Fix problems with the Start menu

If you can’t see Start on your taskbar, the taskbar may be hidden.

Show a hidden taskbar

Press the Windows logo key + I, then select Personalization > Taskbar .

Turn on Lock the taskbar.

Turn off Automatically hide the taskbar in desktop mode or Automatically hide the taskbar in tablet mode.

If that doesn’t resolve the issue you’re experiencing, select any of the following headings to see steps you can try to get it working again.

Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager. You may need to select More details at the bottom of the window to see everything.

Select the Processes tab.

Scroll down to Windows Explorer, select it, then select Restart.

The process may take a few seconds, and your taskbar and Start menu may not be visible while Windows Explorer restarts. You can close Task Manager when the process is complete.

Press the Windows logo key + I.

In Settings, choose Update & security > Windows Update , and then select Check for updates. Install any available updates and restart your computer if required.

Note: Need another way to get to Settings? Press the Windows logo key + R, then type ms-settings: (note the colon) in the Open box. Select OK to open Settings.

If you didn’t have any updates that required a restart, it’s still a good idea to restart your device to make sure any pending updates are installed.

To restart your device when you can’t access Start , press Ctrl + Alt + Delete, select Power and then select Restart .

Note: You can also manually shut down your device by pressing and holding the power button. Shutting down this way risks losing unsaved data, so first be sure to save and close everything you’re working on. If you shut down this way, you can restart your device by pressing the power button again.

While it’s likely you have the most recent drivers, if you’re still having trouble with the Start menu, you can try fixing it by manually updating your graphics or audio drivers. For more info, see Update drivers in Windows 10.

If you still can’t fix your problem with the Start menu, try creating a new local administrator account.

If you’re signed in with your Microsoft account, remove the link to that account first by doing the following (if that’s not how you’re signed in, skip to creating a new administrator account):

Press the Windows logo key + I.

In Settings, select Accounts > Your info (in some versions, it may be under Email & accounts instead).

Select Sign in with a local account instead. You’ll see this link only if you’re using a Microsoft account, and you may not see it if your device is on a network.

Type your Microsoft account password and select Next.

Choose a new account name, password, and password hint, and then select Finish and sign out.

Create the new administrator account:

Press the Windows logo key + I.

In Settings, select Accounts > Family & other people (or Other users , if you’re using Windows 10 Enterprise).

Under Other users , select Add someone else to this PC.

On Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Professional, provide a name for the user and a password, and then select Next. On Windows 10 Enterprise, select I don’t have this person’s sign-in information, and then select Add a user without a Microsoft account.

Set a user name, password, and password hint. Then select Next > Finish.

Next, make the new account an administrator account:

Under Family & other people (or Other users , if you’re using Windows 10 Enterprise), choose the account you created, and then select Change account type.

Under Account type, select Administrator > OK.

Sign out of your account and then sign in to your new account. If everything is fixed, move your personal data and files to the new account.

To move your personal files from your old account to your new account, try opening File Explorer, expanding This PC > OSDisk (C:), and looking in the Users folder, where you should see folders for both accounts. You can then copy and paste your files from the old account folder to similar locations in the new account folder. Or if you prefer, you can upload your files from your old account to OneDrive, and then sign into the new account and download the files from OneDrive.

If the problem still isn’t fixed, try deleting the old administrator account:

Under Other users, select the old administrator account, then select Remove > Delete account and data.

After the old account is removed, restart your device and sign in with the new account again.

If you were using a Microsoft account to sign in before, associate the Microsoft account with the new administrator account.

In Settings , select Accounts > Your info (in some versions, it may be under Email & accounts instead).

Select Sign in with a Microsoft account instead and enter your account info. You’ll see this link only if you’re using a local account, and you may not see it if your device is on a network.

Note: Need another way to get to Settings? Press Windows logo key + R, then type ms-settings: (note the colon) in the Open box. Select OK to open Settings.

If none of the previous options work, try resetting your PC using Recovery options in Windows 10.

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.