Windows 10: Windows Start Button: Status?

My mother's computer was forced to do the update from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 a couple of days ago. She was perfectly happy with 8.1 and has been perfectly miserable since the update to 10: way to go Microsoft! For what it's worth, she is running Build 10586.

Anyway, her Start button icon no longer does anything when you (left-) click it - right-click works okay - and the Windows key on her keyboard simply gets ignored too. Also, Cortana doesn't work; in fact, you can't even type in the Cortana box. I started having this same problem myself a few months back when I disabled Cortana but managed to get it working again after I re-enabled Cortana and did one or two of the first few possible fixes in the very long thread that addressed this problem. (In my mother's case, she did NOT even attempt to disable Cortana so I don't know what caused her current issues.)

Unfortunately, I don't even see an option to re-enable Cortana when I right-click on her taskbar so I don't even know how to *start* the process of getting her computer working properly again.

Given the many months that this problem has been lingering, I'm wondering which of the *dozens* of solutions are the ones that actually work. I don't want to waste countless hours trying things that don't work anyway.

<rant>Just out of curiousity, does *anyone* know why this problem hasn't been solved definitively yet? Windows 10 has been out 9 months or so now and this problem has messed up many thousands of users. I have to believe they have some of their developers actually researching the problem and finding a genuine, reliable solution that can be put in an update. So why are we still seeing the problem?? This is *so* exasperating. I'm ready to ditch Windows altogether and put Linux on my mother's machine. She's a very old woman who only got her first computer a few years ago and knows very little about them, just enough to play a few games, read the news and do some online banking. She doesn't need this grief! (Nor do the rest of us, for that matter.) For all the gajillions of dollars Microsoft has made, why the HECK can't they release something that is relative bug-free? Surely they can afford to hire some good developers and do some thorough testing.... </rant>

:)

 

Windows 10 start button not working, start button not working, had to reload security software, edge not working

Hi Robert,

I suggest you to refer to the below thread and check if it helps.

“Critical Error – Start menu and Cortana aren’t working. We’ll try to fix it the next time you sign in.”

Thanks.

 

Windows 10 start button not working, start button not working, had to reload security software, edge not working

Hi Thomas,

Thank you for the update.

Please try the suggestions provided earlier and let us know the result of each so we can further research on the issue and assist you accordingly.

 

-I feel your frustration. With Win7 having been so effortlessly bulletproof for me(not one OS crash in years of use), it is a bit befuddling that the follow-up Win9/10 could have so many problems . . . hope they sort everything soon.

 

Right click the start icon. Click on run (hope left click works there). Run NETPLWIZ

Add a new local user account - click Add, at the bottom of the next Window, click "Sign in without a Microsoft Account", Click Local Account, Enter a username, password (make sure to remember it!), password hint, Next, Finish. Then click on the new account to highlight it, click Properties, Group Membership tab, change to Administrator, click OK, OK. Restart computer, log in to the new account created and see if all the problems remain in the new account.

 

You may prefer to revert to Win 8 - exactly as was- within 30 days. It's a built-in function.
That would be the least problematic for your elderly mother, who would best be served by what she's used to.

There is also a way to block Win 10 upgrades- which shouldn't happen without the user's specific action, but there have been reports of it downloading, and downloading and updating without that block.

 

and word of warning - if you want to try to revert, do it before creating any new user accounts as I suggested because a new user account will block reverting back using the built in function.

 

If you can't, or chose not to revert to 8.1, this has worked to resolve the problem for a number of upgrade users.

Open Powershell with admin privileges
Copy and Paste:
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

 

- unless it breaks the apps and leaves you with an '@' before the name in the start menu - which people found since build 10586 came out.

Or has that actually been fixed now?

That said, it's just worked for someone in another thread, so maybe it has been fixed...

 

I was not aware of that issue. This fix has worked for me the 3 or 4 times I've been called to fix the problem. Hopefully, my luck will hold (or M$ will do their job). *Wink

 

.. and just worked for someone else too.. so I'm surprised someone here hasn't yet picked up any formal indication MS has finally made this work again.. however.. *Smile

 

Rhino, try this:

Right-click the task bar and select Task Manager. Click "File" in the top left corner and select "Run New Task." Type powershell into the box and check the box giving you Administrative Privileges, and then hit Enter. Wait a few seconds for PowerShell to load, and then type sfc /scannow into the command line. It will need about one and a half hours to scan your rig for corrupted files.

 

The Powershell command is focussed on the problem. That's the one to try first, and seems now to be valid option.

 

I used the program Classic Shell to get a start menu back, but it doesn't unlock the locked up windows components, like Cortana, ect. classicshell.net

 

Nor would you expect it too... Classic Shell is great, and correctly and usefully expresses a traditional start menu with subfolders where Win 10's doesn't. But it's a separate program.