Unable to Launch Win10 Apps, Start Menu, Right-click programs on taskbar and refresh PC.

[honey dew]

hey guys,

this is a HUGE problem , ive never encountered before. As said in the title, I am unable to open any Windows 10 Apps e.g Edge, Windows Store, Reader. It automatically closes. I also can't click the start menu, nothing would pop up. I tried to refresh the PC but an error occured in doing so. I checked to see if there was a virus using MalwareBytes but it would also crash when I tried to launch it (not responding message). Everything else is working fine but it has been bothering me for awhile.

 

[smorizio]

try booting into safe mode and running virus scans. or from any one of the anti virus sellers make a rescue boot usb or dvd disk.

 

[Colif]

does task manager work?
if so, choose file, run new task...
type cmd.exe & before pressing OK, click box next to Create this task with admin privileges

if CMD runs, try running SFC & DISM and see if they work
type SFC /scannow and press enter
once its completed, copy/paste this command into same window:
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

SFC fixes system files, DISM cleans image files, re run SFC if it failed to fix all files and restart PC

if that doesn't help, on another PC, download the Windows 10 media creation tool and use it to make a win 10 installer on USB - just a boot disc and maybe useful for repairing this

you can try this if file explorer works (press win key +E) - https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/16397-repair-install-windows-10-place-upgrade.html

 

[ShadowVox]

I have the same problem. I have tried this, and about 10 other "solutions", but they only seem to help temporarily as the problem comes back. Short of reinstalling Windows, which I will not do, I have yet to find a solution.

 

[Colif]

Safe mode would at least tell us if its windows at fault or a driver (this doesn't look like a driver error)

really depends on if problem is the user or the PC. You can use this to make another user in CMD - http://www.wikihow.com/Add-and-Delete-Users-Accounts-With-Command-Prompt-in-Windows and then login to new user and see if it helps.

DISM might help, but there are some problems where a clean install is the fastest fix as otherwise you have to wait for someone else to have same problem, and for a clever person to figure it out.

 

[honey dew]

does task manager work?
if so, choose file, run new task...
type cmd.exe & before pressing OK, click box next to Create this task with admin privileges

if CMD runs, try running SFC & DISM and see if they work
type SFC /scannow and press enter
once its completed, copy/paste this command into same window:
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

SFC fixes system files, DISM cleans image files, re run SFC if it failed to fix all files and restart PC

if that doesn't help, on another PC, download the Windows 10 media creation tool and use it to make a win 10 installer on USB - just a boot disc and maybe useful for repairing this

you can try this if file explorer works (press win key +E) - https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/16397-repair-install-windows-10-place-upgrade.html

SFC says it did not find any integrity violations.
i tried DISM, it says

Error : 0x800f081f
The source files could not be found
https://gyazo.com/49386c3307274189e4862bb7b0483a5d

should i try using Media Creation Tool method to fix it?

 

[Colif]

right click start, choose run...
type winver and press enter
what Build of windows 10 are you on?

If you are on 1703, you can try this but it may not work (Microsoft broke the command so its no guarantee it will)
Download a copy of the win 10 iso from Here - create ISO by telling it you want to make DVD - and then mount that ISO in file explorer (see Here) and then copy paste the below command into command prompt (admin) (IF you type it, the spacing has to be exact)

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /source:WIM:X:\Sources\Install.wim:1 /LimitAccess
Where "X" is the drive letter where the ISO is located. Simply change the "X" to the correct drive letter

If you are on a version prior to 1703, you cannot do that command as the ISO has to match the version installed. Instead you should download the Windows 10 media creation tool and use it to make a win 10 installer on USB

Put USB in PC
open file explorer, navigate to USB & run setup.exe
this should allow you to upgrade PC to latest version and potentially fix this by replacing windows with a working version.

 

[honey dew]

right click start, choose run...
type winver and press enter
what Build of windows 10 are you on?

If you are on 1703, you can try this but it may not work (Microsoft broke the command so its no guarantee it will)
Download a copy of the win 10 iso from Here - create ISO by telling it you want to make DVD - and then mount that ISO in file explorer (see Here) and then copy paste the below command into command prompt (admin) (IF you type it, the spacing has to be exact)

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /source:WIM:X:\Sources\Install.wim:1 /LimitAccess
Where "X" is the drive letter where the ISO is located. Simply change the "X" to the correct drive letter

If you are on a version prior to 1703, you cannot do that command as the ISO has to match the version installed. Instead you should download the Windows 10 media creation tool and use it to make a win 10 installer on USB

Put USB in PC
open file explorer, navigate to USB & run setup.exe
this should allow you to upgrade PC to latest version and potentially fix this by replacing windows with a working version.

im on version 1607,
Bit confused on the USB bit here sorry!
Do I run MediaCreationTool.exe on a different PC and choose 'Create Installation Media for Another PC' and choose the USB after running?
Then plug the USB into this PC and run?

