Windows 10 start menu certain items stopped working

Question

Certain items in the Windows 10 start menu have ceased to do anything, whether through clicking or through pressing Enter. Others work.

Start menu items not responding does not solve the issue. I have had this issue before and I cannot remember for the love of god how I fixed it.

Neither does changing start menu settings, restarting, or rebuilding the index help.

EDIT: My original question was poorly phrased because it was not just the specific item in start menu that stopped working but also the search result provided when pressing the Windows key, then entering thunder (Best match: Thunderbird) and pressing Enter, and the search result is what I always use.

Answer 1

In my specific case, the certain items seems to be certain item, Thunderbird. I must have managed to confuse the buggy start menu by installing both Thunderbird x86 and Thunderbird x64 side by side, then uninstalling Thunderbird x64.

No amount of index rebuilding, or renaming or removing start menu programs folder made any difference.

After I uninstalled also Thunderbird x86 and then reinstalled Thunderbird x86, it started working again.

And my original question was poorly phrased because it was not just the specific item in start menu that stopped working but also the search result provided when pressing the Windows key, then entering thunder (Best match: Thunderbird) and pressing Enter and the search result is what I always use.

Answer 2

An update to Windows 10 changed the permissible locations for keyboard shortcuts and Start Menu functionality. Though it can be fixed by moving shortcuts to a specific location, it's subject to being broken again after future updates.

You might try a third-party Start Menu utility, which is not subject to unexpected functionality changes. Some Start Menu replacements are Classic Shell (no longer being developed, but still functional in Windows 10 v. 1903), Open Shell, its successor, and other alternatives. This can be supplemented with Clavier+, AutoHotkey and other keyboard shortcut enhancement applications. Unlike Windows updates, one can choose to apply only updates that improve the third-party application.