My Windows 11 Start Button is no longer working.

you cant open system, if the start button wont work then settings cant be opened either with this issue

Hi

I faced the same problem a few days ago. I have two accounts that work fine on my laptop, but when I created a third account I had a problem with Start button. I had tried different solutions but nothing helped. In the end, I found a recommendation in Community to remove/rename C:\Users{Problem account}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows folder using a different account, so the system can re-create it properly. I tried it, Start menu problem is gone, but I had an error with opening files like jpg.

My solution was to delete C:\Users{Problem account}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell folder using a different account. Now everything works fine.

bro you are a life saver had same issue with just 1 account, tried everything but only this solution worked thanks

Hi,

I used System File Checker (SFC) to check and repair my installation. It said it didn't find any errors but my activation disappeared right after doing the check. I ended up having to download the most recent Windows 11 release, installing it, and activating it with my original key. That fixed all my issues. I think I had previously said I just rolled it back but that failed the next day when Windows Update decided I needed an update, etc. It sure seems like this issue comes about for a variety of reasons and there's not just 1 thing to fix it.

Found a possible solution!!!

To anyone having this issue, I pressed the windows key + s key, and it opened up windows search as expected, but what wasn't expected was once I opened up the search the windows button now works again! I can access the start menu again!!

This worked for me.

I had the same issue. I tried a bunch of things, not sure what made it work, but here's what I did:

I looked through the replies to this post, tried not all but most of the solutions, none worked.

Earlier today and a bit before I started intensely spam trying things, I got the pop up attached below (not 100% if it's the same one the first time because I did not snip, but this was the second time it showed up) My instincts told me that this is related to the windows start menu problems and how changing desktops with four fingers also leads to crashes. I kinda asked chatgpt at this point, which for me was a bit too much information.

I followed some of its steps but they did not work, until when I checked Event Viewer (windows + x -> Event Viewer) and saw that there were many errors and they all had to do with start menu and application crashing things.

I did the following steps, which eventually resulted in the fixing of the problem:

1. Restart Windows Explorer

Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager

Find Windows Explorer in the Processes tab

Right-click and select Restart

1. Repair Windows UI Components

Open Command Prompt as Administrator

Run:

(DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth)

Restart

1. Reinstall Start Menu Components

Open PowerShell as Administrator

Run:

(Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost | Reset-AppxPackage)

Restart

I didn't need to go on after that, the problem was fixed after that restart.

Oh yea btw another tip, don't hesitate to ask chatgpt. Chatgpt doesn't always provide valuable feedbacks/solutions, but since it has such an abundant source of information and knows definitely more than all of us, we could always try to see what it cooks up. And I guess, in my case that was an excellent move! Thx chatgpt ~

I hope this helps :D