system:

From an admin command prompt
[Windows key + X, click command prompt (admin)]
chkdsk C: /F
Your PC will need to restart.
Post back the result, which you can get after a restart as follows:
Read Chkdsk Log in Event Viewer in Windows 10 Windows 10 Performance Maintenance Tutorials
or
How to read Event Viewer log for Chkdsk in Windows 10 [Tip] | Reviews, news, tips, and tricks | dotTechdotTech
or
How do I see the results of a CHKDSK that ran on boot? - Ask Leo!
Make sure the result is clear or fixed- else do not proceed.

An In-place upgrade repair install will fix many things, but not those where the settings are not changed by the procedure.

For this you need an installation medium with the same base build as you have installed, and x64 if you have a 64 bits OS, else x86 (32 bits).

You should also make sure there's at least 500Mb of unallocated space on your system disk.

Recommendation:
Before you perform the following major repair procedure, do create a disk image (see below).

Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials
- this includes a link from which you can obtain a Windows 10 iso file (" download a Windows 10 ISO"), or create a Win 10 bootable medium. However, this will be the latest build from MS, which may not be the build you have installed. You must use one for the same major build.

If your installed Windows is not the latest major build, please post back.

However, this will be the latest build from MS, which may not be the build you have installed. You must use one for the same major build.

If your installed Windows is not the latest major build, please post back.

I would recommend creating the bootable medium, as this can be used
- for any future in-place upgrade repair install
- to boot from and use its recovery options should Windows become unbootable.
- to clean install Windows

This will refresh Windows, after the manner of a Windows installation.
- you keep all your programs
- you keep all your personal data

However: if you have installed some universal apps on a 2nd drive, these must be uninstalled or reinstalled on C: - else you will get an obscure error message that you can not keep your apps because they are in an unsupported directory.

"You can't keep Windows settings, personal files and apps because your current version of Windows might be installed in an unsupported directory"

- all/most associations will be unchanged
- you will lose any custom fonts
- you will lose any customised system icons
- you may need to re-establish your Wi-Fi connection
- you will need to redo Windows updates subsequent to the build you have used for the repair install
- Windows.old will be created
- system restore will be turned off- you should turn it on again and I recommend you manually schedule a daily restore point.
- you will need to redo any language downloads including the display language if you changed that)
- inactive title bar colouring (if used) will be reset to default
- if Qttabbar is installed, you need to re-enable it in explorer (Options, check Qttabbar)
This is one of the better features of Win10: as each major build comes out, that's your updated reference build, and as updates are mostly cumulative, there will be few to do.


Please consider using disk imaging regularly. It's a brilliant way to
- preserve your system (and your sanity)
- back up your data
- restore your system to a previously working state in a relatively short time

Recommended: Macrium Reflect (free/commercial) + boot disk/device + large enough external storage medium.