Categories: Windows 11 & Windows 10

SOLVED: Windows 10 Start Menu and Modern Apps Do Not Function

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:

1: Delete Corrupted AppLocker Files

The I found the fix:

  1. Right-click at Start and run Command Prompt as Admin
  2. Type command:
    ren %windir%\System32\AppLocker\Plugin*.* *.bak
  3. Restart Windows
  4. Be happy

Thank you UHLIK from THIS thread on the Microsoft Forum after reading THIS thread on the forum.

2: Start APPLICATION IDENTITY Service

Another fix for the The Start Menu Does Not Work problem is:

  1. Right-click at Start and click RUN
  2. type SERVICES.MSC and press the enter key
  3. right click on APPLICATION IDENTITY and select START
  4. Be happy… a reboot is not required

3: Use DISM Command

UPDATED: August 19, 2015: A third fix I have used successfully is:

  1. Create a new user and log into it
  2. Right click on the START button and select COMMAND PROMPT (RUN AS ADMINSTRATOR)
  3. Type dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
  4. Restart the PC
  5. Log back into the problematic profile hopefully you’ll find the store and apps work again

4: PowerShell Command to Reregister Packages

A forth fix I found came directly from Microsoft Partner support:

  1. Press Windows Key + R on your keyboard.
  2. Key in PowerShell and hit Enter.
  3. Right click on the PowerShell icon on the taskbar and select Run as Administrator.
  4. Now paste the following command in the Administrator: Windows PowerShell window and press Enter key:
    Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”}
  5. Wait for PowerShell to execute and complete the command. Ignore the few errors (in red color) that may pop up.
  6. When it finishes, try hitting Start and hopefully it’ll start working.

5: Replace the “TileDataLayer” Database – Added Sept 24, 2015:

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.

  1. Right click on the START button
  2. Hold the shift key while selecting RESTART
  3. Select TROUBLESHOOT from the recovery menu
  4. Select REFRESH YOUR PC

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.

View Comments

  • Thanks so much! I applied the second fix and works like a charm! Pfff was getting desperate...

  • on win10 pro 10240 and neither of these solutions work. applocker folder is empty and app identity is running, nothing changed.

    can't open start, search, jump lists, notifications or calendar. peek and IME work.

    • I just added two more potential fixes to the bottom of this post so please try them and let me know if they work for you.

  • I cannot even right click the start button. Any tips on what I can do? I also can not open Action Center, Edge says class not registered, and Norton will not run scans. Thanks!

      • several things. This https://youtu.be/MgDr0a4hVlA has an error, but via its title I did manage to find Powershell, but I don't yet know what I can run this way. I have a critical error, Cortana and Start menu aren't working, so all solutions that start with "right click on start" cannot help me. How to roll back to Windows 7 instructions always start with the control panel or start button. Can I find these using Windows Explorer?
        PS the three boxes above my comment don't have labels or field names, sorry I had to guess.

        • If you need t bring up a CMD window but cannot right click on the START BUTTON, you can press CTRL+ALT+DEL, select TASK MANAGER, click MORE DETAILS, click FILE menu, click CREATE NEW TASK, type in CONTROL.EXE and selec the CREATE THIS TASK WITH ADMINISTRATIVE PRIVILEGES .

    • The "refresh your pc" worked for me:

      Refresh your PC

      As a last resort, you can ‘refresh’ your Windows 10 installation, which is much the same as reinstalling the operating system. Your documents won’t be affected, but you’ll need to reinstall any applications that aren’t part of Windows.

      1. Restart Windows in Troubleshooting mode

      Close any open applications and press the [Windows] + [L] keys to log out of your Windows account — or just restart Windows. On the login screen, click the Powericon at the bottom right, hold down the [Shift] key and select the Restart option.

      2. Reset your PC

      When the blue Choose an option screen appears, click Troubleshoot, followed byReset this PC. finally, click the Keep my files option and follow the on-screen instructions.

    • hi bro. i just want to add to your step in powershell that i think others cannot run in admin. To run the powershell in admin. go to task manager after running the powershell then from the task manager right click powershell then hit go to file then hit powershell application and rightclick and there you go you can run now in admin. thank you so much it works to me.

      • Hello,
        Jery is right. He gave the most essential piece of information. You must be comletely sure You are running PowerShell as Admin. We were told in original solution to ignore errors which may pop up, but if you do it in a wrong way it can turn out You ignored message "access denied" and
        You will be suprised why it did not work. Concluding, You should expect error messages which says that some files were not deployed properly...

    • Hi Raven;

      I just added two more potential fixes. Please let me know if they work and/or if you have any other problems.

      • Non of the fixes worked. This is so frustrating. I cant even roll back to 8.1 as the start menu is not working

        • You could try installing the latest Windows 10 build http://microsoft-news.com/download-windows-10-build-10532-iso/ or you could try to roll back to Win8 using the command prompt to launch the Control Panel and then launch PROGRAMS AND FEATURES:

          If you need to bring up a CMD window but cannot right click on the START BUTTON, you can press CTRL+ALT+DEL, select TASK MANAGER, click MORE DETAILS, click FILE menu, click CREATE NEW TASK, type in CMD.EXE and select the CREATE THIS TASK WITH ADMINISTRATIVE PRIVILEGES .

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Published by
Ian Matthews
Tags: 1004110074applockerstart buttonstart menWindows 10
10 years ago

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