SOLVED Windows 10 start menu disabled

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Just a few days ago I noticed a couple of icons missing from my task bar at the bottom. Then the start bar wont work, the cortana search box won't work and right-click display settings and personalize report that no program is associated with the action...MIcrosoft Edge is no longer on the computer.

Does anyone have a fix for this???
 

Trouble

Noob Whisperer
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Hello and welcome to the forum.
Sounds like your current user profile took a serious hit.
As a test you might try adding another user account as a member of the local administrators group and see if the problem persists using that account.
Using File Explorer Go to
C:\Windows\System32
Find
Cmd.exe (if you're hiding extensions of known types it might just say "cmd")
Right click it and choose run as administrator
At the admin command prompt type
net user JohnSmith /add
hit enter
then type
net localgroup administrators JohnSmith /add
hit enter
type
exit
hit enter
Restart and log in as JohnSmith

NOTE: Obviously you don't have to use "JohnSmith" it can be Tom, Dick or Harry, since it is a test account which you probably won't keep it really doesn't make any difference which name you use.
 
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OK...thank you very much,that worked!!! Now I have a user profile that needs to be rebuilt...passwords and all! Or is there a file(s) that can "replenish" all the personal info into a new profile?
 

Trouble

Noob Whisperer
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Or is there a file(s) that can "replenish" all the personal info into a new profile?
I wish.
Rebuilding a user profile (from old user to new user) remains pretty much the same as it has been in previous Windows iterations.
The one caveat being you need a third user (admin) to make it work correctly. Most people just temporarily enable the hidden administrator account.
Elevated command prompt
net user administrator /active:yes
When you're done
net user administrator /active:no
Use that administrator account to copy the contents of your old profile folders over to their respective location in your new profile folder.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14039/windows-7-fix-corrupted-user-profile
After you create the profile, you can copy the files from the existing profile. You must have at least three user accounts on the computer to complete these steps, including the new account you just created.
 

Trouble

Noob Whisperer
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Just make sure to leave any system files that begin with NT alone as one of those are the likely location of the corruption.
  1. Select all of the files and folders in this folder, except the following files:
  2. Ntuser.dat
  3. Ntuser.dat.log
  4. Ntuser.ini
Not necessarily exactly the same names that you might find in Win 10 versus Win 7, but you get the idea.
 
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I wish.
Rebuilding a user profile (from old user to new user) remains pretty much the same as it has been in previous Windows iterations.
The one caveat being you need a third user (admin) to make it work correctly. Most people just temporarily enable the hidden administrator account.
Elevated command prompt
net user administrator /active:yes
When you're done
net user administrator /active:no
Use that administrator account to copy the contents of your old profile folders over to their respective location in your new profile folder.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14039/windows-7-fix-corrupted-user-profile
Hello Trouble Noob Whisperer. I have had a very similar problem since yesterday. See my post: Update removed programs Mar 18, 2017. This seems like a very complicated solution! Why did this happen? I didn't so anything to cause it and it seemed to happen a day after the most recent Windows update. Is that what caused it?
 
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I'm not sure this is exactly my issue. After a update yesterday or the day before cortana popped up and wanted me to set her up, I tried to cancel it but she apparently butted into my life anyway. now my computer sometimes runs very slowly and takes a long time to respond to commands, I have checked task manager and it doesn't look like anything is memory hogging or pegging the cpu (I've got a amd 9370 something like 3.4 ghz would be tough for anything to peg it out I think). I tried the trick above and it said access denied. Could this be some sort of virus? My windows button no longer works AT ALL I can right click on it and get some stuff but the list of programs no longer pops up and one of my games that runs full screen windowed is acting weird the task bar does not go away as it usually does and a few things aren't working right in the game. I've rebooted a few times no change, I took it all the way down to cold, no change. I do not currently suspect hardware issues but I have unplugged the usb hub and put it in a different plug as that "should" force driver reloads for the things on the hub anyway. What next? a Verify perhaps? Sometimes I just want to buy a mac and toss this thing out the window.
 

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