Windows Start button not working

Anonymous
2010-11-11T12:49:00+00:00

The Windows start button is not working. When I press it nothing happens. SO I cannot shut down the computer in the normal manner or access any programs other than ones with desktop icons.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Accessibility

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Anonymous
2015-02-14T05:42:28+00:00

Hi,

I faced a similar issue! The following worked for me

  1. Right click on the Start Button and select "Run"
  2. Type "regedit"
  3. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER>Software>Microsoft>Windows>CurrentVersion>Explorer>Advance
  4. Create a new DWORD (32-bit) value, call it "EnableXamlStartMenu"
  5. Restart Explorer​ from task manager.

Hope this helps!

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Anonymous
2010-11-11T15:34:40+00:00

Hi nickthomp.

Does start menu open if you press the windows key on the keyboard?.

Can you right click the start menu orb and choose properties, if so

In the Customize Start Menu dialog box, click Use Default Settings, clickOK, and then clickOK again.

Also try.

1 .   Press Ctrl + Alt+ delete on the keyboard and click on task manager.

2 .   Click on the Process tab and locate explorer.exe in the windows and click on end task.

3 .   Click on File and then click on New.

4.   Type explorer.exe and press enter.

Hope his helps.

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-06-22T09:11:59+00:00

    I deleted explore.exe and now when I click file there is no command such as new. Help!!!

    If you right-click the Taskbar, you should be able to choose Start Task Manager.

    1. On the Processes tab of the Task Manager, you select explorer.exe from the Image Name column and click the End Process button in the lower right. Follow through with any confirmations that are asked.
    2. Go to the Applications tab and click New Task. Supply explorer.exe in the Open: text box and click OK.

    Your task bar should be available complete with Start button.

    thanks... I did exactly what you stated and other suggestions such as check disk, scan for malware, boot up in safe mode, login as other user. Nothing works.. :(

    I had the exact same problem - I tried all options above and a few more suggestions from other sites. None worked for me. I had my Windows 8.1 disc ready to reinstall when I thought I'd try one more thing which worked as below.

    Go to settings (without the start menu working, the easiest way was to click on my WiFi icon and click on Network settings, then click on the back button to get to the main settings screen)

    Click in Personalization and select Start in the left column

    Change "Store and display recently opened programs in Start" to On

    Your start menu should work again :)

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-06-22T14:28:44+00:00

    What if it says, "Restart?" I clicked it & everything went dark for a while. I went to Task Manager again, but no luck. Still says the same word. Not "End Task."

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-06-29T04:54:27+00:00

    Hi Felix,

    Thank you for the update on the issue. I appreciate your efforts in resolving the issue. There might be corruptions in the Windows files or services. Try the following methods to diagnose this further and fix it.

    Method 1: Run the System File Checker tool (SFC.exe)

    System File Checker is a utility in Windows that allows users to scan for corruptions in Windows system files and restore corrupted files. It will scan your system files and to repair missing or corrupted system files in Windows. To run the SFC scan, refer to the Microsoft article below.

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929833

    Method 2: Add a new user account

    Try to add a new local administrator user account to test if everything is working fine on the new account. By this we can diagnose if this is an issue with the corruptions in user profile.

    To add a new user, refer:

    Create a user account

    Hope the information helps. Let us know if you need further assistance with Windows related issues, we’ll be glad to assist you.

    Thank you

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