Critical Error - Your start menu isn't working.

[Haarry]

The other day I went to open the windows start menu and I got this error:

onviously the first thing I tried was signing out. When I signed back in again, I was still getting the same error. The next thing I tried was fully restarting my PC. Nothing. It has now been turned off for approximately 24 hours. I just turned it on to find the same error. Does anyone know how I can fix this?

 

[Seamz]

Start menu isn’t working
Here’s how to fix one of my favorite Windows 10 error messages: “Critical Error/Your Start Menu isn’t working. We’ll try to fix it the next time you sign in.” You may also see the error, “Critical Error/Start menu and Cortana aren’t working. We’ll try to fix it the next time you sign in.” The Microsoft Answers forum main thread for this problem is currently up to 73 pages, with 1,195 people chiming in that they’ve had the problem, too.

Short answer: Microsoft still hasn’t figured it out. Microsoft engineer Paul Sey says:

You may be able to temporarily resolve the issue by booting to Safe Mode, and then immediately booting back into normal mode. This workaround may resolve your problem for a while, however the error may return later.

To boot to Safe Mode:

Hold the Shift key down while you click Start, Power, Restart.
Once you are in the Windows Recovery Environment, select Troubleshoot, then Advanced options, then Startup Settings, and Restart.
When it restarts, you should see a number of options. Press 5 or F5 for Safe Mode with networking.
Once you sign into your account in Safe Mode, you’re done. Just restart your PC to return to a normal boot.
If you are running a third-party antivirus software, we recommend uninstalling, then reinstalling the antivirus software, as this may also provide a work-around for this problem. Some customers have reported that adding a new local administrator account has resolved their Critical Error. If that doesn’t work, try removing the original administrator account now that you have a new one created.

As far as I can tell, that’s the whole story.

 

[Haarry]

Start menu isn’t working
Here’s how to fix one of my favorite Windows 10 error messages: “Critical Error/Your Start Menu isn’t working. We’ll try to fix it the next time you sign in.” You may also see the error, “Critical Error/Start menu and Cortana aren’t working. We’ll try to fix it the next time you sign in.” The Microsoft Answers forum main thread for this problem is currently up to 73 pages, with 1,195 people chiming in that they’ve had the problem, too.

Short answer: Microsoft still hasn’t figured it out. Microsoft engineer Paul Sey says:

You may be able to temporarily resolve the issue by booting to Safe Mode, and then immediately booting back into normal mode. This workaround may resolve your problem for a while, however the error may return later.

To boot to Safe Mode:

Hold the Shift key down while you click Start, Power, Restart.
Once you are in the Windows Recovery Environment, select Troubleshoot, then Advanced options, then Startup Settings, and Restart.
When it restarts, you should see a number of options. Press 5 or F5 for Safe Mode with networking.
Once you sign into your account in Safe Mode, you’re done. Just restart your PC to return to a normal boot.
If you are running a third-party antivirus software, we recommend uninstalling, then reinstalling the antivirus software, as this may also provide a work-around for this problem. Some customers have reported that adding a new local administrator account has resolved their Critical Error. If that doesn’t work, try removing the original administrator account now that you have a new one created.

As far as I can tell, that’s the whole story.

I'll try this out when I can