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Updating to Windows 11 might break the Taskbar and Start Menu

By Arif Bacchus Published October 7, 2021

Windows 11 is rolling out as a free update on compatible PCs, but there is one bug that you might want to keep in mind if you’re eager to upgrade. Some folks are reporting that after moving from Windows 10 to Windows 11, the Taskbar and Start Menu don’t work correctly.

Well documented on Reddit, and Microsoft’s own community forums, the issues occur when using Microsoft’s own Installation Assistant. Apparently, in most of these documented cases, after upgrading to Windows 11 with Microsoft’s tool, the old Windows 10 Taskbar still persists on the screen, and the Start Menu is unresponsive. An example image is below.

Broken Start Menu and Taskbar in Windows 11. — Reddit

Microsoft hasn’t responded with an official fix for this issue, but it should be noted that when Windows 11 was in beta testing, this was also a problem for Windows Insiders. As a solution, it is being suggested to uninstall the most recent Windows Update by going to Settings followed by Windows Update, and Update History followed by Uninstall Updates. Then, as another fix, some Redditors suggest trying to create a new local account, and giving it administrator rights.

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This is just one of the more recent issues with Windows 11. We’ve already documented the memory leak problem involving the File Explorer, as well as the known problem in which games might be slowed by 15% on some systems with AMD processors.

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Such issues are the quirks that come with adopting a new operating system early. If you’re wary of such problems, it’s probably best to stay on Windows 10, not force a Windows 11 upgrade with the Installation Assistant, and wait it out for Windows 11 to officially be ready for your system via Windows Update. After all, Windows 10 will still be supported by Microsoft through 2025.

Microsoft had mentioned that it is taking a “phased approach” with rolling out Windows 11, so this means that not everyone will be seeing Windows 11 upgrade show up in Windows Update. This is a slow-rollout designed to ensure a quality experience for everyone so that bugs like this one do not occur. Microsoft mentioned that hardware eligibility, reliability metrics, age of the device, and “other factors that impact the upgrade experience” all factor into Windows 11 upgrades.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Arif Bacchus is a native New Yorker and a fan of all things technology. Arif works as a freelance writer at Digital Trends…

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