My Start Menu WON'T Open!!!

Anonymous
2009-09-11T20:01:37+00:00

Hi!

My Start Menu Icon in the bottom left corner of the scree WON'T open AT ALL. I can right-click on it and get the typical "right-click menu" but that's it. The only way that I can switch users or shut down/restart the computer is to use the Ctrl+Alt+Delete. The only way to open MS Word/Excel/PPT (or anything for that matter; not just MS programs) is to open an already existing document that happens to have a shortcut on the desktop, and then open a NEW document or whatever from there.

I heard from an IT person that a couple weeks ago, MS had released an update and that it was pretty bad. Could this be the problem? I'm running Windows Vista, it's a 64-bit computer (if that helps at all), and I'm not sure exactly when this started, but I know it's recent. Maybe w/i past 2 weeks to give a good time span with some flexibility. August 31 for sure, because I remember my husband tried to do a system restore, and there were no restore points prior to that date. We also tried Sept 1 & 2, but each time, there were no prior restore points for that specific date.

I understand that this could be caused a just about anything under the sun, but if someone knows how to fix this, GREAT!!! Right NOW though, I'd be completely happy with just knowing how to put the shortcuts for Word & Excel or even MS Office all together (it that's possible) onto my desktop so that i can do a few things before we just do a whole system recovery. Since I can't open the start menu, I can't just "click & drag" them onto the desktop, or access the control panel, or anything else through that option.

Someone PLEASE help me with this! Atleast with the shortcuts!!

Thank You!!!

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Accessibility

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Anonymous
2009-09-12T16:19:01+00:00

Hi Lotus Everlearning,

Welcome to Microsoft Vista answers Forum!

I have few steps here that might fix the issue.

Step 1:

The taskbar might be hidden, try pressing CTRL+ESC. If your taskbar then reappears you may have “Auto-hide the taskbar” checked which will cause it to shrink down out of view until you put your mouse cursor towards the bottom of the screen. If this is the case, then you can either put your mouse cursor toward the bottom of the screen to pull of your taskbar, or press CTRL+ESC to pull it up, and from there do the following:

1.       Right-Click an empty section on the taskbar and click Properties

2.       In the first section that appears under the tab “Taskbar” uncheck “Auto-hide the taskbar” if you don’t want that feature enabled.

3.       Click OK

If CTRL+ESC doesn’t bring your taskbar up, then the program that displays the taskbar could very well not be running. To fix this do the following:

1.       Press CTRL+ALT+DEL

2.       You should be turned over to a window with options one of which is “Start Task Manager” as the last listing. Click “Start Task Manager”.

3.       Now you should have a window called “Windows Task Manager”.

4.       From there click “File” in the menu bar, and then click “New Task (Run…)”

5.       In the next window that appears type “explorer”****where is says “Open:”, then press OK.

6.       You taskbar should be back now.

Additional information:**** Find the taskbar: http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/47f5888e-6333-414c-8a49-d5568af6e4bd1033.mspx

If the issue is not resolved, go to step 2 to boot the computer in safe mode.

Step 2:

I suggest that you boot the computer in safe mode with networking and check if you are able to connect to the internet without any issues, safe mode starts Windows with a limited set of files and drivers. Startup programs do not run in safe mode, and only the basic drivers needed to start Windows are installed, follow the steps to boot the computer in safe mode with networking:

1.     Restart your computer if it is powered on.

2.     Tap the F8 key after your computer initially powers on.

3.     Once you see the Advanced Boot Options menu you can stop tapping.

4.     Use the up/down arrow keys to highlight your selection.

5.     Select Safe Mode with Networking and press Enter.

6.     You should see drivers loading, and then please wait.

7.     You should then be at the Welcome Screen.

8.     Logon to your computer using an account with Administrator privileges.

Additional information**:http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/323ef48f-7b93-4079-a48a-5c58eec904a11033.mspx**

****Now see if the Start menu bar appears on the computer, if it appears go to step 3 to perform a clean boot on the computer.

Step 3:

To help troubleshoot error messages and other issues, you can start Windows Vista by using a minimal set of drivers and startup programs. This kind of startup is known as a "clean boot." A clean boot helps eliminate software conflicts.

Steps to perform clean boot and check if you have the issue.

