Windows 10: Start menu not working, nor search bar, jump lists, clock, etc

Forgot to mention, I came across this Microsoft page, and tried the Start menu troubleshooter it links there. That showed a problem with two applications, but was unable to fix them...





I tried searching for help on reinstalling Cortana, but the only thing I found was a Powershell command, which didn't help. Don't know if this provides any more info for you.

Thanks again.

 

Ah sorry, your update is just one of the updates post anniversary build, I think. Forget what I said about upgrading and 3Gb etc. I was confusing this with another thread on that.

Now, bearing in mind the problems you've mentioned, it would have been safer not to have tried any updates, as it's clear there's some sort of corruption.

As it's plainly silly for an update to take so long, you're going to have to take the risk and power down.
Then see if it will start up ok.

Worst case: you'll have to clean install.

Do you have full backups and do you have disk images you can restore?

Once you're back running, I suggest:
Check your file system.
From an admin command prompt
[Windows key + X, click command prompt (admin)]
chkdsk C: /F
Your PC will need to restart.
Make sure the result is clear or fixed.
Post back the result, which you can get after a restart as follows:
How do I see the results of a CHKDSK that ran on boot? - Ask Leo!

Simply do an in-place upgrade repair install - I believe you must have the anniversary edition, so if you have the iso burn a DVD or create a bootable USB, or use MS's media creator to create bootable medium

This is better so if your PC becomes unbootable you have more recovery options.

 

Thanks for the reply. I'll try powering down and restarting to see what happens. I had been considering re-running the Windows installer, as I seem to remember there is a repair option. Might be worth trying that.

I have enough backed up that I can recreate what I've got, even from a clean install if I need. It's just a pain due to the amount of time it takes. To be honest, if I were to do a clean install, I would go back to Windows 7 anyway, I much prefer it to Windows 10.

As for chkdsk, is there any point in doing this on an SSD? I thought it was only for HDDs.

Thanks again.

 

By the way, I didn't install the anniversary version of Windows, so if I've got it, it must have come as an upgrade. If so, can I remove that upgrade? Can't see anything in my upgrades list that looks suspicious.

 

I rather assumed since you clean installed in the last month you'd be on the anniversary upgrade by now.. but some haven't been offered it yet.

Check your build number if you can boot up:
Windows key + R, type winver

1511 = previous, 1607 = anniversary.
chkdsk checks the integrity of the file system. The file system definition is independent of the medium.

Clearly some ways this could be corrupted are entirely different between the two because of the totally different technologies, and a degree of self-correction (wear levelling) in SSDs.

It's of more limited value with an SSD but where there is some evidence of some sort of corruption, validating the file system is useful to establish confidence.

chkdsk shouldn't be run with /r on a SSD.

There's a degree of mythology and assumption around on this.

-------------------------------------
Which OS?
I've used Win 98, 2000, XP, 7, 8, 8.1, 10.
I basically use 10 as a traditional desktop, ignoring Cortana and the start menu, and use Classic Shell as my start menu. It's fast, and problem free. Just don't fiddle. That can cause problems.

Familiarity certainly can be an issue, especially as MS keeps making changes each build.

So long as you are not one of those plagued with some of the varied problems some experience (some being inexplicable failures e.g. failure to update or upgrade, some being related to certain hardware, some being related to changing settings, some related to programs not interacting well with changes in the OS... some due to unfamiliarity... some because drivers and hardware don't marry- some because of newer aspects of the OS that don't seem as robust ... (system and compressed memory, fast startup)....) it's ok.

And some people upgrade to '10 on hardware not approved for '10 by their manufacturer. Some people find data has vanished in upgrading, or whole partitions or external disks. Some people find their PC freezing.

So MS forces us to act defensively (disk imaging). Those who don't, may end up in tears. Not so good for a consumer product.

But for me, it really is fine.

In another thread, for example, there are obscure failures of a script that works perfectly well on mine to set a restore point.. yet fails on the same build on someone else's PC.

