UPDATE: June 21, 2016 – Microsoft has released a free repair tool for the Windows 10 START menu. You can read very brief explanation and download it here.
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It was a dark and stormy nighty in April when I installed Windows 10 build 10041 (on the fast ring) and the START button stopped working… ok enough fun. If you have installed a recent Windows 10 build you may find that the START button and all of the modern apps either do nothing or error out with messages about .NET or PARENTAL CONTROLS.
In my case I just installed a free START menu utility (I like START 8 or CLASSIC SHELL) that you might have install on Windows 8, and waited for Microsoft to release the next build of Windows 10 that I hoped would be installed automatically as I am on the FAST RING. It did not because Microsoft changes Windows Update to be a ‘Modern App’ which means it will not run. Soooo, I thought was pretty smart to just download the build 10074 ‘.EBD’ upgrade file from a site and run through the conversion to .ISO and then do an in-place upgrade (which just means run SETUP from the DVD and tell it to upgrade). That did work… for 3 days. This morning my START menu was dead again, AAARRRG!
Microsoft needs to get its Application developer jobs to fix this but until they do, here are solutions that have worked for us:
The I found the fix:
Thank you UHLIK from THIS thread on the Microsoft Forum after reading THIS thread on the forum.
Another fix for the The Start Menu Does Not Work problem is:
UPDATED: August 19, 2015: A third fix I have used successfully is:
A forth fix I found came directly from Microsoft Partner support:
If none of these fix the Start Button, you can try our advanced solution to the Windows 10 Start Button not working, which has solved the issue for me twice already this month and you can read about it here.
If you have had enough, you can just give up and REFRESH you machine.
This will reinstall Windows 10 but it will keep all of your files (Documents, Pictures…) but it will kill all of the programs that have been installed. Everything that is dead will be in C:\WINDOWS.OLD so you can fish out anything that is missing, but you will have to reinstall your programs, like Microsoft Office.
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Every trobleshooting should start with looking into event log. Mine was full of errors related to svchost.exe_tiledatamodelsvc, saying that edb.log was corrupted - so it was solution #5. I deleted corrupted file, and the problem was gone.
Besides start menu not opening, I also had very slow opening of context menu of folders and of "my pc", apparently caused by the same problem. This was fixed as well.
I have found that uninstalling Dropbox resolves the issue. Nothing else seemed to work for me except this.
Yeap, I follow all the indications in this page and others too, even uninstalling the Norton Security suite with no success. In the end the solution was uninstalling dropbox and then installing it.
Now the start menu is working as well as dropbox.
Option #4 worked for me. Powershell command to reregister packages.
Right click Start Menu > Command Prompt (Admin)
type
Powershell
hit Enter
type
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”}
hit Enter
Wait for Powershell command to execute and your Start Menu might work right there, not reboot was required for me.
This was the only solution for me as all other solutions failed.
This worked great for me. Thank you!
*** FIXED ***
None of the above fixed the problem for me. I did not want to do a Windows Refresh or create a new user account, because I have a highly customized setup that takes a day or two to fully re-configure.
I implemented a work-around - installed "Classic Shell" software - a free (optional donation) 3rd Party replacement for the Windows Start Menu that I downloaded from the developers website at http://www.classicshell.net/. Nortons, McAfee, WOT, & LinkExtend all said it was OK, so I gave it a go in a VM first, before installing on my physical machine. I was so impressed I donated, even though I am retired and have no regular income :)
It does not fix the associated problem of nothing happening when you right click on a taskbar icon to pull up a action menu, or when you click on the date/time to pull up a calendar. However it did give me back a Start Menu.
BTW - When the Windows 10 Start Menu is dead, you can access 'Settings' by right-clicking on taskbar date/time then clicking 'Properties'
.... Para Dox
Installing a third party START BUTTON is always an option but not one I personally would find acceptable.
