Windows 10 Start Menu grayed out and unresponsive

If you've upgraded to Windows 10 and are having problems with the Start Menu, then in today's post, we show you what to do to attempt to resolve the issue if your Windows 10 Start menu grayed out and unresponsive after an update.

Windows 10 Start Menu grayed out or unresponsive

Below is an image showing exactly how a Windows 10 Start menu is grayed out.

If you're experiencing this issue, try any of these recommended solutions in no particular order:

Run the Windows Store App Troubleshooter
Run the Start Menu Troubleshooter
Re-register the Windows Store
Update the Graphics Card Driver
Run the SFC/DISM scan.

Now, let's take a detailed look at these possible solutions.

1] Run the Windows Store App Troubleshooter

Running the Windows Store App troubleshooter can help fix this issue in some cases. So it's suggested you try it and see if that helps.

2] Run the Start Menu Troubleshooter

The Start Menu troubleshooter is another one that might come in handy for fixing grayed out Start menu.

Once you have downloaded the tool, do the following:

Open the troubleshooter.
Click Advanced.
Select Apply repairs automatically.
Then press the Next button to run through the troubleshooter's fixes.

3] Re-register the Windows Store

Corrupted installed Windows Store files can cause the issue of grayed out Start menu. Consequently, re-registering the Windows Store app might resolve the issue. Here's how:

Launch PowerShell in admin mode.

In the PowerShell window, copy and paste the command below and hit Enter:

'Get-AppXPackage | Foreach Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)AppXManifest.xml”'

Restart your device.

After re-registering Windows Store, you'll need to reset the Windows Store's cache.

To do that, press Windows key + R.

In the Run dialog box, type the command below and hit Enter:

wsreset.exe

The Windows Store app might then update and fix the grayed out Start menu issue.

Also, you can run the command below in PowerShell elevated mode, then restart your computer and see if that helps.

Get-appxpackage -all shellexperience -packagetype bundle |% add-appxpackage -register -disabledevelopmentmode ($_.installlocation + “\appxmetadata\appxbundlemanifest.xml”)

4] Update the Graphics Card Driver

Try updating GPU drivers. This issue is known to have been caused by NVIDIA drivers before so if you have one of those, update NVIDIA drivers. Here's how:

Press Windows key + R. In the Run dialog box, type dxdiag hit Enter.
Note down the operating system and graphics card model details on the System and Display tabs respectively.
Next, navigate to your graphics card manufacturer's website in a browser.
Open the driver section of the website.
Then select your graphics card model and Windows platform from the site's drop-down menus. If the site has a driver search box, enter your graphics card model there.
Download the most update driver that's compatible with your 64 or 32-bit computer architecture.
Thereafter, double-click the driver installer from the folder you downloaded it to, to install the graphics card driver.

Once the driver installation is complete, restart the PC and see if the issue is resolved.

5] Run the SFC/DISM scan

Performing the SFC/DISM scan operation can help resolve this issue. The procedure simply replaces corrupt/damaged system files with fresh healthy copies - it also can rebuild the installed Windows 10 system image.

For the purposes of ease and convenience, you can run the scan using the procedure below.

Open Notepad - copy and paste the command below into the text editor.

@echo off date /t & time /t echo Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup echo… date /t & time /t echo Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth echo… date /t & time /t echo SFC /scannow SFC /scannow date /t & time /t pause

Save the file with a name and append the .bat file extension - eg; SFC_DISM_scan.bat.

Repeatedly run the batch file with admin privilege (right-click the saved file and select Run as Administrator from the context menu) until it reports no errors - at which point you can now restart your PC and see if the grayed out Start menu issue has been resolved.

That's it, folks - All the best!