Windows Start Menu items are gone

Question

Windows Start Menu items are gone

Qwerty Vítězslav Ackermann Ferko 0

Hi, my Start Menu is empty (default) all of a sudden, what is going on and how can I recover it? I had "everything" in it, now I am totally lost.

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I had a Weather, News, Mail, Photos widgets there too.

The only thing that happened recently is that I was cleaning my laptop DELL XPS 13 9310 2v1 and after re-assembling it, I had to set up date in BIOS and then I had troubles recognizing the battery, but that went away on its own. https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/xps/xps-13-9310-2v1-battery-not-detected-while-laptop-remains-working/695c3347de43d316955eaa70

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Answer 1

Anonymous

It sounds like the Start Menu layout got reset, which usually happens when Windows rebuilds its configuration after a system change or profile glitch.

Since you mentioned adjusting BIOS and battery issues, that likely triggered Windows to reload a default layout, removing your pinned apps and widgets.

The quickest way to fix this is to restart Windows Explorer through Task Manager, then re-pin your apps manually.

If the tiles for built-in apps like Weather or News are missing, you can restore them by opening PowerShell as admin and running a command to re-register all default apps.

Also, check if your Windows version recently updated, because updates can sometimes reset Start Menu settings.

Do you remember if any updates were installed after you fixed the BIOS date?

Or did you notice any error messages when the Start Menu changed?

Regards,
Aron

Qwerty Vítězslav Ackermann Ferko 0 Reputation points

2026-01-10T21:52:37.6566667+00:00

Thank you for the response. I did not notice any updates installed after the restart.

And what you say leaves me dizzy. I don't even remember what I had there, but it certainly messes with my muscle memory.

I can't possibly restore all the pinned apps and widgets one by one.

I might as well install Linux, lol. I spent a decade personalizing and optimizing my Start menu.

god damn! 😪😪

Why would Windows even do it in any case? Under what circumstances is this considered acceptable and a good user experience? What the heck