Windows 10: Start menu, cortana and app store will not open

My Windows key and the windows logo on my screen will not open the start menu. If I right click on the Windows log I get that menu with settings etc but not the list of Apps when I left click. Also if I select Cortana it starts to open I get a blank box with Cortana at the top for about 3 seconds but then dies. The same happens with Microsoft apps store. Other items on the task bar such as notifications and the calendar will not open when selected. I have gone over all the fixes I can find on the internet - running scannow and other checks and nothing seems to work. My windows 10 updates are

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Start Menu, Edge and Cortana, Store not opened

Hi Mariappan,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft Community. I understand that you have an issue with opening
Start Menu, Windows Store, Microsoft Edge and Cortana. I appreciate your efforts to resolve this issue,
I will surely help you to fix this issue.

This issue could have occurred due to corrupt System Files or User Account.

I suggest you to try the steps in the following article which will fix common issues with starting Start Menu and Cortana.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-in/windows-10/get-help-windows-start-menu

Hope this information helps. Reply to the post with an updated status of the issue so that we can assist you further.

 

Cannot Open Microsoft Store and Most of My Apps

Thank you for your reply.

Steps 1 through 3.5 failed. I can't get past the appxmanifest.xml error.

Observations:

• On the new user account I created, Mail and Calendar work but do not work in my original account.
• In my original account, Video Editor which I think is an extension of Photos opens then closes yet Photos itself works fine; Windows File Recovery is gone too (tried to uninstall it through start menu but couldn't).
• New apps appeared in both accounts.
• In both accounts the Store and Cortana are completely gone and ms:account entries in start menu under "other" remain.

I don't understand how I got this new influx of apps while the Store is gone (supposedly).

Is there any one here with the time to take a deeper dive into this with me?

Thank you again

 

START MENU,CORTANA,EDGE BROWSER AND IN-BUILT APPS NOT WORKING

Hi Aditya,

I suggest you to follow the below methods and check if it helps.

Method 1: I suggest you to follow below steps and check.

Step 1: I suggest you to install all the latest pending Windows updates as below and check if it helps.

• Go to “settings” and click on “update and security”.
• Under tab “Windows update”, click on the icon “check for updates”.
• Then once you find the pending updates install it and check.

Step 2: I suggest you to run the app troubleshooter from the below article and check if it helps.

Run the troubleshooter for Windows apps:

Fix problems with apps from Microsoft Store

Method 2: You may follow the steps from the below article and check if it helps.

Troubleshoot problems opening the Start menu or Cortana

Fix problems with the Start menu

Please get back to us with an update on this issue, we will be happy to help.

Thank you