Windows 10 home + WISE registry cleaner (admin) + Remove Empty Directory aka,RED (admin) = Start menu fly away forever, NOT WORKING never, only win reinstall!!!
If all of these fail, I found http://www.urtech.ca/2015/09/solved-fix-windows-10-start-button-does-nothing-in-10-minutes/ to succeed in resolving the Win10 Start Button problem.
1. Right click the Start Menu and go to Command Prompt (Admin) or PowerShell (Admin). If you can't do this then right click your taskbar and go to Task Manager then click File then Run new task. Tick the box for Admin privileges and type cmd then OK.
2. In the Command Prompt create a new User by typing "net user NewUsername NewPassword /add" but replace NewUsername and NewPassword with something else (in my instance I entered fix for both).
3. Log out of your account and Log into your new User so it creates all files associated with the account. Once done, log back into your old User (the broken one).
4. Go to C:\Users\NewUsername\AppData\Local\TileDataLayer (replace NewUsername with your NEW User) and Copy the Database folder somewhere you can access easily such as C:\New Folder\. You cannot copy this folder while signed into the new account so make sure you copy it while signed into your old one or make a 3rd account.
5. Once copied, sign into the new account and go to C:\Users\OLDUsername\AppData\Local\TileDataLayer (replace OLDUsername with your old User) and delete the folder Database then copy the one from C:\New Folder into there instead. The new account might need to have Admin privileges to do this.
6. Log into your old account and the Start menu should now work.
I have tried all of your fixes. I have had Windows 10 for a few months and just started having the start menu problem about 2 weeks ago. Nothing I have done has fixed my problem. Any other suggestions?
Yes, try http://www.urtech.ca/2015/09/solved-fix-windows-10-start-button-does-nothing-in-10-minutes/
Application identity fix worked! Thanks so much! I was fearing that no solution would work!
Pity. There is no one out there who knows anything about solving Windows 10 problems, including you. You write a webpage highlighting fixes that don't work and Microsoft couldn't care less. On my laptop the start button is dead and so is Microsoft Edge. They just do not work! Nothing solves the problems. Like the everlasting UAC Vista lockout, we will have to live with the bucket of s..t that Windows 10 is!
Hi Ty;
If your done venting and being wrong, I will be happy to continue to help you for FREE.
1: If you read the comments, you will see these fixes work for MANY people
2: Microsoft IS aware of the problem and IS working on a fix
3: Have you tried http://www.urtech.ca/2015/09/solved-fix-windows-10-start-button-does-nothing-in-10-minutes/
The last two machines I worked on with the problem were both intractable and both resolved by item 3 above. I received two private emails TODAY ALONE, saying that this fix resolved the Windows 10 Start Button problem for two different people.
Did I mention this site COSTS ME MONEY and I do the support for FREE, sooooo, your welcome!
In the future, keep your comment civil or go somewhere else!
I'm sorry, but Microsoft is NOT working on this issue. It's April 22, 2016 and this just popped up on my self built PC. Can't do the restart because Windows 10 does not like duel hard drives. This should have been resolved by Microsoft a long time ago. No one should have to reinstall Windows 10, or switch to a new user profile just to have to switch all your files over just to get the start button or any of their "apps" to work, especially when I woke up to find I had Windows 10
Hi Ian,
I have tried all the above and no luck. All of my issues started 2 days ago. Windows defender cannot be turned on, no start menu, no Microsoft Edge, Cannot right click on many icons. Do you have any suggestions?
While it is not something I would go to quickly, at this point I would likely just wipe and load. Please keep in mind that these 5 fixes have resolved my clients issues 100% of the time, but sometimes the install is just too corrupt to readily fix and starting again is the shortest distance between two points.
Hey, thanks very much - the Powershell command worked perfectly! I was so excited to finally upgrade to Windows 10 last week but then realising all the Modern apps - and the Start menu! - did not function, it was so frustrating... Thanks for providing the first actual fix I have found. And I didn't even need to restart! Great stuff.