Programs loaded from start menu run as admin does nothing

Question

Programs loaded from start menu run as admin does nothing. For example, typing powershell at the start menu search reveals powershell run as admin, when clicked nothing happens. I am able to run as admin going to the file location. I recently manually updated from 23H2 to 25H2.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Hi Nick Strother,

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A forum.

Based on what you’re seeing (Run as administrator from Start menu does nothing, but launching the executable directly works), and the fact that this started right after a manual feature update, this strongly points to a Start Menu / UAC integration break rather than a problem with PowerShell itself.

Here are some troubleshooting steps that you can try in this situation, starting from the top:

1 - Refresh Start Menu components

Open Task Manager and end these processes (they will restart automatically):

• StartMenuExperienceHost
• ShellExperienceHost
• Windows Explorer

2 - Verify UAC is active

• Press Win + R, type secpol.msc, and press Enter.
• Go to Local Policies > Security Options.
• Confirm User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode is Enabled.

3 - Install any pending Windows updates

• Go to Settings > Windows Update
• Install all pending updates and restart

If the issue is persistent after the steps taken, please try re‑registering Start menu apps

• Go to the PowerShell file location: C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\
• Right‑click powershell.exe > Run as administrator.
• Run this command

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

• Restart the device then test again.

You can also repair Windows system files by running sfc /scannow in PowerShell as administrator from the file location then restart when finished.

Let me know if you need further assistance, feel free to ask me by clicking "Add Comment" or "Add Answer" if you cannot add comment so your response will be visible. Thanks for your effort.

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