Start menu and taskbar not working in Windows 10?

[Windows Central Question]

My laptop is LENOVO G510. It came with windows 8 single language. I upgraded to windows 8.1 single language a year ago. I updated it to windows 10 home by triggering the update. The upgrade went successfully. But the problem now is the start button, applications in the taskbar(only right click) and icons on the taskbar on the right side(time, battery, wifi etc) are not working. They work if I click them after a gap of ten minutes. But if I click them for a second time immediately, they won't work.

I got a message box showing "startmenu and cortana are not working, it will be fixed the next time you sign in". When I sign out and sign in, there is no change.

Is it my only problem or it occured to many laptops?
Is there any way to fix it?
Is Microsoft working to fix it soon?

Please inform me.

 

[Hey Thanks]

Re: Why isn't my Start menu and taskbar working in Windows 10?

Raheem's solution worked for my unresponsive taskbar (Start Menu/Sound/Date/Time).
Write down or memorize the last step before you proceed with restart (as you will have to go back to msconfig shortcut and uncheck the Safe Boot under Boot tab and restart again).
My taskbar is still about 5x larger in size than it used to be, and does not automatically hide itself (something I still have to figure out), but at least it is responding now.
Thank you Raheem for sharing!

 

[owenroy]

Re: Why isn't my Start menu and taskbar working in Windows 10?

thank you very much raheem! i was already panicking when most of the answers i got were not working then i saw yours

 

[Stephanie Bellerive]

Re: Why isn't my Start menu and taskbar working in Windows 10?

I went into safe mode and came back but that still didn't fix it for me.

My solution was to right click the task bar, then under properties, navigation tab, I checked the box that said "Replace Command Prompt with Windows PowerShell in the menu when I right-click the lower left corner or press Windows key+X." Click apply and OK.

I hadn't noticed that before I tried Raheem's solution so maybe that option wasn't there before, but hope this might help someone.

 

[Parragon]

Re: Why isn't my Start menu and taskbar working in Windows 10?

One issue, which has frequently been surfacing on Microsoft Forums and Reddit, is the inoperability of the Taskbar and all the features linked to it, such as the Start Menu and Cortana. After a certain period of time, all three stop responding to the user?s interactions even though the rest of the system continues to perform optimally. Microsoft is well-aware of the issue and is working to resolve it. However, until then you can try these temporary fixes to resolve the issue.

How To Fix Cortana, Search, And Start Menu Issues In Windows 10

First of all, you need to kill the erroneous processes that are causing the problems. Press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC to launch the Task Manager. Locate Cortana or Search from the list of currently running processes and click on End Task. The processes will re-launch and this time around, functionality will be restored.

Step 1: Press Windows Key + R to bring up the Run dialog box.

Step 2: Type in powershell and press Enter.

Step 3: Right-click on the PowerShell icon from the Taskbar and select Run as Administrator

Method 2

Step 1: Right-click the Start button and select Command Prompt (Admin) from the context menu.

Step 2: Type Powershell in Command Prompt and press Enter.

Step 3: Paste the following text in the Powershell window and press Enter.

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

Wait for the command to run and ignore the red error prompts if they arise. The Start Menu should be operational now.

 

[Faenum]

Re: Why isn't my Start menu and taskbar working in Windows 10?

I've worked out why the trick with the msconfig worked. As I was following that solution I noticed, under general, the selective startup button was selected, so I clicked on the normal startup button, applied and restarted and that did it. Why it decided to change itself to selective startup I have no idea, as it was fine yesterday. But that appears to be what it is.

 

[Country Life]

Re: Why isn't my Start menu and taskbar working in Windows 10?

Raheem Baker YOU NAILED IT- THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!! It was fixed in less then 5 minutes!:grin:

 

[Edd24]

Re: Why isn't my Start menu and taskbar working in Windows 10?

I just had to create an account and post that this solution saved me a lot of hassle! Raheem thanks a bunch!

 

[13_Theresa Stretten]

Re: Why isn't my Start menu and taskbar working in Windows 10?

After trying multiple forums and suggestions....this one worked for me!!!! Enough that I registered to reply and let everyone know. Thank you!

 

[Rohi58]

Re: Why isn't my Start menu and taskbar working in Windows 10?

Raheem Baker's solution worked for me. Thanks Raheem

 

[David Angelo]

Re: Why isn't my Start menu and taskbar working in Windows 10?

Such a relief Raheem. I feel the same as the two posters below:

Raheem Baker's solution worked for me. Thanks Raheem.
After trying multiple forums and suggestions....this one worked for me!!!! Enough that I registered to reply and let everyone know. Thank you!

 

[Fred_Nelson]

Re: Why isn't my Start menu and taskbar working in Windows 10?

Thanks Raheem,
When I read your solution I thought "no way that would work, how can simply rebooting
your widows session in safemode fix the problem?" Well I tried it, when in safemode I
noticed the Start Menu was working. So I rebooted in normal mode and it was still working.

 

[GratefulNovice]

Re: Why isn't my Start menu and taskbar working in Windows 10?

Wow. Clean reboot worked on a nearly 8 year old machine recently upgraded to Windows 10 that didn't react well to an automatic Windows update. Thanks Raheem.

 

[pentangelli]

Re: Why isn't my Start menu and taskbar working in Windows 10?

BLAH! This drives me nuts. The person posted his/her problem! No one cares if someone else is having the same problem. If you dont have an answer to this persons question. Then dont reply. I am only replying because this is pet peeve,
Who the he77 wants to read through 10 responses of "Yeah I got the same issue, yeah I got the same issue"
:angry:

 

[Bujooon]

Re: I didn't need to DC the MS account

I did it with no MS account disconnection. And not even right clicks on Windows logo worked for me. But this is the way I got it back to work again:

a) Press the ?Windows + R? key on the keyboard.
b) In the ?Run? window type ?MSCONFIG? and click ?Ok?.
c) As first click the ?Boot? tab and check ?Safe Boot?, option ?Minimal?. Don?t check any other boxes.
d) On the ?General? tab, click to select the option ?Selective startup?, and make sure the ?Load startup items? box option is check and ?Use original boot configuration? is unchecked.
e) On the ?Services? tab, click to select the ?Hide all Microsoft services? check box, and then click ?Disable all?.
f) Click ?OK? and then click ?Restart?.
g) Windows starts up in Safe mode. Make sure all the Apps and icons in Task bar are dispalyed. Right click on Windows logo started to work for me.
h) Press the ?Windows + R? and run ?MSCONFIG? again. On the ?General? tab, click to select the option ?Normal startup?, click ?OK? and ?Restart?.
i) Windows started up with no problems on my computer at this moment.

 

[D88S1]

Re: Why isn't my Start menu and taskbar working in Windows 10?

my start button doesn't work, where do I start?:unhappysweat:

 

[Gaurav rautela]

Re: Why isn't my Start menu and taskbar working in Windows 10?

Raheem Baker, yours solution worked. Thanks a ton

 

[Disturbed Colors]

Re: Startmenu and taskbar not working in windows 10

That is exactly my reason also for registering
Raheem Baker's solution works for me also yeey!

 

[bulls96]

Re: Startmenu and taskbar not working in windows 10

Thank you for your help guys!

 

[Brad Wurst]

Re: Startmenu and taskbar not working in windows 10

Way to Go Raheem, This worked nicely!

 

[Metaphyzikal]

Re: Why isn't my Start menu and taskbar working in Windows 10?

I found this approach worked well.... re:

Create an MSCONFIG shortcut on desktop.
Boot in safe mode + network
Then uncheck safe mode and start normally
Voila my Task bar is working again. Thanks very much, it's been doing my head in.