Unable to open Start Menu

Question

When pressing the Windows key, or trying to press the Windows icon the start menu isn't opening and generating a crash dump.

My Windows specification

Edition Windows 11 Enterprise

Version 24H2

Installed on ‎13/‎12/‎2024

OS build 26100.2605

Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.36.0

The dump is crashing in the "StartMenuExperienceHost.exe" in the following code

> MSVCP140_APP.dll!mtx_do_lock(_Mtx_internal_imp_t * mtx, const xtime * target) Line 100 C++ Symbols loaded.

I've seen this issue before where there is some compatibility issue between the C++ redist when updating Visual Studio.

I've tried grabbing the latest Visual Studio redistributables and installing them but that hasn't helped after restarting my windows machine. I've tried to make sure that I have the latest updates installed, including any updates in the Windows Store

I'm not sure what else to look into now to try and fix this.

***Move from Windows / Windows 11 / Desktop, Start, and personalization / Start Menu***

Answer 1

In my case I could see that MSVCP140_APP.dll was being loaded from the wrong path:
C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.VCLibs.140.00_14.0.32530.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\msvcp140_app.dll

I used Process Monitor to examine StartMenuExperienceHost.exe and saw it loading this:
C:\Program Files\Citrix\HDX\bin\Citrix.Hooking.Uwp.Bridge.dll

It's because I'm remoting to my desktop PC using Citrix, and more research lead me here:
https://support.citrix.com/s/article/CTX107825-how-to-disable-citrix-api-hooks-on-a-perapplication-basis?language=en_US

So I used this command to set the registry entry and disable it, and the problem was resolved immediate (no need for a restart):

reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Citrix\CtxHook /f /v ExcludedImageNames /d StartMenuExperienceHost.exe

I imagine the same issue might happen from other applications injecting themselves into StartMenuExperienceHost.exe though.

For reference, it used this DLL when successfully launching:
C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.FileExp_cw5n1h2txyewy\msvcp140_app.dll

Answer 2

Hello

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community forum.

You can try to fix this problem in two ways:

Re-register Start Menu: Try re-registering the Start Menu using PowerShell. Open PowerShell as an administrator and run the following command:

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

Create a New User Account: Sometimes, creating a new user account can help determine if the issue is user profile-specific. Create a new local user account and see if the Start Menu works there.

Best Regards,

Wesley Li

Answer 3

Thanks WROE Andrew. I was having the same issue after the December Windows Updates, your solution fixed my issue.

Answer 4

Thanks, that solved the issue for me as well (though I had to restart windows explorer). Good find on this, I don't think I would've solved it.