Microsoft, please, develop a tool to reinstall the Microsoft Store and Start Menu.

Copper Contributor

I think that Microsoft should develop a tool to RECREATE the Microsoft Store. Not just a troubleshooter or a tool to reinstall packages, but something that does what Windows 10 Installation does.  Why? Let me tell you my story...

I just bought a Dell G5 with Windows 10 to replace my old Lenovo because the operating system had become too unstable. I installed Office, Adobe Creative Cloud and Norton Antivirus and everything worked fine for a while. At one point Windows Update told me there were updates to install. I did, I rebooted the system and the ordeal began.

 

The problem is well known, judging by how many people on the net claim to have it: the culprit is the Microsoft Store. There are three symptoms:

 

1. If I click on Microsoft Store the window opens for a second and then disappears
2. if I click with the RMB on Explorer on the taskbar, taskbar’s jump list does not appear
3. if I click on Start, nothing happens

 

Especially points 2. and 3. are a problem. So I began to study all the various solutions, but none of them worked.

 

a. I launched "sfc /scannow": it worked, there are no errors, but it did not fix the problem
b. I launched "dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /RestoreHealth": it worked, but it did not fix the problem
c. I created another user: the problem occurred also for the newly created user
d. I used PowerShell to recreate the APPs. I used

 

 

 

Get-AppXPackage-AllUsers|Foreach{Add-AppxPackage-DisableDevelopmentMode-register"$($_InstallLocation.)\AppXManifest.xml"}

 

 

 

That command reinstalled most apps, with few errors for few apps because the existing app had higher version or was in use: it did not fix the problem
e. I launched "wsreset.exe": I got error ms-windows-store:PurgeCaches - app did not start

f. of course I launched the troubleshooter for Microsoft Store, but it simply told me that it could not fix the problem

 

I also tried several other strategies I found on Microsoft sites and forums. I tried really everything. No result.

 

So I used the Media Creation Tool to get the latest version of Windows reinstalled from scratch. It was a mess because it gave me only the option to loose all apps and files — I do not know why —  but I did it. From a newly installed Windows 10, I started the whole process again. Now the Microsoft Store was ok, as well as Start and the taskbar’s jump list. The problem seemed to be solved, but of course I had just an empty operating system, no applications.

 

So I reinstalled the same applications than before, very standard, common and famous applications, like Photoshop and Office, that is, the same I had on my old PC, but again, after a couple of restarts, I got the same problem. The Start menu does not work at all, so the Microsoft Store. 

 

Now I use the Open-Shell menu to use the Start button. It is a good workaround but the Store and all the store app cannot be used. For example, the Feedback Hub does not work. Not the notification sidebar on right side of screen.

 

I suspect that the problem might be related to some dependency, for example some Visual C++ Redistributable Packages that may create a conflict, but I have no idea how to troubleshoot my system. Probably snooping inside the Event Viewer, but I have no idea what to look for.

 

That is why I think that a tool that reinstall ONLY the Microsoft and Start Menu would be necessary.

1 Reply

 


@dejudicibus wrote:

 

So I used the Media Creation Tool to get the latest version of Windows reinstalled from scratch. It was a mess because it gave me only the option to loose all apps and files — I do not know why —  but I did it. From a newly installed Windows 10, I started the whole process again. Now the Microsoft Store was ok, as well as Start and the taskbar’s jump list. The problem seemed to be solved, but of course I had just an empty operating system, no applications.

 

So I reinstalled the same applications than before, very standard, common and famous applications, like Photoshop and Office, that is, the same I had on my old PC, but again, after a couple of restarts, I got the same problem. The Start menu does not work at all, so the Microsoft Store. 

 

Now I use the Open-Shell menu to use the Start button. It is a good workaround but the Store and all the store app cannot be used.


Hello @dejudicibus,

 

When you reinstalled Windows, you said everything was working fine unless you installed other applications that doesn't comes pre-installed. I highly recommend you to cross check these applications because I suspect some application is breaking your system. 

 

To identify the problematic application, you can also try clean boot:

 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-in/help/929135/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows

 

Once you spot the problematic application, you can uninstall it and try installing its newer version (if you had older version).

 

Let us know if this helps!