Start Menu in Windows 10 still broken after the latest patch

By Kevin Parrish Published October 12, 2019

Windows 10 PC owners continue to flock around Reddit, the Microsoft community forum, and Twitter to report that patch KB4517389, distributed on October 8, breaks the Start Menu. Currently, Microsoft’s patch notes state that the company is not aware of any issues.

The latest patch follows another update distributed on October 3, KB4524147, which not only caused Start Menu problems but also triggered an error with the print spooler, forcing print jobs to stop processing. The new October 8 patch aimed at addressing both issues — but feedback indicates that Start Menu woes remain intact.

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“On my work machine, 18362.295 is the last build that had a working search and working start menu. 300+ all has broken search and 388 has broken start menu too,” said one Reddit user regarding patch KB4524147. “On my home machine, I haven’t had any problems with search or start menu.”

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Start Menu issues also appeared in patch KB4515384 released on September 10. As one Reddit member explained, Windows 10 threw up an error stating: “Your Start Menu isn’t working. We’ll try to fix it the next time you sign in.” A separate thread pointed to a related SearchUI.exe issue.

For the current Start Menu problem, a “Microsoft Agent” suggests re-registering the Start Menu by using PowerShell commands. Another method is to reboot Windows 10 into Safe Mode and see if the problem persists. If not, perform a Clean Boot. Another option is to create a new user account.

Device owners, however, fix the issue by uninstalling the offending patch. To remove KB4517389, take the following path:

Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > View Update History

In the next window, click the Uninstall updates link, select the update you want to remove (via Control Panel), and click the Uninstall button located next to Organize.

Windows 10 provides a means to prevent unwanted situations like a broken Start Menu with deferred update options. Open the Settings app and head to Update & Security > Windows Update. Click the Advanced Options link to pause updates for up to 35 days, giving Microsoft time to iron out the bugs.

According to Microsoft, the October 8 patch addresses printer issues related to the Windows JavaScript engine. It also addresses CPU utilization and “increased connection latency” tied to certain client and server computers. On the security front, it updates 10 Windows 10 components including Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, and the Windows Kernel.

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Kevin started taking PCs apart in the 90s when Quake was on the way and his PC lacked the required components. Since then…

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