All the shortcuts in my Start bar keeps disappearing

Question

Hi. I've got a repeat problem where all the shortcuts in my Windows 10 Start bar disappear. They become replaced by the "Productivity" group of shortcuts.

It's happened about 6 times in 18 months. I started to log it in May 2022, November 2022, February 2023 and April 2023: every single shortcut just vanishes overnight, becoming replaced with this one group of Microsoft products.

I've followed all the instructions on using DISM, SFC. sometimes this just gives me a busy icon and the Start menu doesn't appear at all.

Sometimes, system restore point helps.

The community have tried to help each time, but some of the instructions seem very involved, and I'm not always eager to try them.

If I spend a few hours rebuilding the Start bar manually, is there a way to prevent it all disappearing in September / October?

Has anyone seen this behaviour before?

Thanks.

Ref:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/youtube-links-in-word-documents-no-longer-work/65ef540f-952c-4bd7-b524-83a65a2e0910

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/start-menu-shortcuts-gone-again/8e2e936a-7906-4077-9b35-f5395849fc93

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/why-do-my-start-menu-shortcuts-keep-disappearing/8133170f-4718-4ef7-9986-c0cfcd4b87a6

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/all-my-pinned-start-menu-items-disappeared-again/acec90a5-4628-4e51-b25f-939108e8ceed

Answer 1

Hello there,

based upon the information provided:

Check the Start menu settings

Ensure that the option to show recently opened items in the Start menu is enabled. To do this, right-click on the Start button, select "Settings," go to "Personalization," and click on "Start." Make sure the "Show recently opened items in Jump Lists on Start or the taskbar" option is toggled on.

Reset the Start menu layout:

Windows 10 allows you to reset the Start menu layout, which can help if there are any configuration issues causing the disappearance of shortcuts. Right-click on the Start button, select "Windows PowerShell (Admin)" or "Command Prompt (Admin)" to open an elevated PowerShell or Command Prompt window. Then, enter the following command and press Enter:

powershell

Copy code

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

Once the command completes, restart your computer and check if the shortcuts reappear.

Create a new user profile:

If the issue persists, creating a new user profile can help determine if the problem is specific to your current user account. Create a new user account and check if the shortcuts appear properly in the Start bar for the new user.

if the issue persists please take a reset to the pc

And see if it helps,

Thank you

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