How do I fix two problems the start menu troubleshooter found?

[desbest]

I ran the start menu troubleshooter and it said there was some errors that couldn't be fixed. How can this be fixed?

I tried using the following commands in powershell and it didn't help.

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

Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.Cortana | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

But I do have permission to access and modify that specific registry key

 

[britechguy]

Using DISM (Deployment Imaging Servicing and Management) and SFC (System File Checker) to Repair Windows 8 & 10

I'd also look in Control Panel, Programs & Features, and see if anything's listed as being present that you know you've removed. Occasionally an uninstall does not *quite* finish correctly.

 

[desbest]

I tried using dism and sfc and it doesn't help to solve the problem, not even to partially solve it.
I've also tried your second suggestion and there's none of that present.

I've gone a step further to use Minitoolbox to look for such programs or anything that appears to be installed twice at the same time to then uninstall them. That didn’t work either.

 

[zbook]

If available post images of any error messages or codes.

Check the availability of system restore points and attempt a system restore with the oldest system restore point.

If system restore fails or if there are no restore points then perform an in place upgrade repair.

If an in place upgrade repair fails then these are options for a finite troubleshooting time period: (drivers and applications need to be reinstalled)


a) Windows refresh
b) Reset save files
c) Custom install
d) Clean install


Recovery options in Windows

 

[FreeBooter]

If the Start menu troubleshooter fails to fix the database, you will have to manually copy a new database from a new user, or copy it from a different Windows 10 machine.

On your system, create a brand new user, and log into it. Go to the following location.

C:\Users\newUserAccount\AppData\Local\TileDataLayer


Copy the Database folder, and paste it somewhere it’s easy for you to access. Next, return to your user account (the one with the corrupt tile database). Navigate to the following location.

C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\TileDataLayer

There will be another Database folder here. Rename it something else Database.old and then paste the Database folder you copied from the other user account to the above location. Your Start menu will be reset to default however, it will also start working again.


If the new user account’s database folder doesn’t work, try getting this very same folder from a different Windows 10 system that has a fully functioning Start Menu.

 

[desbest]

The TileDataLayer folder doesn't exist on either my current windows user or the new user I created months ago last August.
Can you give me one from your computer?

 

[FreeBooter]

Looks like that folder removed from Windows 10 i can't give you the folder as i'm using Windows 11.


See if re-register Start Menu for all users will help.

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

 

[FreeBooter]

Navigate to this location:

%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Shell

Copy the DefaultLayouts.xml file from the ‘good user account’ to the User Account where the Start Menu is corrupted.

See if this helped.

 

[desbest]

I've done both of those suggestions and still the start menu troubleshooter finds the same issues. Do you have any other ideas?

 

[britechguy]

You might want to consider just doing full system image backup and a separate user data backup, then:

1. Doing a Windows 10 Repair Install or Feature Update Using the Windows 10 ISO file

then, if that doesn't work, considering:

2. Doing a Completely Clean (Re)install of Windows 10 Using Media Creation Tool to Fetch the Win10 ISO File (for which the steps to fetch the ISO file will already have been done in order to have tried step 1).

You have nothing to lose, and doing a restore back to what you have takes almost no time if you have taken a full system image backup before starting.

I have learned, the hard way, that trying to chase down Windows gremlins is, very often, a huge waste of time and energy. The Repair Install is almost miraculous in the number of issues it can and does clean up in one fell swoop, without any loss of data or installed programs. On the rare occasion where it cannot get a system back to functioning, I have very rarely seen other manual interventions do so (not never, but rarely) and they are insanely time consuming.

It's often more time and energy (as in mental/emotional energy) efficient when a Repair Install doesn't work to just nuke & pave the system with a completely clean reinstall and start from scratch. Unless you have a very great many programs installed that you use routinely, you can just reinstall your most-frequently-used ones to get yourself back up and running day-to-day and restore your user data backup. Then, as the occasions arise where you need something that's missing, you just reinstall it then.