Is Windows 11, Start Menu, Taskbar and File Explorer no longer working? Solutions

The latest Windows 11 preview has affected a series of serious issues. Failures in some users are identified with the required items. This includes everything from the Start menu to the taskbar, including File Explorer and Settings.

These issues appear with two recent versions offered as part of the Insider program. That is Windows 11 Build 22000.176 (Beta channel) and Windows 11 Build 22449 (DEV channel). A whole host of different issues have been reported to Microsoft. We do not yet know if these failures affect most PCs.

During this time, many users report that the taskbar and start menu are completely empty. Additionally, an hour glass appears when the mouse cursor reaches the taskbar. In other cases the context menu that can be accessed by right click is slow, but an error message will appear if the “Personalization” option is selected. He suggests

“No application is associated with this file to perform this action. Please install an application or, if it is already installed, create an association on the application defaults page.”

Windows 11, possible solutions

Fortunately it is possible to fix these errors about the Start menu, taskbar, File Explorer or other “areas” of the OS. Here is the approach

• Open the Task Manager using the traditional shortcut (CTRL + Alt + Del).
• In the Task Manager, make sure the “More details” option is enabled.
• Click on “File” in the main menu to start “Execute new task”.
• Type “cmd” in the “Open” field to start the command prompt.
• Finally copy and paste the following command, then verify by pressing Enter
• Copy and paste the following commandreg delete HKCUSOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionIrisService /f && shutdown -r -t 0
• Press Enter.

Usually the desktop is reloaded and its various elements need to find their contents. If this method does not work another method is to uninstall the KB5006050 update.

Note that some users have tried another solution. It involves modifying the time of the 24 hour clock (one day), and then restarting and changing again (-24 hrs). This is not a proven solution, but it does work for some.

Microsoft was informed of the situation. According to his feedback, the problem is not related to the latest builds but to the server side solution.