  1. Click Start, type msconfig in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.

User Account Control permission

If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.

  1. On the General tab, click Selective Startup.
  2. Under Selective Startup, click to clear the Load Startup Items check box.
  3. Click the Services tab, click to select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box, and then click Disable All.
  4. Click OK.
  5. When you are prompted, click Restart.
  6. After the computer starts, check whether the problem is resolved.

If the issue is resolved check which third party is causing the problem, referring the link given below: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

Note: Ensure to put the computer to normal state by following Step 7 in the above link

You may refer the link to create shortcuts for the programs on the desktop: http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/52f853fe-de4d-4924-bfc0-0373fcf862391033.mspx

Hope this information is helpful.

Let me know if this worked.

All the best! 

Thanks and Regards:

Swathi B  - Microsoft Support.

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-09-07T12:27:30+00:00

    For the time being (yes, I am being facetious), use a right mouse click on the start menu button.  This will bring up a menu which might help you out.

    My problem drags on.  About 50% of the time now, I don't have the start button or MS Edge working in the morning but miraculously they start working late in the day.  Cortana never works.  The other 50% of the time none of them work.

    Hooray for Windows 10!

    John

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-09-07T23:22:37+00:00

    Dear Tonya,

    I have good news for you. I have a fix for the Start Menu not working. I found it on the internet after an exhaustive search. It requires you to run a batch file to fix the problem. A batch file is a set of instructions written with Dos commands a saved using any text editing program. I am including the text of the batch file so you can repair your laptop. I realize you don't know me from Adam and may be weary of running an unknown program on your new computer.  All I can tell you is that I've been working with computers for the last 35 years and was a network administrator for an engineering firm the last 10 years I worked. 

    Here are the steps you'll need to do:

    If you don't have Word for Windows, you can run Notepad from the Task Manager to create the batch file. You can get to the Task Manager by right mouse clicking the Start Menu Task Bar, not the Start Menu, and select Task Manager. In the upper left select File, Run New Task, and type notepad. 

    Save the file you've created with the file name of: Start Menu Fix.bat. It is important to know that you must have administrative privileges on your computer to run the batch file. If you're the only person who logs in, you have these privileges.  You will also need to run this file as Administrator. Here's how. 

    Go to where ever you saved the file and right mouse click the file name. Select Run as Administrator and it should open a DOS window, run a bunch of commands and then you reboot your computer. The Start Menu will come back. I've lost my Start Menu a couple of times and this fix brought it back every time.

    Copy and paste the following text into a document and save as Start Menu Fix.bat

    @ECHO OFF &COLOR 70 &TITLE Windows 10 default services, script by AveYo &echo/ 

    SET QUIT=PING -n 10 0 ^>NUL 2^>^&1 ^&COLOR 70 ^&EXIT/B

    :: check win version

    FOR /F "tokens=4-5 delims=. " %%i IN ('ver') DO SET "WINVER=%%i%%j"

    IF %WINVER% LSS 100 COLOR 74 &echo ERROR! ONLY FOR WINDOWS 10 &%QUIT%

    :: check for admin rights

    SET "ADM=" &bcdedit >NUL 2>&1

    IF NOT "%ERRORLEVEL%"=="1" SET "ADM=Y"

    IF NOT DEFINED ADM COLOR 74 &echo  ERROR! Run again by right-clicking and selecting 'Run as administrator' &%QUIT%

    :: gives time to cancel before any changes (all scripts should provide this...)

    FOR /L %%I IN (10,-1,1) DO CLS &echo. &echo  Starting in %%Is. Press [Ctrl+C] or X corner to cancel... &PING -n 2 0 >NUL 2>&1

    CLS &echo/

    SET "services_auto= AudioEndpointBuilder Audiosrv BFE BrokerInfrastructure CoreMessagingRegistrar CryptSvc DcomLaunch Dhcp DiagTrack Dnscache DPS EventLog EventSystem FontCache gpsvc iphlpsvc LanmanServer LanmanWorkstation LSM MpsSvc NlaSvc nsi Power ProfSvc RpcEptMapper RpcSs SamSs Schedule SENS ShellHWDetection Spooler SysMain SystemEventsBroker Themes tiledatamodelsvc TrkWks UserManager Wcmsvc Winmgmt WinRM " 

