Windows 10 corrupted/blank start menu - random issue

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Raiden85

Raiden85

Raiden85

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I have had this issue since I upgraded from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 during the insider previews and even on the final RTM. I recently formatted my drive and installed Windows 10 from scratch but this issue still persists. This kind of issue was never a problem with Windows 8/8.1. All drivers, software and Windows update are up to date.

It's a very random issue, sometimes it may do it after gaming, other times it may to do it if I leave the PC idle (no power saving options enabled) and just turn the screen off. Days of perfect 24/7 use may go by before this issue happens again.

The default start menu becomes blank or mostly empty, sometimes if I right click on the tabs on the taskbar, text and even icons may be missing.

If I reboot it will fix it, or if run this command in PowerShell (admin mode) it fixes this issue immediately without any reboots or logging out. Sfc /scannow reports no issues at all and everything else runs flawlessly.

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

Here are two screenshots, before I run the command and after.

Capture_zpsb5lqs0gf.png


Capture%202_zps4jpnyolg.png


If I run a custom start menu like startisback, this will remain perfectly fine while the default one becomes corrupted.

Does anyone else have this issue?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I have it randomly re-arrange my tiles from time to time but not seen it do that.

Is it also losing the most used entries on the left when it does it?
 
Obviously i think that something is just not compatible at the moment in your hardware / mobo. You have tried drivers. Not sure what else you could try. Seems like a Graphic card issue but not sure. Are you able to borrow or try a different card?
 
Rroff said:
I have it randomly re-arrange my tiles from time to time but not seen it do that.

Is it also losing the most used entries on the left when it does it?
Click to expand...

Once I reboot or run that command, my start menu returns to exactly as it was before the issue occurred, no loss of anything.

If I do hover the mouse over the blank parts, they do appear mostly then disappear once the mouse is gone.

koolpc said:
Obviously i think that something is just not compatible at the moment in your hardware / mobo. You have tried drivers. Not sure what else you could try. Seems like a Graphic card issue but not sure. Are you able to borrow or try a different card?
Click to expand...

The cards are fine, even individually (2x 980 Ti's) it even does it with the onboard Intel HD 4000 GPU.

It's definitely a software issue causing this but I would have to guess it's either Microsoft's issue, Nvidias or something I just thought of, a buggy app from the store that's causing it as I have had these apps since Windows 8. Will have to try uninstalling all store apps and see if that fixes it.

I have no issue with the rest of the desktop, folders or anything else. I can even run games, software or videos for many hours with the broken start menu with out any issues at all. Would love to know what causes this as it's doesn't cause any issues, it's just annoying.
 
You may have to do a complete format in the end and re install Windows just to see if that works, failing whatever else you try!
 
I get this as well no idea whats doing this.
It seems to happen at random for me.

It not hardware its a software problem like windows not loading the icons back or something other wise windows run fine also myn is a clean install from scratch
 
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Seen this on a couple of installs now, along with non responsive systems when it decided defender needs to scan and very slow response from attempting to open file explorer. Sure the issues will get fixed sooner or later, bit annoying in the meantime though.
 
I've had this happen but only after I've been manually moving icons around in the Start Menu folder under c:\ProgramData. A reboot seemed to fix it for me too.
 
I've now had this happen a couple more times on two separate installs of Win 10, even when not monkeying with the layout. As before, reboot solves it but it is annoying.
 
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