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How-To Geek is where you turn when you want experts to explain technology. Resetting your Windows 10 installation should keep all of your personal files intact documents, pictures, videos, and so on , but will uninstall all the other drivers and programs you've installed. Basically this resets your computer to the state it was in when you first turned it on. In the PowerShell terminal, run the command systemreset to bring up the Windows reset wizard. Wait a moment while the wizard analyzes your system.
Then, you'll see a list of all the programs that'll be removed:. Once you're finished resetting Windows and creating a new user, the Start Menu should be working again. Did any of these methods work for you? Is there another way to open the Start Menu that I missed? Let me know about it on Twitter. If you read this far, tweet to the author to show them you care. Tweet a thanks. Learn to code for free. Get started. Forum Donate. Kris Koishigawa.
How to restart Windows Explorer Windows Explorer, which is now called File Explorer, is the application you use to browse your file system and open programs and files. How to repair corrupt or missing Windows system files Sometimes an update goes awry, or you accidentally deleted an important file while digging around the filesystem.
Once System File Checker is finished, you'll either see a report of all the files it replaced, or if everything was fine, you'll see a message like this: If System File Checker replaced any corrupt or missing system files, save all of your open work and restart your computer. How to reset the Start Menu with default Windows 10 apps The next thing you can try is to reset the Start Menu entirely, along will all the Windows 10 apps that were preinstalled or installed from the Microsoft Store.
There are many ways to open PowerShell, but one of the fastest ways is to use the Run program. Give it minutes, and make sure you don't close the PowerShell window until it's finished. Don't worry about them — most are just warnings about why a program can't be reinstalled: When the Get-AppXPackage command is finished, restart your computer, log in, and try to open the Start Menu. How to reset your Windows 10 installation If none of the above methods fixed the Start Menu, the last thing you can try is to do a factory reset of your Windows 10 installation.
In fact, make two backups. You probably won't need them, but it doesn't hurt.
