Windows 10 Fall Creators Update: Start menu, alerts, and taskbar broken

Immediately after upgrading to Windows 10 1709 "Fall Creators Update", I've noticed three problems with my main profile that I suspect are all related.

Notification Center is out of whack

When alerts show up in the Notification Center, I can clear them away with the "Clear all" button, but the number on the icon showing how many alerts there are does not change. If I check the Notification Center a minute or so later, the alerts that I cleared are back. Also, the "Action Center" (buttons on the bottom of the Notification Center that do things like enable/disable Wi-Fi, adjust brightness, turn on "night light", etc.) does not show up, even though I have it configured to show up in Settings.

Start Menu icons are missing

Err... Pic shows it all. Tiles are present and functional but the icons and graphics are gone.

Can't right-click on taskbar buttons

If I right-click on a program on the taskbar (for example, to get to the menu to unpin an icon)... The right-click menu does not show up.

[Edit] Just noticed that right-clicking on Start Menu tiles does not work either (the context menu does not appear).

It's like some of the "modern" elements of the UI have decided not to work. The clock fly-out and Cortana still work. Anyone else seen something like this? Any ideas on how to solve (without losing my profile)? Other profiles on the machine work fine.

Aaron

Posted 2017-10-19T14:19:20.797

Reputation: 349

My suggestion is revert to 1703 and attempt to install the upgrade again. – Ramhound – 2017-10-19T14:25:26.313

1Have you rebooted since the problem started? Usually I encounter these weird things after an upgrade, and a reboot fixes everything. – LPChip – 2017-10-19T14:25:29.303

Yes, many reboots, always the same. – Aaron – 2017-10-19T14:25:55.337

Found this article, maybe it will end up being a known issue (and fixed by MS) https://www.windowslatest.com/2017/10/18/start-menu-broken-users-upgrading-windows-10-fall-creators-update/

– Aaron – 2017-10-19T14:31:26.933

"Anyone else seen something like this?" - This can happen on any installation, it is a question that has been asked in the past, typically the best advice is to repair your installation. Since other user profiles don't have the problem, typically I would suggest creating a new user profile, and migrating the data to it. However, you specifically don't wish to do that, so I have no other suggestion outside of reverting to 1703 and waiting to update to 1709 – Ramhound – 2017-10-19T14:32:54.533

You might want to try creating a new user, logging into it, then logging into your original user to see if that helps. Please note if you do that your ability to revert your installation might be effected so I strongly suggest you try this AFTER you revert to 1703 and upgrade again to 1709 and stiil have the problem.

– Ramhound – 2017-10-19T14:38:26.950

I get issue that after upgrade, my Start menu cannot load, and the event log mentioned, something has been blocked by administrator. – Kattee Lee – 2017-10-31T05:05:29.393

See if there is any certain error in Application event log. – Kattee Lee – 2017-10-31T05:12:46.413

Update on my original issue... I tried creating a new admin user and reverting/reinstalling the update without success. Never fixed it, I ended up making a new profile after all. A bit of a pain to set everything up again, but I kept the files from my old one so that I can transfer things over piecemeal when appropriate. I hope that this does not become a regular thing... – Aaron – 2017-11-01T15:56:03.333

Answers

Under various scenarios on different computers (some via upgrade from version 1703, while other times just installing software like SQL on version 1709) the Start Menu and Notification stop working for Windows Fall Creator Update Version 1709. None of the methods posted on the web solved the problem, but the good news for many out there like me, is that there is another method that works under every scenario I've encountered. I stumbled upon this after fighting with trying to install SQL Developer (either version 2016 with SP1 or 2017) on Windows 10 Fall Creator Update Update Version 1709.

How to Solve Windows Start and Notification Not Working: 1st of all, you can get the start menu and notification working again by logging off and back on again, but after each reboot, the problem returns. To persist the working of start menu and notification, disable Windows Hello and disable PIN and disable Picture password. Be sure that only the traditional password security sign-on option exists. Reboot your box and start menu and notification once again works. In fact, you can then re-enable Windows Hello and PIN and upon re-boot, the start button and notification will work and persist working even upon reboots.

This is a reproducible verified Microsoft Bug :(
At least between SQL 2016/2017 and Windows 10 Fall Creator Update Version 1709.

Paul St. Hilaire

Posted 2017-10-19T14:19:20.797

Reputation: 26

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately, I can't check it as I have since re-built my profile, but I'm glad that a solution seems to have been found. I do indeed have SQL Server 2017 and SSMS installed on my system, so that could have something to do with it. – Aaron – 2018-01-03T18:07:52.240

-1

It happened to me also. I was able to fix it by enabling the Administrator user, login with the administrator account, and then came back to my user account. Now all is working correctly

oulazorro100

Posted 2017-10-19T14:19:20.797

Reputation: 11

it appears you have mistakenly submitted a comment as an answer. The author already indicated that logging in and logging out of the user in question didn't resolve the problem. – Ramhound – 2017-10-24T17:31:02.277