 

OK, back with some more info. I tried repairing Windows from the installation disk (well, .iso file mounted on a USB stick actually, but the same idea), but it didn't do anything.

I then ran chkdsk as you suggested, and while looking in the event viewer, found a whole pile of things that are probably relevant, but don't mean a lot to me.

First, here's the result of chkdsk...

Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.




A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.


Stage 1: Examining basic file system structure ...
1126656 file records processed. File verification completed.
6759 large file records processed. 0 bad file records processed.
Stage 2: Examining file name linkage ...
1511184 index entries processed. Index verification completed.
0 unindexed files scanned. 0 unindexed files recovered to lost and found.
Stage 3: Examining security descriptors ...
Cleaning up 1912 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 1912 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 1912 unused security descriptors.
Security descriptor verification completed.
192265 data files processed. CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
35914176 USN bytes processed. Usn Journal verification completed.


Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems.
No further action is required.


999690239 KB total disk space.
615842832 KB in 791567 files.
398136 KB in 192266 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
1261139 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
382188132 KB available on disk.


4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
249922559 total allocation units on disk.
95547033 allocation units available on disk.


Internal Info:
00 31 11 00 55 01 0f 00 d3 32 1a 00 00 00 00 00 .1..U....2......
6f 03 00 00 15 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 o...............


Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.

Looks to me as if the disk is fine. This makes sense as it's a brand new SSD, still worth checking.

Now, as I said, I saw a lot of other stuff in the event viewer. First off, there were about a bazillion error entries with the following message...

Activation of application Microsoft.Messaging_8wekyb3d8bbwe!ppleae38af2e007f4358a809ac99a64a67c1 failed with error: The app didn't start. See the Microsoft-Windows-TWinUI/Operational log for additional information.

Maybe there wasn't a bazillion, but there were hundreds, maybe thousands of them.

There were also the following, in smaller number, but still quite a few (these are three separate entries by the way)...

Activation of application Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy!CortanaUI failed with error: A device attached to the system is not functioning. See the Microsoft-Windows-TWinUI/Operational log for additional information.


Activation of application Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy!CortanaUI failed with error: The app didn't start. See the Microsoft-Windows-TWinUI/Operational log for additional information.


Activation of application Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy!App failed with error: The app didn't start. See the Microsoft-Windows-TWinUI/Operational log for additional information.


There were also the following entries...

Fault bucket 133357859436, type 5
Event Name: MoAppCrash
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0


Problem signature:
P1: Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_1.6.1.52_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy
P2: praid:CortanaUI
P3: 10.0.10586.494
P4: 5775e69a
P5: combase.dll
P6: 10.0.10586.103
P7: 56a849ab
P8: 80040150
P9: 00000000000324cd
P10:


Attached files:


These files may be available here:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\AppCrash_Microsoft.Window_ac5f54a3d7e0c74079fc1b2 1cf4a6b185d2d3_00c55871_1bf4c217


Analysis symbol:
Rechecking for solution: 0
Report ID: d905a829-4da5-4ef1-a0b0-139419825495
Report Status: 0
Hashed bucket: 95088a54a6745e4df0b9cf207f886f98


..and this one...


Fault bucket , type 0
Event Name: MoAppCrash
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0


Problem signature:
P1: Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost_10.0.10586.0_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy
P2: praid:App
P3: 10.0.10586.494
P4: 5775e94c
P5: combase.dll
P6: 10.0.10586.103
P7: 56a849ab
P8: 80040150
P9: 00000000000324cd
P10:


Attached files:


These files may be available here:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueue\AppCrash_Microsoft.Window_e01ee4bb8364aa678d14174d7 3dfab90b31bd_5b8a40d8_1b4c4805


Analysis symbol:
Rechecking for solution: 0
Report ID: 7553e97c-8354-4cac-ba55-aa6a1109f31a
Report Status: 2
Hashed bucket:


..and this one...


