Start menu

The Microsoft Windows Start menu is the primary location in Windows to locate your installed programs and find any files or folders. By default, the Start menu is accessed by clicking Start in the bottom-left corner of the Windows desktop screen. The picture shows an example of the Windows 7 Start menu.

In Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, the Start menu was replaced by the Start Screen. The Start menu returned in Windows 10 and is discussed later on this page.

You can press the Windows key on the keyboard or Ctrl + Esc keyboard shortcut to open the Start menu.

If you’re more familiar with Apple computers, you can think of the Start menu as the Apple menu.

Where is the Start menu?

For versions of Microsoft Windows supporting the Start menu, it’s found by click Start and is shown in the bottom left portion of the screen by default. Its position can change if the Taskbar position is changed from the bottom of the screen.

Computer’s that are not running Microsoft Windows (e.g., Linux computers and Apple computers) do not have a Start menu. Also, there are no smartphones or tablets with a Windows Start menu.

What versions of Windows have the Start menu?

The Microsoft Windows Start menu was first introduced with Microsoft Windows 95, and since it’s release, all versions of Windows except Windows 8 have a Start menu. Before the release of Windows 95, earlier versions of Windows (e.g., Windows 3.11) also did not have a Start menu.

What is accessible in the Start menu?

Below is an overview of the Windows Start menu found in Microsoft Windows XP and Windows 7. If you have Windows 10 Skip down to the Windows 10 Start menu section.

Left pane

The left pane shows recently started programs or any pinned program shortcuts. In the above example, there is one pinned program separated by a line and then the recently ran programs.

All programs

At the bottom of the left pane is the All Programs option that displays all programs installed on the computer.

Search

Directly below the All Programs option is the «Search» bar. This useful feature allows you to type in the name of the program or file you’re looking for and have the results displayed above.

Right pane

The right pane shows each of the more commonly accessed sections of the computer, such as your Computer, Control Panel, Documents, Music, and Pictures.

You can find the version of Windows on your computer if you right-click Computer and select Properties. In the System window, you can view basic system properties, including the Windows version and access the Device Manager.

Shut down

At the bottom of the right pane is the Shut down button, which allows you to turn the computer off. You can also click the arrow next to the Shut down button to switch users, log off, restart, sleep, or hibernate the computer.

Windows 10 Start menu

The Windows 10 Start menu made some drastic changes to the Start menu available in previous versions of Windows, as is immediately apparent in the picture below. One of the most noticeable changes is the integration of tiles (from the Windows 8 start screen) into the Start menu. From this Start menu, you can access all your programs through the «All apps» option and in the left pane.

Should I capitalize «menu» in Windows Start menu?

In early versions of Microsoft Windows, such as Windows 95 and Windows 98, Menu was capitalized as shown in the following picture of the Windows 98 Start Menu. With all modern versions of Microsoft Windows such as Windows 7 and Windows 10, the «m» in menu should be written in lowercase. So, when referring to the Microsoft Windows Start menu today, it should be written as Start menu.

Manage Windows 10 Start and taskbar layout

Applies to

• WindowsВ 10, Windows Server 2016 with Desktop Experience, Windows Server 2019 with Desktop Experience

Organizations might want to deploy a customized Start and taskbar configuration to devices running WindowsВ 10 Pro, Enterprise, or Education. A standard, customized Start layout can be useful on devices that are common to multiple users and devices that are locked down for specialized purposes. Configuring the taskbar allows the organization to pin useful apps for their employees and to remove apps that are pinned by default.

Taskbar configuration is available starting in Windows 10, version 1607.

Start and taskbar configuration can be applied to devices running Windows 10 Pro, version 1703.

For information on using the layout modification XML to configure Start with roaming user profiles, see Deploy Roaming User Profiles.

Using CopyProfile for Start menu customization in Windows 10 isn’t supported. For more information Customize the Default User Profile by Using CopyProfile

Start options

Some areas of Start can be managed using Group Policy. The layout of Start tiles can be managed using either Group Policy or Mobile Device Management (MDM) policy.

The MDM policy settings in the table can also be configured in a provisioning package using Policies > Start. See the reference for Start settings in Windows Configuration Designer.

The following table lists the different parts of Start and any applicable policy settings or Settings options. Group Policy settings are in the User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Start Menu and Taskbar path except where a different path is listed in the table.

