Windows 10 Taskbar unusable no apps load or symbols can't access start. How to repair.

Question

Windows 10 Taskbar unusable no apps load or symbols can't access start. How to repair.

Jason Zapantis 0

Hello! Need assistance my task bar is unusable and has the blue loading ring. No apps appear, no icons or start menu when I click or hit windows. Can only access cmd prompt through task manager.

Tried SFC and Dism and powershell exercise through cmd prompt and nothing has worked. I dont want to lose my files and its a spate of Windows products that have failed me lately my 2 PC's and the authentication app. It's been a nightmare.

What can I do. I managed to get it to start up on safe mode after a start up repair. But the powershell exercise dosent work in safe mode. Its been a very frustrating week thanks to all the collateral drama caused by my pcs going down.

Any help would great!

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4 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

I can only imagine that a recent windows update installed on your computer may have caused the issue. Always back up and create restore points before installing new updates. You will still be able to access your third-party applications with the new account unless they are installed per profile.

You can try the method below to see if this fixes the issue with your main account.

Login to the new user account

Open File explorer then Under View > Show hidden items

Navigate to this folder

C:\Users\username of the main account>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\Settings

Delete all files inside

Once deleted, restart your computer then login to your main account.

If this does not work, please do the same in the following path below

C:\Users\username of the main account>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\Settings

Answer 2

John DeV 170.2K Independent Advisor

Press Windows key+R to open Run then type: control

Press Enter

Under Programs, click Uninstall a program

Find AVG in the list ten click Uninstall.

If you are having trouble doing this. Please try uninstalling it while in safe mode.

Once done, proceed with the In-place upgrade.

If most methods fail, you may need to consider backing up your important data and proceed doing a Reset this PC with Keep my files option.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/reset-your-pc-0ef73740-b927-549b-b7c9-e6f2b48d275e

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Answer 3

John DeV 170.2K Independent Advisor

Please try performing a Clean Boot of Windows

Determine whether a background program or a software conflict is causing the issue.

Press Windows key+R to open Run then type: msconfig

Press Enter

Select System Configuration > go to the Services tab.

(Important) Select and make sure to put a check mark on "Hide all Microsoft services"

Click Disable all.

Go to Startup tab > Open Task Manager > Disable all the unnecessary services running there. Restart your computer.

Please check the support article at the link below for more details.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows-da2f9573-6eec-00ad-2f8a-a97a1807f3dd#ID0EBBD=Windows_11&id0ebbd=windows_11

If the issue persists, please try performing an In-place Upgrade. Performing this can repair broken operating system files while your personal files, settings and installed applications will not be removed.

Few things to check on the PC

Unplug all external peripherals except for the Mouse, Keyboard, and LAN cable before starting
Disable or uninstall any third-party Antivirus program to prevent it from interfering with the upgrade

Download the media creation tool (Click Download tool now) and save it to your computer.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Open the tool and select Upgrade this PC now.

Make sure to select Keep personal files and apps.

It might take some time to install Windows 10. Your computer will restart a few times, make sure you don’t turn off your PC

Kind regards,

John DeV

Independent Advisor

Jason Zapantis 0 Reputation points

2025-07-23T07:01:51.6733333+00:00

First part failed to do anything do i need to change anything back before I attempt the 2nd part. How do I open my antivirus of cant click on it via desktop or anything. It's AVG.

Also to add insult to injury upon restarting my landscape display is now in portrait on its side. :( can't even rotate the screen using my key board
Jason Zapantis 0 Reputation points

2025-07-24T08:27:28.4266667+00:00

Thanks for further information. I must make note as I was still playing with the system as I wanted to recover some save game data and my product key for my MS office suite. The settings section is gone... couldn't open it through cmd etc... or reinstalling in the same manner and that failed. I did the in place upgrade. That failed too. I read in some posts/vids that creating a new profile may fix it.

Umm well it seems so far its back up and running after doing that. My only question is for how long? Is there anything I can do? Can I migrate items over? what's no longer present in a new profile? Game saves from steam etc...

Would you have any idea what has gone wrong and how I can safe guard it from happening again? Any tips

I find it weird that system restore and inplace upgrades failed to rectify it. Is there no default programming that can be copied over to repair corrupted system components. A simple new profile fixes what system restore or in place upgrade cant... sorry I'm no IT expert but its weird that its like this.

Thanks again for you assistance and I was about to write everything off!

Answer 4

John DeV 170.2K Independent Advisor

Hi, good day! I'm John Dev a Windows user like you and I'll be happy to assist you today. I know this has been difficult for you, rest assured, I'm going to do my best to help you.

When was the last time it worked properly? Have you made any changes to your computer recently?

Please let me know if you have tried the methods below.

Restart Windows Explorer

Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.

Select the Processes tab.

Scroll down and look for Windows Explorer

Right click then select Restart.

Repair all Windows apps via PowerShell

Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager then click File

Select "Run new task" then type: powershell

Make sure to put a check mark on the "Create this task with administrative privileges" box

Copy and paste the command below one at a time then press Enter. Please ignore the red errors and let the process complete.

Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost | foreach {Add-AppxPackage -register "$($_. InstallLocation)\appxmanifest.xml" -DisableDevelopmentMode}

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

Restart your computer

I look forward to receiving your update and I'm willing to collaborate with you till we resolve the issue. Do keep me informed.

Kind regards,

John DeV

Independent Advisor

Jason Zapantis 0 Reputation points

2025-07-23T05:25:26.6733333+00:00

Hello John! I followed your response to a similar post and followed your steps as you've written here last night. It did not work unfortunately I'll try it one more time.It started a couple of days ago. But all I remember recently doing was turning off some annoying apps on start up. However I turned them back on nothing's changed.

I did a system restore to a few weeks back didn't fix it either. The only luck I had was doing a start-up repair into safe mode. (Didnt work in safe mode till i did this) which made my programs and functionalities come back. But that was before I ran through the powershell process. (Which couldn't be run in safe mode). So i booted back into normal mode and the problem came back. I ran through the powershell prompts. But unfortunately that didn't change anything either.

I'm just wondering if i boot back into safe mode using the same process can I get a ms tech to get into my machine cause even that didn't work when I was on the phone with them (ctrl win Q). They basically want me to wipe my machine. Surely there has to be another way?