 

[Colif]

media creation tool can do 3 things, update current PC (which I didn't suggest as PC is acting strange), create a USB (which I did suggest) or make a DVD. So yes, running on another PC to make USB is ideal.

advantage to USB is you only download it once. If you ran the update process using media creation tool and it failed, you would have to download the installer files multiple times, and that is slow and annoying.

 

[honey dew]

media creation tool can do 3 things, update current PC (which I didn't suggest as PC is acting strange), create a USB (which I did suggest) or make a DVD. So yes, running on another PC to make USB is ideal.

How much space would I need on the USB?

edit: nvm ahah

 

[Colif]

I would use an 8gb drive, it doesn't need that much but I think installer too big for 4gb

 

[honey dew]

I would use an 8gb drive, it doesn't need that much but I think installer too big for 4gb

ok I tried to run setup.exe but it says setup couldn't start properly...
The Win10 version I installed on the USB from a different PC was 1703, could this be a problem?

edit: I tried to run it in safe mode, same thing happens.
edit2 : I tried upgrading from the PC, same message pops up. IS there no hope left?

 

[Colif]

Its not the version on the USB that is causing this... i hate this problem, don't see it a lot luckily. Drive is locked and you can't make any changes in windows.

Only real answer is a fresh install at this stage. If you can, copy all the info off PC using windows or you can try making this on another PC: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/use-ubuntu-live-cd-to-backup-files-from-your-dead-windows-computer/

once you copied everything you have to keep
change boot order in BIOS so USB is first, hdd second
boot from installer
follow this guide: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1950-windows-10-clean-install.html

when you reach the screen asking for licence, click "I don't have a key" and win 10 will continue to install and reactivate once finished

On the screen where you choose where to install win 10, if it gives you an error about GPT drives, delete all the partitions on the hdd and press next. If it still gives error, cancel out of the installer and restart PC and start installer again, it will accept next on that screen this time (some PC just need a restart here)

 

[boarding]

Its not the version on the USB that is causing this... i hate this problem, don't see it a lot luckily. Drive is locked and you can't make any changes in windows.

Only real answer is a fresh install at this stage. If you can, copy all the info off PC using windows or you can try making this on another PC: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/use-ubuntu-live-cd-to-backup-files-from-your-dead-windows-computer/

once you copied everything you have to keep
change boot order in BIOS so USB is first, hdd second
boot from installer
follow this guide: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1950-windows-10-clean-install.html

when you reach the screen asking for licence, click "I don't have a key" and win 10 will continue to install and reactivate once finished

On the screen where you choose where to install win 10, if it gives you an error about GPT drives, delete all the partitions on the hdd and press next. If it still gives error, cancel out of the installer and restart PC and start installer again, it will accept next on that screen this time (some PC just need a restart here)

Hi, Sorry to hijack this post but my son has the same problem. He has 2 user accounts on his Windows 10 PC. One of the accounts is fine - he can access his apps and games etc perfectly and without any problems. However the 2nd account (which he mainly uses for his gaming) has suddenly 'stopped working' properly. It has the same issues as the original poster...the apps don't launch, the start menu doesn't work, can't right-click, etc.etc. He has administrator rights for both accounts. It's got to the stage that he can't log in to the 2nd account even in Safe Mode...as soon as he puts his password in it says 'Welcome' for a split second and then reverts back to the password sign-in screen. I know nothing about computers and he's driving me mad 'cos it's not working right so any help for an exasperated Mum would be most welcome. Thank you

 

[Peter Martin]

Format. Reinstall

 

[boarding]

Format. Reinstall

Thank you for your reply, but as I mentioned in my post I know nothing about computers so it did not help me very much!
I tried the suggestions made by Colif in the original post and ran SFC and DISM.
SFC found a corrupt file which it said it couldn't repair and gave me the location of the log to try repairing it online or offline. DISM got stuck for ages at 86.1% and then eventually finished so ran SFC again. This time it said it had been repaired but it hasn't solved the issue.
Whether it has been repaired or not I have no idea and I wouldn't know where to begin to even access the logs let alone try and repair it. I don't even know how to attach a photo of the screen to this message!

 

[Peter Martin]

he also told you to do a clean install, that's basically what you need to do. Use the Media Creation Tool to make a bootable USB, power off, disconnect all drives but the drive you want to install windows to, boot up to usb, use the windows installer to then delete all partitions and install fresh and clean on that drive. once windows is all set up, you can power off again and hook up the other drives and carry on.

 

[Colif]

How about making a new local account, log on using the user that does work, make the local user admin and copy the contents of the broken users folder in C:\windows\username onto the new user. That gives it same access to programs as broken user and might save needing to fresh install - https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/4026923/windows-10-create-a-local-user-or-administrator-account

So much easier than fresh install, don't need to reinstall anything, just login into Steam (if he uses that)

win 10 user accounts seem to break easy, I had a similar problem on this PC and creating new user was a way to work around it.