Windows 10: Unresponsive Start menu

My father's account on our family PC is having an interesting issue. His Start button is not working with left click, and his taskbar apps are not responding to right clicking. Also interestingly, there is a blank, clickable space between his apps and his Start/Search/etc. buttons, though predictably this space does nothing.

His is the only account that has this issue. All four other accounts are fine.

Any ideas short of an operating system refresh?

:)

 

Start menu unresponsive

Hi Allen,

Thank you for your interest in Windows 10.

We understand how you feel about the situation. We're sorry for the trouble.

I will certainly assist you with this query.

Please follow these steps and check if that helps.

1. Open the Task manager. Here’s a tip: Press CTRL+Shift+ESC.

2. Click File > Run New Task

3. Make sure you have a check mark beside “Create this task with administrative privileges”

4. Type Powershell

5. Type the following in the Powershell prompt:

$manifest = (Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.WindowsStore).InstallLocation + '\AppxManifest.xml' ; Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $manifest

6. Close the Powershell window

7. Reboot

Keep us posted on the status of the issue and I’ll be glad to assist you further.

Regards,

 

Start menu unresponsive

Self explanatory, the only thing the start button at the bottom left corner does is dim as my mouse hovers over it.

 

Try sfc /scannow from an admin command prompt. If that doesn't fix the issue then restore to a previous time when the start menu last worked if this is a recent problem. It could be an account configuration problem which is solved by creating a new user account and moving the user files and configuration to the new account - see the instructions below for creating a new account and copying the user profile. A work around is to install Classic Shell and use that instead of the start menu.

Copying User Profile

• Create a new user account e.g. New_Username
• Press Windows and X keys together and select File Explorer.
• Click on View tab and Click on Options at the top right corner.
• Click the View tab, and then click Show hidden files, folders, and drives.
• Uncheck the box which states Hide protected operating system files.
• Click Yes to confirm, and then click OK.
• Locate the C:\Users\Old_Username folder, where C is the drive that Windows is installed on, and Old_Username is the name of the profile you want to copy files from.
• Select all of the files and folders in this folder, except the following files:

o Ntuser.dato Ntuser.dat.logo Ntuser.ini

• Right click and Select Copy.
• Locate the C:\Users\New_Username folder, where C is the drive that Windows is installed on, and New Username is the name of the new user profile you created.
• Right click inside the folder and select Paste.
• Restart your PC and check if you are able to log in to the new user.