Fault bucket , type 0
Event Name: StartupRepairOnline
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0


Problem signature:
P1: 10.0.10586.0
P2: 10.0.10240.16384
P3: Dell Inc.
P4: 41
P5: 0
P6: ExternalMedia
P7: 1
P8: OsVersionMismatch
P9:
P10:


Attached files:
C:\Windows\Temp\WER4CC8.tmp.WERInternalMetadata.xml


These files may be available here:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueue\Critical_10.0.10586.0_3418eb29546f35a882107d3bb7eb8 5483a93e9e5_00000000_cab_1bc04cc8


Analysis symbol:
Rechecking for solution: 0
Report ID: 798b557c-7526-11e6-9bd4-1866da148d5b
Report Status: 2
Hashed bucket:


..and this one...


Faulting application name: ShellExperienceHost.exe, version: 10.0.10586.494, time stamp: 0x5775e94c
Faulting module name: ShellExperienceHost.exe, version: 10.0.10586.494, time stamp: 0x5775e94c
Exception code: 0xc000027b
Fault offset: 0x0000000000085831
Faulting process ID: 0x18a4
Faulting application start time: 0x01d20933b49ba649
Faulting application path: C:\Windows\SystemApps\ShellExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\ShellExperienceHost.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SystemApps\ShellExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\ShellExperienceHost.exe
Report ID: 308eb6a8-dea4-4bae-ad5c-84379fb5dd42
Faulting package full name: Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost_10.0.10586.0_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy
Faulting package-relative application ID: App


..and this one...


Faulting application name: SearchUI.exe, version: 10.0.10586.494, time stamp: 0x5775e69a
Faulting module name: SearchUI.exe, version: 10.0.10586.494, time stamp: 0x5775e69a
Exception code: 0xc000027b
Fault offset: 0x00000000001b05b7
Faulting process ID: 0x1f90
Faulting application start time: 0x01d20933b1424a18
Faulting application path: C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy\SearchUI.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy\SearchUI.exe
Report ID: d905a829-4da5-4ef1-a0b0-139419825495
Faulting package full name: Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_1.6.1.52_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy
Faulting package-relative application ID: CortanaUI

All of this is consistent with the image I posted earlier, which implies that ShellExperience and Cortana are corrupt.

Don't know if this helps, but I thought it was worth posting as it looked relevant. I guess I have two questions...

1) Is there a way to repair these two applications?

2) If I do have the anniversary edition, is there a way to remove it? Remember, I installed Windows 10 from an .iso that preceded the anniversary edition, so I definitely didn't have it before.

Thanks again. Sorry for the long post, but I thought it was worthwhile.

 

Let me know the windows version. Good about chkdsk.

Next routine thing to try (which may well fail and be difficult to interpret:
From an admin (elevated) command prompt
sfc /scannow

What sort of repair did you attempt?

 

The Windows version is 1511 (Windows 10 Pro by the way), OS build 10586.545

Here's the output from sfc...

Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.


Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.


Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired
them. Details are included in the CBS.Log windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For
example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. Note that logging is currently not
supported in offline servicing scenarios.

I'd post the contents of that log file, but it's 7.79Mb, and nearly 47K lines long, so a bit big to fit in a post! If you want any info from it, please tell me how to find it.

I attempted to repair by rebooting the PC with the installation media in, then from the menu, I choose the advanced options, then there was an option to repair problems that prevented Windows from starting. Although this wasn't exactly my issue, it was the closest thing I could see. Didn't do anything though.

Thanks again.

 

That's interesting that SFC passed, and has repaired things. That often doesn't happen!

Ok, so you ran startup repair, but it was starting up so nothing to repair. Fair enough.

So now you need to test your system, and I suggest look at your event log after this point, and you could check your reliability history.

 

Please could you explain what you mean by both of those. How do I test my system, and how do I check my reliability history?

