I cannot add apps to my screen

Question

Not sure back in late June I lost the ability to add apps back in my main screen. Not sure what to do to fix that, I have tried everything that I could find on the internet, but nothing worked?

Answer 1

Welcome Ron Miller,

I understand how frustrating it can be when you lost the ability to add apps back to your main screen in Windows 11. 

Before proceeding, could you please clarify:    

• Are you trying to pin apps to the Start menu, the desktop, or the taskbar? 
• Does anything happen when you right-click an app and select Pin to Start or Pin to taskbar, or do those options not appear? 

In the meantime, you can try these steps below to troubleshoot the issue:  

Option 1: Restart Windows Explorer 

• Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager 
• Find Windows Explorer 
• Right-click it and select Restart 

Option 2: Check if the Start menu is responding correctly 

• Press Windows + R > type wsreset.exe and press Enter
• Wait for the process to complete

Option 3: Re-register the Start menu components.  

• Open Windows Terminal (Admin)
• Run: Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"} 

Option 4: Repair system files.  

• Open Windows Terminal (Admin)
• Run: sfc /scannow 
• Then run: DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth 

I hope the steps above help you deal with your issue.  

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