Start Menu and Search Bar not working Windows 10 2004

D

DKosower

Contributor
Joined
Sep 23, 2017
Posts
26
At some point or other during the configuration of a brand-new Dell (a process including
a long transfer of files & programs from my old machine and transfer of licenses for some
purchased software), the Start Menu and search bar stopped working for the primary account
"Primary" (originally created as a Microsoft account, which got attached to multiple e-mail
addresses during the whole procedure). They works fine for a second, local account "Local".
They don't work in Safe Mode either for the "Primary" account.

Currently, the start menu is not working at all, neither via the Windows key, nor via Ctrl+Esc,
nor via left-click. Right-click to bring up the context menu works. Clicking in the search bar
pops up the pane for ~5 secs, then it closes. If one types very fast, perhaps one can get in
one or two characters. Explorer crashes once in a while (possibly linked to attempts to use
the Start Menu or search bar).

I've tried following the general guide in
Windows Start Panel does not work,
including the repair upgrade.

This ended up reinstalling the same version of Windows already present (2004 build 19041.388).
Unfortunately, this did not solve the problem! The SearchApp and
StartMenuExperienceHost faults show up in the Event Viewer
whenever I hit the Windows key or click on the Windows icon or in the
searchbar (and every few minutes otherwise as well). An explorer crash loop
also recurred, but was halted by stopping (and disabling) the Windows Search service.
Explorer.exe still crashes occasionally. All crashes have KERNELBASE.DLL as
the faulting module. Curiously, the faults show up for the "Local" user,
without apparent ill effect on the display or the functioning of the start menu
or search bar.

SFC finds nothing,

------------------
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> sfc /scannow

Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.

Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.

Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.
------------------

DISM doesn't either,

------------------
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> dism /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.329

Image Version: 10.0.19041.388

[==========================100.0%==========================] No component store corruption detected.
The operation completed successfully.
------------------

SFCFix did find something,

------------------
Processing directive 1 of 1 (AutoAnalysis::)
Checking store directories . . .
Checking CBS.log . . .
Checking CheckSUR.log . . .
Checking CheckSUR.persist.log . . .

Attempting repair . . .
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3

Due to the nature of your corruptions, scan times have been extended by
approximately 15-20 minutes. Please be patient and allow the operation to
complete.


Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.329

Image Version: 10.0.19041.388

[==========================100.0%==========================] The restore operation completed successfully.
The operation completed successfully.
------------------

but then hung there (I waited one hour, with SFCFix using 0% CPU the whole time); when I finally
gave up, the script reported nothing found (!),

------------------
SFCFix version 3.0.2.1 by niemiro.
Start time: 2020-07-30 16:11:21.179
Microsoft Windows 10 Build 19041 - amd64
Not using a script file.




AutoAnalysis::
SUMMARY: No corruptions were detected.
AutoAnalysis:: directive completed successfully.




Successfully processed all directives.
SFCFix version 3.0.2.1 by niemiro has completed.
Currently storing 10 datablocks.
Finish time: 2020-07-30 17:13:21.755
----------------------EOF-----------------------

Any suggestions as to what they cause may be, or how to repair the "Primary" user data?

Thanks

D.
 
Open administrative command prompt and copy or type and paste:

netuser test /add (adds a new user named test)

shutdown /r (reboots)

Sign on with the new user named test > report the status of the start menu and search
 
I assume you meant "net user" (with space), so that's what I did.

After setup avoiding any connection to an online account, the start menu and search bar both work in the "test" account. The Event viewer shows warnings about Search, such as,
----------------------------------
DllHost (13676,D,46) Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy_NOEDP_LEGACY_IDB: The database format feature version 9180 (0x23dc) could not be used due to the current database format 1568.20.0, controlled by the parameter 0x410022D8 (8920 | JET_efvAllowHigherPersistedFormat).
----------------------------------

D.
 
Thanks. I do have a complete disk image [made in Windows 10], though I'm uncertain whether it dates before or after the start menu/search bar problems started. (It's certainly before the upgrade to 2004, which I tried as part of the fixes, and probably before the license transfers.). The key for me is retaining files, programs, personal settings, and ideally the account/path name (so that links in Excel files, python code, Lightroom references, etc. are not broken). Is the corruption confined to NTUSER.DAT (as reflected in the the CURRENT_USER part of the registry) & maybe AppData/Local/Packages, or is it more general?

I tried the first fix link [Fix User Profile Service Failed the Sign-in Error in Windows 10], which amounted to adding RefCount to the ProfileList entry; but if anything, it made things worse (clicking search bar immediately crashes explorer). I don't have enough disk space to make a complete copy of the corrupted account, I don't know if APF would be able to handle that.

What would you advise trying?

D.
 
The methods in step c will fix corruption maintaining files and installing a fresh copy of Windows.
They require the re-installation of drivers and applications.

Check system restore dates to see if there are restore options.

There are Sysnative members in Windows update that may have registry troubleshooting ideas.
 
In the end, I reverted to a saved image, which mercifully has the start menu and search bar working. I updated Documents (and not AppData) from a backup made just before the reversion. Between indexing and McAfee, CPU usage (and hence fan activity) has been high ever since, but I will continue from here... there is one puzzling thing, though: before all this story started, "Device Encryption" showed up in "Update & Security" settings. Of course I turned it off for all the fix attempts, and the image was obviously not encrypted -- but now the very setting has disappeared. Any way to get it back?

D.
 
You should look in Settings, Update & Security, Windows Update Pane and check if your machine has the Download and install link for Version 2004. If it does, then do just that.
 

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