Windows 10: PC not able to open files or press the start menu on the taskbar

So last year I did something with this PC I don't remember what it was but I remember the audio port was messing up so I fiddled with the settings and I think I did something to screw up the way my files and taskbar works. Whenever I try to click on a file, it won't load or open. The PC just freezes and after a minute a black screen flashes. This is if I click on it either on the actual desktop or within the taskbar. When I try to click the start menu on the taskbar, it doesn't want to pop up. I'm not sure what is going on. This computer is a Windows 10 prebuilt PC I got years ago, but I upgra

:)

 

Taskbar hides and shows itself after opening start menu.

Steps:

1. Using HDMI for a second monitor.
2. Open start menu using the icon.
3. Close start menu using the icon.
4. Click anywhere other than the task bars. (e.g. an open window, the desktop, even the first monitor's desktop)
   
5. Taskbar on second monitor slides down to be hidden.
6. Taskbar then immediately slides up to reappear.

If after closing the start menu (step 3), you click on the taskbar, then click outside the taskbar, this behavior does not occur.

Performing the steps on the main monitor's taskbar does not produce this behavior.

This has been happening for as long as I can remember using this laptop (~3years), with different nVidia drivers and Windows 10 updates.

 

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!

 

Opening start menu problem

Hello John,

Thank you for posting your concern here in Microsoft Community and welcome to the Windows 10 Family.

From the description of the issue, I understand that you are facing issues with several functionalities in Windows 10.

Before proceeding, please check if the below link helps you to resolve the issue at the first place.

Critical Error – Your Start menu isn’t working. We’ll try to fix it the
next time you sign in

Now, please follow the below suggested methods and check if it helps to resolve the issue.

Method 1:

This issue may happen due to system file corruption. I suggest you to run System file checker. System File checker (SFC) scan is done to check if there are any corrupted system files that could be causing this issue. Kindly follow
the below given steps:

• 
  Press Windows key + X, select
  Command prompt (Admin) to bring up elevated Command prompt.
  
• 
  In Command prompt type
  sfc/scannow and press enter.
  

• Restart the computer.

If no corrupted system files were found in the previous state, then I suggest you to try the following steps to employ the DISM command lines:

• 
  Open command prompt by pressing Windows key + X and selecting “Command prompt admin”.
  
• 
  In command prompt, type the following commands and press Enter after each command:
  

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Cleanupimage

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

• 
  Close the command prompt and restart the PC and check if it works.
  

Method 2:

If issue persist, kindly follow the below given steps and check if it helps:

Run these commands:

• 
  Press Windows key and type Powershell
  in search, right click on it and Open as administrator .
  
• 
  Type the following command in Powershell and hit enter:
  
  Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers |Where-Object {$_.InstallLocation -like "*SystemApps*"} | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}
  

Note: Remember to close all the applications before you run the above Powershell command.

Hope the above information was helpful. If you need further assistance, please do let us know and we would be happy to help you further.

Thank You.