Windows 10 Start menu not showing all items.

2020-02-20

Question

_{Thursday, February 20, 2020 9:10 AM}

Hi all,

This problem is driving me crazy, I am rolling out Windows 10 to all out PCs but seemingly at random when a user logs in to a Windows 10 PC it will not show all the start menu items. Sometimes it will only show 3 items (usually Edge and 2 others) sometimes it shows most items but is missing MS Office apps like Excel and Word and sometimes it shows everything.

I have found online that a temporary fix it to mark one of the following folders as hidden then unhidden. I can do this either on:

C:\Users\current username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu

It doesn't matter which one of these I do it on and in fact just marking it as hidden fixes it without even marking it as unhidden. Even if I get an "access denied" error when trying to mark it as hidden it still immediately brings back all start menu items!

The problem however keeps coming back so I need a way to permanently fix this. The only workaround I can think of is a script that runs after logging in to hide and unhide the folder but that seems very messy!

Thanks in advance!

All replies (15)

_{Thursday, February 20, 2020 2:49 PM}

Hello,

Try to re-register Start Menu using these steps and see if it helps:

1. Open Task Manager, click File > Run new task.

2. Type powershell in the Create new task box. Check the option 'Create this task with administrative privileges'. Click OK.

3. In the administrative Windows PowerShell window, type/paste following and press Enter key:

Get-appxpackage -all *shellexperience* -packagetype bundle |% {add-appxpackage -register -disabledevelopmentmode ($_.installlocation + “\appxmetadata\appxbundlemanifest.xml”)}

4. Let it complete and then restart your system.

Reference: https://www.kapilarya.com/re-register-start-menu-windows-10

Let us know if this helps!

Note: Included link in this reply refers to blog post by a trusted Microsoft MVP.

Microsoft MVP (Windows and Devices for IT)

Windows Insider MVP

Windows Help & Support [www.kapilarya.com]

_{Thursday, February 20, 2020 4:02 PM}

Hi Kapil,

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately that didn't work. One thing I did not mention is that the main account I am having trouble with has a mandatory roaming profile. I actually thought I had fixed it a few weeks ago by changing it to a non-mandatory (.dat) profile, logging in, hiding and unhiding the "start menu" folder in the roaming part of appdata, logging out and then changing it back to a .man profile. this fixed it on the PC I was testing it on but when logging on to another PC the problem is back.

For other users the problem seems random. It is usually fixable using the above method but comes back so I need a way to fix this automatically (or better yet stop it happening!).

I've found several other forums going back years with this issue and no fix. Do we know why it does this in Windows 10?

Simon

_{Friday, February 21, 2020 8:19 AM}

1.can you enter winver in command prompt on issue win10 computer and look the os version and os version number ?[for example windows 10 enterprise 1809 (os build 17763.316)]

2.when did you issue first happen ?
I think there is something changed on issue win10 then cause your issue.could you recall how long did your end user use mandatory roaming profile setting normally?
did you change startmenu settings recently ?
did you install windows update on win10 then cause your issue?

3.can you share how do you customize startmenu so that other people can reproduce your issue?
4.we can use below link method to verify your technet forum account so that you can post picture and website link.
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/5c00b9a9-3afe-4ee9-bbf0-34157716b92a/verify-my-account?forum=reportabug

Best Regards
Andy YOU
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_{Tuesday, February 25, 2020 7:00 AM}

HI
Is there any progress on your question?

Best Regards
Andy YOU
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help.
If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact [email protected].

_{Tuesday, February 25, 2020 7:33 AM}

Hi Andy,

We have only recently upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 7. Some PCs are brand new with Windows 10, other have been upgraded. The versions vary but the one I was testing on last week was Windows 10 Pro 1809 (Build 17763.1039)

The issue started happening as soon as we started using Windows 10 which was only quite recently. One thing I have done is used a start menu layout file since I did not want all the adverts and games etc in the Windows 10 menu. I made the xml file below to make it look more like the Windows 7 start menu and to add File Explorer, Outlook and Internet Explorer to the task bar although that also has stopped working now since it no longer seems to add Outlook!

<LayoutModificationTemplate

xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/LayoutModification"

xmlns:defaultlayout="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/FullDefaultLayout"

xmlns:start="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/StartLayout"

xmlns:taskbar="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/TaskbarLayout"

Version="1">

<defaultlayout:StartLayout GroupCellWidth="6" />

</StartLayoutCollection>

</DefaultLayoutOverride>

<defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>

<taskbar:TaskbarPinList xmlns:taskbar="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/TaskbarLayout">

<taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\System Tools\File Explorer.lnk" />

<taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Internet Explorer.lnk"/>

<taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Outlook.lnk" />

</taskbar:TaskbarPinList>

</defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>

</CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection>

</LayoutModificationTemplate>

However I had the problem with items not showing on the start menu before I implemented this.

