Windows 10 start button not working

[JBR]

My wife has encountered this well documented problem just this evening after having no problems since she 'upgraded' to Windows 10 a few weeks ago. (My laptop came with W10 pre-installed and, thankfully, I have not had this problem.)

Naturally, she has read up about possible fixes, but each one seems to have caused some people various problems such as losing installed apps or worse. At the moment, at my suggestion, she is backing up all her data just in case. The next step would be to try some of the suggested fixes.

A better option, in my opinion, might be to wait and see if Microsoft can come up with an official fix, perhaps through Windows Updates. Unfortunately, though, from what I have read this problem seems to have been happening since before December last year, so why haven't Microsoft sorted it already?

Has anyone here had this problem? Did anyone manage to fix it easily?

I (and certainly my wife) would be very grateful for any help.

 

[footprints]

Had it several times, faffed about doing updates, tried going through fix and find problems, switch user, restarts nothing seems to be a definite solution but both times it just came back on it's own. I have no idea if my twiddling did anything or an automatic update cleared it.

I expect you have already found out you can shut down and access other options by right clicking on the start button.

 

[kjacko]

try the following:
right click the start button and select "Command Prompt (Admin)"
once the shell opens paste the following in:
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}
Click ENTER. Once the process has done, reboot and see if that fixes it for you.

 

[JBR]

Thanks for your help, gentlemen.

I've just spoken to my wife, who's in Dublin. She needed to access wifi using her computer and couldn't because she wasn't able to find the appropriate button because of this problem. (There is no doubt some sort of shortcut without using the Start button, but she couldn't find it.)

In desperation, as she couldn't do some of her work without wifi, she somehow found System Restore in her Control Panel and set that in motion. Eventually, when it had finished, her computer was back to how it should be.

Good news, of course, but to me that suggests it could well have been a Windows Update that caused the problem as she hadn't downloaded anything in the meantime. If so, then I consider it deplorable that MS should be sending Updates that cause problems.

 

[ajstoneservices]

Uhm, sounds all too familiar. Has your wife just installed windows 10 JBR? I had problems for the first few weeks on three of my computers when updates had been installed and found solutions on youtube for the disappearing start button. I'm pleased to say I haven;t had a problem with the updates for a while now.

 

[JBR]

Yes, she 'upgraded' from W8.1 a few weeks ago - accidentally, as it happens: the thing started the download when she wasn't looking!

Anyway, my wife has just returned from Dublin. Last night, having done a System Restore, her computer worked perfectly. When she turned it on this morning, however, the problem was back. She desperately needed it to do some work so she was panicking. Fortunately, there was a capable computer lecturer there who offered to help her.

He followed what looked like one of the procedures we've seen online, or it might have been the one mentioned above, although I'm afraid my wife can't recall exactly what he did. In any event, the task bar is now working, but not the start button.

The computer lecturer told her that he gave up on Microsoft years ago and went for an Apple Mac. My wife said that she would, but that Apple computers are very expensive. He agreed, but asked her how often she changes her computer: about five years or so. He said that, although Apples are more expensive, he's had his for ten years and never a single spot of trouble. My wife was concerned about compatibility, but this chap said that he can run just about any Microsoft programme on his.

Consequently, my wife is seriously thinking of an Apple next time, as am I.

Although I haven't had any of the problems my wife has, I've heard enough. In a few years, if there still appears to be problems with Windows 10 computers, I'll be off to Apple as well.

If Microsoft can't do better than they are at present, they deserve all they get.