Also, it seems that the problem is those two applications not being installed correctly (or more correctly, something going wrong with what was previously a good installation). Is there any way to repair them? That seems to be the root of my problems?

Thanks again for all the help.

 

Test = by trying things, seeing what does and doesn't work now compared to previously, noting anything that seems wrong, having had SFC repair files.

To view your reliability history:




To re-register apps- see the Tutorial section:
Microsoft Edge - Reinstall and Re-register in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums
Store - Re-register in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums
Apps - Reinstall and Re-register in Windows 8 and 10 - Windows 10 Forums

To find things in the tutorial section:




You can also completely uninstall and reinstall an app if it's not working. (Cortana and Edge and Store excepted).

 

Thanks for the clarification, I wasn't sure if testing was some built-in piece of Windows functionality!

Everything seems to be the same as it's been since I started with this problem...

• Clicking the Start button doesn't do anything, although right-clicking works fine
• Clicking in the search bar (or pressing the Windows key on the keyboard which does the same thing) doesn't allow me to type anything
• Right-clicking a pinned icon doesn't show a jump list
• Clicking the date/time bit at the very right-hand end of the taskbar doesn't do anything
• Clicking the notifications icon on the taskbar doesn't do anything, even though the tooltip shows that there are new notifications
• Right-clicking the notifications icon and choosing "Open Action Center" doesn't do anything

This is all as it's been for a few days, so the update and 5-hour restart didn't change anything.

I looked in the reliability monitor, and predictably it shows loads of "Stopped working" errors for Cortana and Windows Shell Experience Host, as well as a few "Stopped responding and was closed" errors for C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_17.7167.40721.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\HxTsr.exe
Interestingly enough, for today (only just brought the machine out of sleep, not touched it since it restarted about 7:30pm yesterday) there are loads of "Stopped working" errors for Photos, and a few for Groove Music. Not sure why these are showing errors at all, as I haven't run them (or anything else today). I don't even use either of them. I did a tweak (found somewhere) to open pictures with the built-in Photo Viewer, and I have no idea what Groove Music is.

As for re-registering, the two main problems seem to be with Cortana and the Shell Experience, neither of which can be reinstalled as far as I can see.

Not sure where to go from here. Any other ideas? Thanks again.

 

Ok, I suggest you jump straight to an in-place upgrade repair install. This is very useful- I've done it 2 or 3 times but not for maybe a year now.

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 your have a 64 bits OS, else x86 (32 bits).

Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade - Windows 10 Forums
- this includes a link from which you can obtain Windows 10 iso file (" download a Windows 10 ISO"), or create a bootable medium.

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.
- all/most associations will be unchanged
- all your programs will be left installed
- 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.

Recommendation:
Before you perform this major repair procedure, do create a disk image.

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.

 

I was coming to the same conclusion!

I still have the USB stick on which I created a bootable installation from the .iso file I have. I presume I can just use that?

Also, as for imaging the disk, if I have my data backed up, is there any necessity to take a disk image as well? If any program installations were to become corrupt, I'd need to reinstall anyway, so having the image wouldn't help. What benefit do I gain from the image? I have a scheduled job to back up all important data to another PC on my network, and that PC has a cloud backup running, so all data is backed up to the cloud.

My main concern here is finding something big enough on which to create an image! My C: drive has 588Gb used, and the biggest spare disk I have around is only 500Gb. Not actually sure what's taking so much space on C:, but that's another story!

Any comments? Thanks again.

 

The disk image is ultimate security and continuity. Also means if you've forgotten any data you can get it from the image. It's your decision. It gives you a second chance should sthg go badly wrong.

And imaging should be routine... so lash out £40-£50 on a 2Tb disk.. so you can get your PC back up and running as it was in an perhaps an hour or less without technical help.

You can try using e.g. Windirstat (free) to check where your space is going and enjoy the 3D cushion map.

So long as it's the same build as yo have now, using your bootable device is fine.