_{Tuesday, February 25, 2020 8:31 AM}

I just did a bit of testing with a test user that had not yet signed in to a Windows 10 PC and also with a newly created user and the start menu worked fine as well as the pinned items mentioned above.When I log in as myself however the start menu is working but I have lost my Outlook icon from the task bar.

Some users with normal roaming profiles have also had the issue with the start menu not showing all items so the problem is not specific to the mandatory profile, I think it's just more of a problem on that one since it's harder to fix.

I will need to try to break it using the new user possibly by logging into other Windows 10 PCs to see if I can see a pattern.

_{Tuesday, February 25, 2020 8:56 AM}

I just logged into a second Windows 10 PC with the new account I created in the last post and immediately had the same problem with only 3 items in the start menu however after a few minutes the start menu filled out with all the items. Restarting and logging in again and it works fine. The other test user worked fine too.

I logged in on this one as myself and only 4 items are showing on the start menu (HP Audio Controls, Microsoft Edge, Search and Settings) I've left this on for 5 minutes now and this time it has not filled out the start menu. Interestingly after opening Windows Security from the notifications icon that too now shows in the start menu.

I restarted the PC and logged straight back in as myself and all the items are back in the start menu! It seems quite random!

_{Tuesday, February 25, 2020 6:09 PM}

Windows 10 since its beginning had problems with roaming profiles, and I am not sure they are all fixed.
perhaps you hit this: Roaming user profiles of earlier versions of Windows are incompatible with Windows 10, Windows Server 2016 and later versions
and you should read: Deploying Roaming User Profiles
and: Future of Roaming Profiles

_{Wednesday, February 26, 2020 8:02 AM}

Hi Akshay,

Thanks for your response. I do not have that option in my settings. When I search for find and fix I have a list of troubleshooters such as "problems with windows search" and "audio playback problems" but nothing about the microsoft store apps.

I tired the windows search option but it didn't find any problems.

_{Wednesday, February 26, 2020 8:03 AM}

Thanks EckiS I'll check those out.

_{Wednesday, February 26, 2020 8:24 AM}

Hi EckiS

What I don't understand about these links is that when a user with a Windows 7 profile logs in to a Windows 10 PC for the first time it creates a new profile (.v6) it does not modify the existing Windows 7 (.v2) profile.

One thing I have just noticed is that under my own log in which I thought was working although I can see most of the icons that were missing on the other account I have other ones missing. For example the calculator is missing. Even if I search for it it does not appear. Whereas on the mandatory profile the calculator was one of the icons that was there correctly! Also, even though it was appearing on the start menu I could not open it. Several other apps on the start menu would also not open but some would.

If I log in as the brand new test user that has only ever logged in on Windows 10 everything is there and works correctly. This suggests that there is something being brought over from the old Win 7 profiles but I'm not sure how or why. I really hope there's a way to fix this without deleting all my users and recreating all the accounts from scratch!

_{Wednesday, February 26, 2020 11:03 AM}

Ok another update...

Using the brand new test account that has only ever logged into 1 Windows 10 PC and never touched a Windows 7 PC, I logged into a second Windows 10 PC and the problem is back!

So the issue is not caused by incompatibility with older versions of Windows profiles.

I also tried removing my start menu template to make sure that was not affecting it and the same issue occurs.

All I can think of is that either these HP machines have some other software causing a problem in which case I might need to do a clean install. Or one of my other group policies is affecting it somehow.

_{Monday, March 9, 2020 7:30 AM}

HI
if the problem persist ,we can open a ticket to microsoft .They will help you to find the root cause.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/gp/contactus81?forceorigin=esmc&Audience=Commercial&wa=wsignin1.0

Best Regards
Andy YOU
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help.
If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact [email protected].

_{Monday, March 9, 2020 3:13 PM}

Hi Andy,

Thanks but it looks like I need a support plan to do that. I checked that and it costs $500 for a single incident... to help me fix a problem with their own system which is just hilarious.

I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about this. I need to start rolling Windows 10 out to all our PCs now and this is still a problem so I can see this causing me a big headache!

_{Wednesday, July 15, 2020 11:42 AM}

I still have this problem. It affects both new Windows 10 PCs and ones I've upgraded from 7. I think it must be a group policy somewhere that is causing the problem since it only happens once the PC has joined the domain.

I've been going through all my GP settings but it's hard to know where to start since I can't see anything obvious regarding the start menu. We also have a problem on most PCs where we get the "You need an app to open this" box come up even with built in windows apps so I think it;s not just a start menu issue it's probably something affecting Windows overall. I've tried running: DISM /ONLINE /CLEANUP-IMAGE /RESTOREHEALTH on many of my windows 10 PCs but it fails at around 85% every time on every PC.

If anyone has any idea what GP settings might cause this I would be very grateful!

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Windows 10 Start menu not showing all items.

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