    SET "services_delayed_auto= BITS DoSvc dmwappushsvc MapsBroker sppsvc wscsvc WSearch"

    SET "services_demand= AJRouter ALG AppIDSvc Appinfo AppMgmt AppReadiness AppXSvc AxInstSV BDESVC Browser BthHFSrv bthserv CDPSvc CertPropSvc ClipSVC COMSysApp CscService DcpSvc defragsvc DeviceAssociationService DeviceInstall DevQueryBroker diagnosticshub.standardcollector.service DmEnrollmentSvc dot3svc DsmSvc DsSvc Eaphost EFS embeddedmode EntAppSvc Fax fdPHost FDResPub fhsvc hidserv HomeGroupListener HomeGroupProvider icssvc IEEtwCollectorService Ifsvc IKEEXT KeyIso KtmRm LicenseManager lltdsvc lmhosts MSDTC MSiSCSI msiserver NcaSvc NcbService NcdAutoSetup Netlogon Netman netprofm NetSetupSvc NgcCtnrSvc NgcSvc nvsvc p2pimsvc p2psvc PcaSvc PeerDistSvc PerfHost pla PlugPlay PNRPAutoReg PNRPsvc PolicyAgent PrintNotify QWAVE RasAuto RasMan RetailDemo RpcLocator ScDeviceEnum SCPolicySvc SDRSVC seclogon SensorDataService SensorService SensrSvc SessionEnv SharedAccess smphost SmsRouter SNMPTRAP SSDPSRV SstpSvc StateRepository stisvc StorSvc svsvc swprv TabletInputService TapiSrv TermService TimeBroker TrustedInstaller UI0Detect UmRdpService upnphost UsoSvc VaultSvc vds vmicguestinterface vmicheartbeat vmickvpexchange vmicrdv vmicshutdown vmictimesync vmicvmsession vmicvss VSS W32Time WalletService wbengine WbioSrvc wcncsvc WcsPlugInService WdiServiceHost WdiSystemHost WdNisSvc WebClient Wecsvc WEPHOSTSVC wercplsupport WerSvc WiaRpc WinDefend WinHttpAutoProxySvc WlanSvc wlidsvc wmiApSrv WMPNetworkSvc workfolderssvc WPDBusEnum WpnService WSService wuauserv wudfsvc WwanSvc XblAuthManager XblGameSave XboxNetApiSvc "

    SET "services_disabled= NetTcpPortSharing RemoteAccess RemoteRegistry SCardSvr "

    FOR %%A IN (%services_auto%) DO <NUL SET /P=%%A &sc config %%A start= auto

    FOR %%A IN (%services_delayed_auto%) DO <NUL SET /P=%%A &sc config %%A start= delayed-auto

    FOR %%A IN (%services_demand%) DO <NUL SET /P=%%A &sc config %%A start= demand

    FOR %%A IN (%services_disabled%) DO <NUL SET /P=%%A &sc config %%A start= disabled

    GOTO :_DONE_

    rem comment above line to also reset default device drivers

    SET "drivers_auto= lltdio luafv MMCSS mrxsmb10 MsLldp Ndu PEAUTH rspndr srv storqosflt tcpipreg "

    SET "drivers_boot= ACPI acpiex atapi CLFS CNG disk EhStorClass FileInfo FltMgr fvevol hwpolicy intelide KSecDD KSecPkg mountmgr msisadrv Mup NDIS partmgr pci pcw pdc rdyboost spaceport Tcpip vdrvroot volmgr volmgrx volsnap Wdf01000 WFPLWFS WindowsTrustedRT WindowsTrustedRTProxy Wof "