Start	Policy	Local setting
User tile	MDM: Start/HideUserTile Start/HideSwitchAccount Start/HideSignOut Start/HideLock Start/HideChangeAccountSettings Group Policy: Remove Logoff on the Start menu	none
Most used	MDM: Start/HideFrequentlyUsedApps Group Policy: Remove frequent programs from the Start menu	Settings > Personalization > Start > Show most used apps
Suggestions -and- Dynamically inserted app tile	MDM: Allow Windows Consumer Features Group Policy: Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Cloud Content\Turn off Microsoft consumer experiences Note: This policy also enables or disables notifications for a user’s Microsoft account and app tiles from Microsoft dynamically inserted in the default Start menu.	Settings > Personalization > Start > Occasionally show suggestions in Start
Recently added	MDM: Start/HideRecentlyAddedApps Group Policy: Computer configuration\Administrative Template\Start Menu and Taskbar\Remove «Recently Added» list from Start Menu (for Windows 10, version 1803)	Settings > Personalization > Start > Show recently added apps
Pinned folders	MDM: AllowPinnedFolder	Settings > Personalization > Start > Choose which folders appear on Start
Power	MDM: Start/HidePowerButton Start/HideHibernate Start/HideRestart Start/HideShutDown Start/HideSleep Group Policy: Remove and prevent access to the Shut Down, Restart, Sleep, and Hibernate commands	none
Start layout	MDM: Start layout ImportEdgeAssets Group Policy: Prevent users from customizing their Start screen Note: When a full Start screen layout is imported with Group Policy or MDM, the users cannot pin, unpin, or uninstall apps from the Start screen. Users can view and open all apps in the All Apps view, but they cannot pin any apps to the Start screen. When a partial Start screen layout is imported, users cannot change the tile groups applied by the partial layout, but can modify other tile groups and create their own. Start layout policy can be used to pin apps to the taskbar based on an XML File that you provide. Users will be able to change the order of pinned apps, unpin apps, and pin additional apps to the taskbar.	none
Jump lists	MDM: Start/HideRecentJumplists Group Policy: Do not keep history of recently opened documents	Settings > Personalization > Start > Show recently opened items in Jump Lists on Start or the taskbar
Start size	MDM: Force Start size Group Policy: Force Start to be either full screen size or menu size	Settings > Personalization > Start > Use Start full screen
App list	MDM: Start/HideAppList	Settings > Personalization > Start > Show app list in Start menu
All Settings	Group Policy: Prevent changes to Taskbar and Start Menu Settings	none
Taskbar	MDM: Start/NoPinningToTaskbar	none

In local Settings > Personalization > Start, there is an option to Show more tiles. The default tile layout for Start tiles is 3 columns of medium sized tiles. Show more tiles enables 4 columns. To configure the 4-column layout when you customize and export a Start layout, turn on the Show more tiles setting and then arrange your tiles.

Taskbar options

Starting in Windows 10, version 1607, you can pin additional apps to the taskbar and remove default pinned apps from the taskbar. You can specify different taskbar configurations based on device locale or region.

There are three categories of apps that might be pinned to a taskbar:

Apps pinned by the user

Default Windows apps, pinned during operating system installation (Microsoft Edge, File Explorer, Store)

Apps pinned by the enterprise, such as in an unattended Windows setup

We recommend using the layoutmodification.xml method to configure taskbar options, rather than the earlier method of using TaskbarLinks in an unattended Windows setup file.

The following example shows how apps will be pinned — Windows default apps to the left (blue circle), apps pinned by the user in the center (orange triangle), and apps that you pin using XML to the right (green square).

In operating systems configured to use a right-to-left language, the taskbar order will be reversed.

Whether you apply the taskbar configuration to a clean install or an update, users will still be able to:

• Pin additional apps
• Change the order of pinned apps
• Unpin any app

In Windows 10, version 1703, you can apply an MDM policy, Start/NoPinningToTaskbar , to prevents users from pinning and unpinning apps on the taskbar.

Taskbar configuration applied to clean install of Windows 10

In a clean install, if you apply a taskbar layout, only the apps that you specify and default apps that you do not remove will be pinned to the taskbar. Users can pin additional apps to the taskbar after the layout is applied.

Taskbar configuration applied to Windows 10 upgrades

When a device is upgraded to Windows 10, apps will be pinned to the taskbar already. Some apps may have been pinned to the taskbar by a user, and others may have been pinned to the taskbar through a customized base image or by using Windows Unattend setup.

The new taskbar layout for upgrades to Windows 10, version 1607 or later, will apply the following behavior:

• If the user pinned the app to the taskbar, those pinned apps remain and new apps will be added to the right.
• If the user didn’t pin the app (it was pinned during installation or by policy) and the app is not in updated layout file, the app will be unpinned.
• If the user didn’t pin the app and the app is in the updated layout file, the app will be pinned to the right.
• New apps specified in updated layout file are pinned to right of user’s pinned apps.

Start layout configuration errors

If your Start layout customization is not applied as expected, open Event Viewer and navigate to Applications and Services Log > Microsoft > Windows > ShellCommon-StartLayoutPopulation > Operational, and check for one of the following events:

• Event 22 is logged when the xml is malformed, meaning the specified file simply isn’t valid xml. This can occur if the file has extra spaces or unexpected characters, or if the file is not saved in the UTF8 format.
• Event 64 is logged when the xml is valid, but has unexpected values. This can happen when the desired configuration is not understood, elements are not in the required order, or source is not found, such as a missing or misspelled .lnk.

