If the Windows start menu disappears or won't open when you press the Windows key, fix some system components on your Windows 11 or Windows 10 PC to make the menu work again. Here's how to do it.
As a basic fix, restart your Windows 11 or Windows 10 PC and see if that fixes the problem. If not, use the following troubleshooting methods.
Make the taskbar visible
The Windows start menu is located on the taskbar, if the menu disappears, make sure the taskbar is not hidden. Here's how to check.
On Windows 11, navigate to Settings > Personalization > taskbar. Select Taskbar Behaviors and turn off Auto-hide taskbar.
On Windows 10, go to Settings > Personalize > taskbar. Turn on Lock Taskbar, and turn off Automatically hide taskbar in desktop mode and Autohide taskbar in tablet mode.
Restart Windows Explorer
Restarting Windows Explorer will fix many of the issues related to the taskbar, File Explorer, and Start menu. To perform a reboot, right-click on the Windows taskbar and select "Task Manager". If the taskbar doesn't work, press Windows+R to open the run dialog box, type "taskmgr", and press enter.
In Task Manager, access the Processes tab. Find and right-click on "Windows Explorer" and select "Restart".
Wait for a few seconds and Windows restarts Windows Explorer.
Note: If Windows Explorer fails to restart automatically for some reason, press Windows+R to open another run box, then type "Explorer.exe" in the box and press enter.
Update Windows to fix start menu issues
The start menu issue can be due to a bug in the Windows operating system itself. In this case, a Windows update may fix the issue.
If you're using Windows 11, navigate to Settings > Windows Update. On Windows 10, go to Settings > Update & Security >Windows Update.
In the right pane, click Check for updates, and then download and install the available updates.
Re-register all Windows applications
Microsoft Store apps can appear in the Start menu. If one or more of these apps are not functioning properly and are not properly registered in Windows, the Start Menu can stop working. Fix this issue by re-registering all Store apps on your PC.
To do this, press Windows+R to open the Run dialog box, then type PowerShell in the box and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter (this will launch PowerShell with administrator privileges).
In the User Account Control prompt, select Yes.
Type the following command in a PowerShell window and press Enter:
Get-AppXPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"} PowerShell is re-registering the Store app, wait a moment, and then restart your PC.
Repair Windows corrupted system files
When the system files of Windows get corrupted, many system components, including the start menu, stop working. One way to check and repair these corrupted core files is to use the System File Checker (SFC).
SFC is a built-in Windows tool that allows you to find and replace all faulty system files on your computer. It performs its own tasks and requires little to no interaction on your end.
To use it, turn on Run with Windows+R. Type CMD in the open box and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to open a command prompt with administrator privileges.
In the User Account Control prompt, select Yes.
Type the following command and press Enter. DISM command downloads the files needed to repair any corrupted files on your PC.
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth Next, type the following command and press enter to start repairing the bad files of your system.
sfc /scannow Restart your computer when the scan is complete.
Reset your PC
If a system configuration issue causes the Start menu to malfunction, you can reset Windows to fix the issue. The reset returns all system settings to their default values.
You can choose to keep the file while removing the custom settings option.
First, on Windows 11, go to Settings > System > Recovery. Next to Reset this PC, click Reset PC.
On Windows 10, navigate to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery. In the Reset this PC section, click Start.
Select "Keep my files" and follow the on-screen instructions. After resetting the system, the start menu should work.