Windows 10: Start Menu & Cortana Buggy After a Few Hours

→ PLEASE VIEW THE IMAGES BELOW TO SEE WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT ←











To quickly summarize because I made a similar thread like this...

I did a fresh re-install of Windows 10 Pro and upgraded to the Anniversary Update Version 1607 (OS Build 14393.10). When logging in, the start menu works fine, I am mainly concerned about the search feature because it is extremely useful. After a couple of hours (the time varies), the search function bugs out and I am unable to start programs from it as shown in the GIF's above.

In some instances, programs that can be right clicked will open up such as Steam. Other instances like Illustrator will also work if there is something under the recent subsection. The start menu is pretty barren but I am not that concerned about that.

Like I said, this all happens after a few hours and is unannounced. No updates and notifications appear during the time interval. This appears to happen across all user accounts on my system.

Any help is appreciated!



Click HERE to see the latest update

:)

 

KB3124263 Start menu stops working, sound stoped working

After KB3124263 sound stoped working, and Start menu stops working after a few hours.

1. Sound -fixed

I found that sound stoped working after this update... I restored computer to before update and sound started working.. reinstalled update and stoped working again.. Fix.. Re-installed sound drivers and works great.

2. Startmenu/task bar/cortana- not fixed

Start menu/taskbar/cortana cuts out after hours of use.

Start menu, Cortana,and right click taskbar to close a probram fine on boot up then cuts out mid day.

I tried ending Cortana with task manager to restart cortana.. did not help.

I did sfc /scannow and no problems detected.

every few hours I have to do a restart due to start menu broken... then its fine for a few more hours.

 

Why is start menu not working on single core CPU and sometimes work on dual core?

Why is start menu not working on single core CPU and sometimes work on dual core?

On the single core Cortana keeps crashing ever time when trying to launch it. On Dual core Cortana seems to work but than after few hours it crashes and start menu does not work. Restart sometimes works but many time does not work.

Besides install classic start menu, what option is there to fix start menu or remove Cortana that is crashing?

 

Hi.
Have you tried this when it starts to act up?
Start Menu Troubleshooter in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

 

No I haven't.

I heard Windows rolled out an update (KB3189866) so I'll update to that and see if that fixes it.

Currently I'm running into this problem when I'm trying to do the update.





I've retried a few times already and it always gets stuck at 9%.

I saw that there was an option to install in manually on the forum post but I don't know how to. I have a Microsoft Update Catalog_files folder on my desktop but I'm not sure what to do with that...

@simrick

Tried the program you recommended and nothing came up. I ended doing the update and that didn't do anything as well. You can check my update post (most recent post) to find out more.

 

Manually download it from the Windows Update Catalog site

 

Getting this when I try to manually update.

I think I should boot in safe mode and run it.







SAFE MODE + MANUAL INSTALL DID THE TRICK. WAS ABLE TO UPDATE BUT PROBLEM STILL PERSISTS.

 

Update: I was able to install the new update after booting my PC into safe mode, removed a certain folder, restarted my PC, and installed the update manually.

Here is the current version of my system:





With that said, the start menu still won't work the way it should. Pretty much the same problems as before (can't open programs via searching for it & the start menu is empty).







Someone please give me some suggestion on how to fix this. This problem is driving me insane.

 

Glad you got the update installed. Lots of people having problems with it downloading.

Please have a look at the post here; this Start Menu problem existed over a year ago, but MS had fixed it.
Solved Start menu not working - Windows 10 Forums

I wonder if the problem would go away for you in a clean boot state?
Clean Boot - Perform in Windows 10 to Troubleshoot Software Conflicts - Windows 10 Forums

Also, you could try re-registering the Store, and then re-registering All Apps.
Store - Re-register in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

Apps - Reinstall and Re-register in Windows 8 and 10 - Windows 10 Forums


When I had this problem last year, I performed a repair install using an in-place upgrade and that fixed things for me.
Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade - Windows 10 Forums

.

 

Not applicable in my scenario because I'm not having problems with opening the app. I'm able to open the app if it was on my desktop and such. I'm not getting a message that says this app can't open, there is simply no response at all. It's like clicking on a button that doesn't do anything.

I never open the Store application so I don't need a direct fix for it. All the programs I have are downloaded from 3rd party sites that are not affiliated with Microsoft or can be found in the Store app.

Will this touch any of my files and programs? I literally just wiped out my PC a few days ago with a clean install and upgraded everything to the latest version. I don't want to do that again...

 

A repair install with an in-place upgrade leaves all your files and applications intact. Just be sure you download a current ISO from MS.

 

Im gonna give this a try.

Hopefully this does the trick. My start menu is acting up again and for some reason the One Calander app is the only app that appears which is pretty funny.

I lost some programs to the Search function as well so I can't find those.

 

@simrick

Well I just finished the repair install and everything is pretty much where I left off before. Nothing really changed at all so the problem is still there.

Here's the current version:





Oh yeah, here's an observation that I have about the search feature. If the app shows up and underneath is says: Run command, starting the app will work.

 

That is strange. I have never seen anything like this before. I am very surprised a repair install didn't fix things.

Have you tried a clean boot, to see if the problem reappears as well?
Clean Boot - Perform in Windows 10 to Troubleshoot Software Conflicts - Windows 10 Forums

In your first post, you indicated you had recently done a clean install of an older version, and then upgraded to the Anniversary Update (1607). When you did that clean install, did you delete all partitions and install to an unallocated drive? Did you have the older version on long enough to see if the problem persisted in it?

 

During the clean install I formatted both my SSD and hard drive so everything was wiped out and was starting on a clean slate.

After I did the clean install (to the older version), I still had some problems and I created a thread on here about it. Someone suggested doing the Anniversary Update so I upgraded the version to that which solved some of the problems but left the problems that I currently have untouched. Finally, the recent update (the one I just downloaded) was the last thing I did to the OS which didn't really change anything at all.