Let’s have a look into some causes as one of them might be a culprit:-
Misconfigured Value in Registry Editor- In the registry editor, there is an entry called Start, which tells how the service is started. You might encounter this error if the Start value is not configured correctly.Temporary Bug- In some cases, it has been observed that the error can be fixed by restarting Windows explorer.exe. Hence, before going further, restart the explorer.exe, as the error can be triggered due to a temporary glitch or bug.Not Having All Application Packages Permissions- If you do not have permission over all application packages, you may encounter this issue until you fully control the registry folder for All Application Packages.Corrupt System Files- The corrupted system files can cause this issue as the start menu is a Windows component that can be stopped working at any time due to corrupt system files. Hence, you should try running the system file checker in the command prompt to check for corrupted files.
1. Use Registry Editor
In the registry editor, an entry called Start is used to specify how the service or drive is started or loaded. Most affected users have fixed their issues by changing the Start value. In my case, the value is set to 2, and my start menu is working fine. However, if the entry value is set to 2 and the start menu is still not working, try values between 0 and 4 and see if the issue is fixed. There are up to 4 values, each with a different function to specify how the service is started. Below are the steps to change the value for the Start entry through the registry editor.
2. Restart Windows Explorer.exe
The issue can occur due to a bug or glitch, which can be fixed by restarting Windows explorer. Windows explorer allows displaying taskbar, apps, desktop and other things. Restarting Windows explorer helps most of the time when some features stop responding. Moreover, as per the several affected users, restarting Windows explorer can fix the start menu not working issue and restarting the tons of background services. Below are the steps to restart exploere.exe:
3. Reset All Apps
You can also try resetting the apps via powershell to fix this issue. This method is also worked for most of the affected users. Therefore, try and see if this works in your case.
4. Change All Apps Packages Permissions
All Application packages allow all the users in the system to access the specific application or folder. The registry editor has a folder called HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, which contains information about file name extensions such as .appx, .aps and more. This error will likely trigger if the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT permission is not set properly for the All Application packages. To fix this, you will need to change the permissions of HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. Here are the steps:
5. Restart Windows From Safe Mode
According to some users, this issue can easily be fixed by restarting Windows from the safe mode. The safe mode is a process that disables all drivers and unnecessary services to determine what can cause issues. If restarting the computer does not fix it, restarting from safe mode might help.
6. Run System File Checker
SFC or System File Checker is a command that repairs the corrupted system files such as Windows DLL, exe files and others. The affected users have managed to fix this issue by executing the SFC command via the command prompt. Below we have outlined the instruction to do this:
7. Create a New User Account
If the start menu is still not working, try creating a new account and transfer all the data into the new one if the issue is fixed. Otherwise, move on to the next method. To create a new user account, follow the steps:
8. Reset Your Computer
In case none of the methods has worked, the last solution you can try is to reset your computer. Resetting the computer will remove drivers, programs, and the settings you have applied. However, it will not remove the data such as photos, music, videos and personal files. Below are the instructions to reset your computer without losing data.
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