Start menu search is showing a blank menu, waiting progress bar, and version number

kapred

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2024
Messages
8
Not sure what happened. When I search via the start menu, the start menu goes blank and sits there forever. For some reason the version number is displayed in the bottom right.

I've tried:
sfc /scannow
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
Rebuilding the search index
Moving the search index
Installing 23H2

There could be something in the Event Viewer but I wasn't sure what to look for.

Resetting Windows is a last resort for me. I'd probably live with the start menu issue or use a third party search tool instead of resetting.



Link to a video example:
116 KB file on MEGA
 
Solution
I figured it out.

I use a script to configure various Windows settings after a new installation. I've used it for years without any issues for Windows 10 and 11. One of those settings was to delete web results in the Start Menu search (I've never understood that ability anyway, I don't want web results if I'm searching my PC). There must have been an update that's causing that setting to break things.

Long story short, enabling this setting broke the start menu. Once I removed it, everything was fine.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search, BingSearchEnabled=0
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You can try resetting the shell experience host service.

Open a Powershell prompt as Administrator (right click powershell, select 'Run As Administrator')

Run the following
Code: 
Get-AppxPackage -Name *shell*host* | % { Reset-AppxPackage -Package $_.PackageFullName }
 
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Creating a new user and signing in fixes the issue...not sure what that means. Switching users isn't an option though since this is a work computer.
 
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Did you reboot? Also if it's a work computer it's probably a good idea to engage your IT team.

If it's still broken after a restart you can try this command

Code: 
Get-AppxPackage -Name *shell*host* | % { Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml" }

Reboot after this command as well
 
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Thank again, still no luck. Not sure what gets loaded into those menus and dialogs but it looks a lot like some sort of HTML renderer.

I asked the IT department. The suggested rebuilding the search index and that was as far as I got.
 
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Oops I think I gave you the wrong app to reset, not a big deal resetting them doesn't cause any issues.

Try resetting this one
Code: 
Get-AppxPackage -Name *start*host* | % { Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml" }
 
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Old post I wrote up which also blows away the settings folder you can try

Windows 10 Thread 'How to reset the Windows Start Menu'

*UPDATE - 12/05/2019* -- I rewrote the code to handle the appx package name changes.

*UPDATE - 04/14/2019* -- I'm updated the code to make it more reliable and to simply the instructions

This tutorial will help you reset the Start Menu if you are experiencing issues such as it won't load at all or the icons appear faded.
  • Press [Windows key + r]
  • Type powershell in the run box and press enter
  • Copy everything from the "Code" section below and paste into the Powershell prompt and hit enter
* Window explorer (start button and task bar should disappear and come...
 
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Any luck? @ChatGPT Analyze this entire thread and provide guidance.

Err... I see AI replies are off for this thread... Any solution?
 
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I figured it out.

I use a script to configure various Windows settings after a new installation. I've used it for years without any issues for Windows 10 and 11. One of those settings was to delete web results in the Start Menu search (I've never understood that ability anyway, I don't want web results if I'm searching my PC). There must have been an update that's causing that setting to break things.

Long story short, enabling this setting broke the start menu. Once I removed it, everything was fine.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search, BingSearchEnabled=0
 
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Solution
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