Right click on task bar and windows start page not letting me type

Question

Right Clicking will not open the little close screen. And when I open the windows start page I can not type in the search bar and it highlights apps.

Answer 1

Hi,

This behavior (Start menu search not working and taskbar right-click not responding) is usually caused by temporary system corruption or Windows shell issues, and it can often be fixed without losing any data.

1: Repair system files using SFC and DISM

Run system repair tools to fix any corrupted Windows components:

https://support.microsoft.com/windows/using-system-file-checker-in-windows-365e0031-36b1-6031-f804-8fd86e0ef4ca

After running it, restart your computer.

2: Restart Windows Explorer

Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager

Go to the Details tab

Find explorer.exe, right-click it, and select End task

Click File > Run new task

Type explorer.exe and press Enter

3: Re-register Windows apps (fixes Start menu/search issues)

Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc

Click File > Run new task

Type powershell and check “Create this task with administrative privileges”

Run this command:

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

Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost | foreach {AddAppxPackage -register "$($_.InstallLocation)\appxmanifest.xml" -DisableDevelopmentMode}

Please ignore any red errors during the process and let it complete, then restart your PC.

4. If that fails, the next step is to try System Recovery without deleting your files and apps.

Click the Start menu > Settings > System > Recovery.

Choose Reinstall Now under the section labeled 'Fix problems using Windows Update.'

Once completed, your system will restart. Please check afterward.

Answer 2

On Windows, issues where right-click menus do not appear and the Start menu or search box do not respond are typically caused by problems with Explorer, Start menu components, or related shell/XAML components.

Try these steps in order:

1. Restart Windows Explorer
   1. Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager.
   2. Select “Windows Explorer” on the Processes tab.
   3. Right-click it and select “Restart”.
   4. After the desktop and taskbar reload, test right-click on the taskbar and typing in Start.
2. Sign out and sign back in
   1. Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete and choose “Sign out”.
   2. Sign back into the account and test again.
3. Check for known shell/XAML issues after updates (enterprise/managed devices) On some devices, after certain Windows updates, Explorer, Start menu, and other XAML‑dependent apps can fail to start or behave unexpectedly (for example, Start menu not opening, taskbar not rendering, or XAML-based UI elements not responding). If this is an enterprise or virtualized environment and the problem started right after updates, contact the organization’s IT admin to review recent Windows updates and known issues described in KB5072911. They might need to adjust or roll back affected dependency packages or updates.

If the behavior persists after restarting Explorer and signing out/in, and especially if other built‑in apps or Settings pages are also failing to open or respond, this indicates a deeper shell/XAML issue and should be escalated to support or the device administrator for further remediation.

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References:

• Start button, charms and other user interface elements do not respond
• KB5072911: Explorer, the Start menu, and other XAML-dependent apps might not start or close unexpectedly on some enterprise devices