    SET "drivers_demand= 1394ohci 3ware acpipagr AcpiPmi acpitime ADP80XX agp440 AmdK8 AmdPPM amdsata amdsbs amdxata AppID arcsas AsyncMac b06bdrv bcmfn2 bowser BthAvrcpTg BthHFEnum bthhfhid BTHMODEM buttonconverter CapImg circlass CmBatt CompositeBus condrv dmvsc drmkaud DXGKrnl ebdrv EhStorTcgDrv ErrDev exfat fastfat fcvsc fdc Filetrace flpydisk FsDepends gagp30kx gencounter genericusbfn GPIOClx0101 HdAudAddService HDAudBus HidBatt HidBth hidi2c hidinterrupt HidIr HidUsb HpSAMD HTTP hyperkbd HyperVideo i8042prt iaLPSSi_GPIO iaLPSSi_I2C iaStorAV iaStorV ibbus IntcAzAudAddService intelpep intelppm IoQos IpFilterDriver IPMIDRV IPNAT IRENUM isapnp iScsiPrt kbdclass kbdhid kdnic ksthunk L1C LSI_SAS LSI_SAS2i LSI_SAS3i LSI_SSS lvpepf64 LVRS64 LVUSBS64 megasas megasr mlx4_bus Modem monitor mouclass mouhid mpsdrv MRxDAV mrxsmb mrxsmb20 MsBridge msgpiowin32 mshidkmdf mshidumdf MSKSSRV MSPCLOCK MSPQM MsRPC MSTEE MTConfig MTsensor mvumis NativeWifiP ndfltr NdisCap NdisImPlatform NdisTapi Ndisuio NdisVirtualBus NdisWan ndiswanlegacy ndproxy netvsc NTFS nvlddmkm nvraid nvstor nv_agp Parport pciide pcmcia percsas2i percsas3i PID_PEPI PptpMiniport Processor QWAVEdrv RasAcd RasAgileVpn Rasl2tp RasPppoe RasSstp rdpbus RDPDR RdpVideoMiniport ReFSv1 rspLLL s3cap sbp2port scfilter sdbus sdstor SerCx SerCx2 Serenum Serial sermouse sfloppy SiSRaid2 SiSRaid4 SpbCx srv2 srvnet stexstor storahci storflt stornvme storufs storvsc swenum Synth3dVsc Tcpip6 terminpt TPM TsUsbFlt TsUsbGD tunnel uagp35 UASPStor UcmCx0101 UcmUcsi Ucx01000 UdeCx UEFI Ufx01000 UfxChipidea ufxsynopsys uliagpkx umbus UmPass UrsChipidea UrsCx01000 UrsSynopsys usbaudio usbccgp usbcir usbehci usbhub USBHUB3 usbohci usbprint usbser USBSTOR usbuhci USBXHCI VerifierExt vhdmp vhf vmbus VMBusHID vpci vsmraid VSTXRAID vwifibus WacomPen wanarp wanarpv6 WdBoot WdFilter wdiwifi WdNisDrv wfpcapture WIMMount WinMad WINUSB WinVerbs WmiAcpi wpcfltr WpdUpFltr WudfPf WUDFRd xboxgip xinputhid "

    SET "drivers_disabled= cdfs cnghwassist udfs ws2ifsl "

    SET "drivers_system= AFD ahcache avipbb avkmgr BasicDisplay BasicRender Beep cdrom CSC dam Dfsc FileCrypt GpuEnergyDrv Msfs mssmbios NetBIOS NetBT Npfs npsvctrig nsiproxy Null Psched rdbss tdx vwififlt "

    FOR %%A IN (%drivers_auto%) DO <NUL SET /P=%%A &sc config %%A start= auto

    FOR %%A IN (%drivers_boot%) DO <NUL SET /P=%%A &sc config %%A start= boot

    FOR %%A IN (%drivers_demand%) DO <NUL SET /P=%%A &sc config %%A start= demand

    FOR %%A IN (%drivers_disabled%) DO <NUL SET /P=%%A &sc config %%A start= disabled

    FOR %%A IN (%drivers_system%) DO <NUL SET /P=%%A &sc config %%A start= system

    GOTO :_DONE_ 

    :_DONE_

    echo/ &echo Done, reboot your PC now... &%QUIT%

    Let me know how it worked.

    Lynn

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-09-07T23:28:53+00:00

    John, I gave Tonya the fix for the Start Menu problem.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-09-07T23:39:21+00:00

    I found the fix to the Windows Start Menu not working. It's in this thread somewhere. I found after running a batch file that fixed the issue, that Cortana started working again but may be linked to the Start Menu issue. After I fixed the Start Menu and left Cortana on, the issue of Cortana and the Start Menu problem came back. I eventually disabled Cortana and I haven't had any problems since.

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