Every PC or laptop users may have experienced Windows 10 Start Button Not Working error many times when they use their PC or laptop. When using a desktop or laptop, suddenly, the start button or Windows key stops working. It does not matter how many times you press the keys, and the result will still be the same. Most of them who use Windows 10 have this issue occurring frequently.

Symptoms of this issue are that nothing opens when the start button is clicked, or the Windows key is pressed. The cursor has the loading sign, the taskbar flashes. Right-clicked or clicked, nothing comes up. It is as if the computer or laptop does not give any response. If the user tried to open any apps from the taskbar, the icon will go black and will not see on the taskbar.

Contents

How to Resolve Windows 10 Start Button Not Working

As mentioned earlier, a wide number of users have reported this issue of Start and Taskbar menu. Many computer experts, including experienced users, are providing apt solutions to get out of this situation. The most recommended 6 fixes in general circumstances are given below:

Solution 1: Restart the Operating System

To disclose the shut-down Windows dialog box, the users are required to press the ‘Alt‘ key and ‘F4‘ key together.

Solution 2: Close or Uninstall Antivirus Program

It is reported that over 20% of users who have experienced this issue, solved this issue by entirely quitting or uninstalling antivirus program such as AVG software on PCs operating on Windows 10.

Solution 3: Use Command Prompt

In this solution, the users are required to perform the following steps given below by using the Command Prompt application:

Step 1 – At first, press the ‘Windows logo’ and ‘S’ keys together. Then, type cmd and press Enter. This action opens the Command Prompt program, which reflects the search result.

Step 2 – Then, type and press ‘Enter‘ Powershell into the command prompt box.

Step 3 – Finally, copy and paste this following complex codes : “Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”}”

Solution 4: Create A New User Account

If the user wants to create a new account, the user is required to press the Windows key and ‘I’ key together to open settings and follow the instructions to create new an account for the user.

It must be noted that if you did create a new user account for Windows 10, that account would not have this issue. However, you need to back up your files from Desktop, Downloads, Documents sections, etc. to another local drive as there are chances of losing it.

Solution 5: Update Windows 10 with New ISO

Taskbar or Start button may not work in certain Windows built-in OS. Thus, the users are required to ensure that they keep updating Windows 10. Sometimes, an automatic update does not work. Then, users are required to download Windows 10 ISO file. The download link for Media Creation Tool is given below:

Link – https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

The users need to run this media creation tool after downloading the application. This application will download Windows 10 ISO file to Desktop. Next, the users need to open the Windows ISO software using the Windows explorer application by running the exe file.

The users got two options to proceed, either download and install updates right now or afterward. Both these solutions shall fix Windows 10 Start Button Not Working error.

Solution 6: Restore to the Previous Version of Windows

If all of the above-mentioned fixes fail to solve this issue for a user, then they need to update Windows 10 or restore the Windows of previous versions where this problem did not arise. A simple approach for users would be ‘System restore,’ where the users are required to create a system backup image using ‘EaseUS free backup software.’ Just one click is needed from this software to achieve the system recovery process by following these steps:

Step 1 – If users need to backup Windows 10 on their PC, then the user needs to select the option ‘System Backup directly.’

Step 2 – Next, a new window pops up, where the users can personalize their own Windows 10 backup by selecting a backup location as per their convenience like HDD, USB, hard disk, network, and cloud drives by adding a plan name and description to the backup location.

As it is mainly concerned about backing up OS. Thus, the user needs to turn on the ‘Schedule’ where the user can enable the automatic option of Windows 10 backup on a scheduled time like daily, monthly or custom time, commanding the backup of Windows 10 to start when system startup, shutdown or when user’s log on or log off.

Step 3 – After the basic settings are made, the users then need to click ‘Proceed.’ The users need to wait for some time to create a full Windows 10 backup to protect the PC system from unexpected malfunction occurring.

Recommended:

Final Words

The users need to perform all these steps and fixes above to fix the Windows 10 Start Button Not Working issue of the start button or taskbar not working. If the issue persists, even after performing all these steps and fixes above-mentioned.

Then the issue might be with the laptop or PC or the fact that the start button could be damaged by PC resulting in the start button not working properly. Or else, the user could resort to other methods to resolve this issue, rebooting the system, and press the Function key as soon as it is restarted to run a diagnostic scan or a full scan of the hardware and software system of the PC. Even after resorting to all methods, if the problem still exists, then the users need to give the PC or laptop for repair to an experienced technician.