Windows 10 Start Menu Not Working (Solved)

Kris Koishigawa

Windows 10 has come a long way since it was first launched in 2015. Each update brings a lot of new features, and Microsoft has embraced the open source community in a way that was once thought impossible.

Still, like with any operating system, there are bugs. And one of the more common bugs people running Windows 10 have faced is that the Start Menu suddenly stops working.

Sometimes the open Start Menu freezes up and is unresponsive, and other times it won’t open at all when you click the Start Menu button.

Whatever specific issue you’re having with the Windows 10 Start Menu, we’ll go over some quick and not so quick fixes in this article.

How to restart Windows Explorer

Windows Explorer, which is now called File Explorer, is the application you use to browse your file system and open programs and files. But it also controls things like the Start Menu, the taskbar, and other applications.

If you have an issue with the Start Menu, the first thing you can try to do is restart the “Windows Explorer” process in the Task Manager.

To open the Task Manager, press Ctrl + Alt + Delete, then click the “Task Manager” button.

Click “More details” to see a full list of open programs and background processes you’re running:

Scroll through the list until you find the “Windows Explorer” process. Then right click on “Windows Explorer” and select “Restart”:

There will be a brief flash while Windows restarts Windows Explorer/Finder, along with the taskbar and Start Menu.

After that, try to open the Start Menu. If it’s still not working normally, try one of the other fixes below.

How to repair corrupt or missing Windows system files

Sometimes an update goes awry, or you accidentally deleted an important file while digging around the filesystem.

If the Start Menu is still giving you trouble, or other core Windows apps are crashing, then you can try to restore any missing or corrupt Windows system files.

To do this, you’ll need to open the Windows Command Prompt as an administrator and run the System File Checker program.

Once you open Command Prompt as an administrator, run the command sfc /scannow :

System File Checker will start going through all your system files and replace any corrupt or missing files with a cached copy.

This process can take a little while, so feel free to do something else for 5-10 minutes. Just be careful not to close the window while sfc is doing its thing.

Once System File Checker is finished, you’ll either see a report of all the files it replaced, or if everything was fine, you’ll see a message like this:

If System File Checker replaced any corrupt or missing system files, save all of your open work and restart your computer. Once you log back in, try to open the Start Menu to see if that fixed your issues.

Note: You could also use Powershell to run the sfc /scannow command, but remember that you’ll need to open an elevated Powershell terminal.

How to reset the Start Menu with default Windows 10 apps

The next thing you can try is to reset the Start Menu entirely, along will all the Windows 10 apps that were preinstalled or installed from the Microsoft Store.

To do this, you’ll need to open PowerShell as an administrator – Command Prompt won’t work for the command you’ll run.

There are many ways to open PowerShell, but one of the fastest ways is to use the Run program.

Use the shortcut Windows Key + R to open the Run program, enter «powershell», then click the «OK» button:

This should open up a PowerShell terminal with administrative privileges.

In the PowerShell terminal, run the following command:

The Get-AppXPackage command will attempt to reinstall all the default Windows apps, including the Start Menu and search bar.

It will also register a manifest file for each program it reinstalls. You don’t need to worry about the manifest files, though – it’s just something Windows needs to run each program.

Give it 5-10 minutes, and make sure you don’t close the PowerShell window until it’s finished.

Note: You may see some scary looking errors pop up as the Get-AppXPackage command is running. Don’t worry about them – most are just warnings about why a program can’t be reinstalled:

When the Get-AppXPackage command is finished, restart your computer, log in, and try to open the Start Menu.

How to reset your Windows 10 installation

If none of the above methods fixed the Start Menu, the last thing you can try is to do a factory reset of your Windows 10 installation. But keep in mind that this is an «almost-scorched-earth» method, and should only be used as a last resort.

Resetting your Windows 10 installation should keep all of your personal files intact (documents, pictures, videos, and so on), but will uninstall all the other drivers and programs you’ve installed. Basically this resets your computer to the state it was in when you first turned it on.

Before going any further, make backups of all your important files using a flash drive, external HDD/SSD, and/or an online file host like Google Drive or Dropbox.

In fact, make two backups. You probably won’t need them, but it doesn’t hurt.

When you’ve finished backing up all your files, open a PowerShell terminal – use the shortcut Windows Key + R, enter «powershell», then click the «OK» button.

In the PowerShell terminal, run the command systemreset to bring up the Windows reset wizard.

Next, click the «Keep my files» button:

Wait a moment while the wizard analyzes your system. Then, you’ll see a list of all the programs that’ll be removed:

Click the «Next» button, and follow the instructions to reset your Windows 10 installation.

Once you’re finished resetting Windows and creating a new user, the Start Menu should be working again.

«Cortana, open the Start Menu»

So those are all the ways to fix the Windows 10 Start Menu, listed from easiest to hardest.

Did any of these methods work for you? Is there another way to open the Start Menu that I missed? Let me know about it on Twitter.

Kris Koishigawa

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