Start Menu, Search, Settings, Edge, Cortana, etc. stopped working after update

[jss2020]

Folks, I have Windows 10 Pro installed on my laptop. Everything was working fine. About three days ago, there were some automatic updates installed by Microsoft. After that my whole system has been messed up. I couldn't open the Start Menu, use Search the web and Windows, Edge and Cortana disappeared and I couldn't open Settings among many other problems. This happened right after the automatic update were installed.


For three days, I have tried all suggestions on the web and nothing seems to work. I solved the Start Menu problem by installing the Start 10 shell. I have use sfc /scannow. Everything seems ok. I can't create a new local account (one of the recommendations). I can't open Settings. I have used the following code in Powershell to no avail:

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


It just hangs up the system.


This is terrible. Either Microsoft should give us the option not to install updates or it should not break our systems. I have wasted three days and I am still stuck. Apparently, many other people are in the same boat.


Could anyone offer any advice to solve this problem?


Thank you!

J.S.

 

[Eximo]

If you haven't tried rolling back to a restore point, you should give that a go. In Pro, you can then disable updates if you want, also some reg hacking you can do to prevent it, if you want to wait for MS to solve this particular problem.

Clearly something went wrong during your upgrade, running it again from a restored point might solve the problem.

I myself had a little trouble. I had an incompatible program installed and the Anniversary update was not pleased with it. Was unable to open anything that used Explorer. Had to use the command prompt to delete the root folder of that program, took me a whole evening to track it down. (Luckily the control panel applets worked, so I was able to look at some things)

But, if you have anything that might be incompatible, like a driver or program, you should pre-emptively update everything you can from software to drivers before attempting a Windows upgrade. Probably going to be the standard way MS releases "Service Packs" from now on, so best to get into good habits now.

 

[Tom Tancredi]

Folks, I have Windows 10 Pro installed on my laptop. Everything was working fine. About three days ago, there were some automatic updates installed by Microsoft. After that my whole system has been messed up. I couldn't open the Start Menu, use Search the web and Windows, Edge and Cortana disappeared and I couldn't open Settings among many other problems. This happened right after the automatic update were installed..... I can't create a new local account (one of the recommendations). I can't open Settings. I have used the following code in Powershell to no avail:
Get-AppXPackage....
It just hangs up the system.

Anything from malware, to a incompatible software could cause this sort of glitch (just as much as slow 'dying' hardware like the Hard Drive) so it isn't necessarily the 'update' that did it, but more the update 'revealed' the issue just waiting to happen any moment and now has.

That said, the Get-APP...fix was for when W10 was first in testing trial and not the finished product it has been now for a while. ALOT of those fixes won't "fix" but actually break it more, so just forewarning.

The established steps for problems with your Windows would be first to follow the RESTORE POINT process to put it back to when it last was working, but as you noted you have alot of Interface problems. These are the steps to get into SAFE MODE to do these sorts of repairs https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12376/windows-10-start-your-pc-in-safe-mode
In Safe Mode select ADVANCED OPTIONS, then you will as shown in this screen capture.
http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2015/09/1001-safe-mode-2-100615227-large.jpg

If you do a System RESET (careful) it will put it back to when you first pull the computer out of the box and plugged it in (otherwise known as a Factory Restore), and can (if not selected properly) wipe all your data off the computer.

At this point your system seems in a serious condition, and may require the RESET function then the numerous UPDATES (hours of this) to be applied after it to get it back to working condition. You might want to seek a Tech friend or such to help as alot of these tasks are very technical and risky, that they would be in the better position to ensure no 'mistake' happens and wipes out your data.