Start button not responding, Outlook will not connect to Office365, Event Log inundated with warnings

Question

We are running Windows 10 20H2 with the latest updates being installed 2 weeks ago. We are currently experiencing an issue where users Start Menu stops working, Outlook will no longer connect to Office365 and the application event log is filled with AppModel-State warnings, event ID's 20,21,22,23,24. They are appearing at a rate of almost 1 every second.

Event ID: 20
Triggered repair because operation LocalSettings against package microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_8wekyb3d8bbwe hit error -2147024891.

Event ID: 21
Repair for operation LocalSettings against package Microsoft.YourPhone_8wekyb3d8bbwe with error -2147024891 returned Error Code: -2147009279

Event ID: 23
Triggered repair of state locations because operation SettingsInitialize against package Microsoft.YourPhone_8wekyb3d8bbwe hit error -2147024891.

Event ID: 24
Repair of state locations for operation SettingsInitialize against package Microsoft.YourPhone_8wekyb3d8bbwe with error -2147024891 returned Error Code: 0

Its not just YourPhone though as the identified app. Its allso Windows Store, microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps and more.

The user first notices a Windows alert, Critical Error your Start menu isn't working. We'll try to fix it the next time you sign in. Then they notice that Outlook is no longer connected to Office365.

Reboots don't fix it. We have tried to repair office. We have run sfc /scannow. We have uninstalled and reinstalled office.

Answer 1

We still don't know the root cause but it seems to be related to Windows Update and only causing certain machine models only, in our env anyways. (affected models were HP EB G3,G4,G5)

The fix is (without rebuilding the windows user profile or re-imaging) is to re-apply registry permissions and rebuilding the Windows System Appx.

Log in as the user
Open registry and validate permission on the below entries that it has "All Application Packages" are in there and has "Read" box checked.

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

Open two Powershell windows, one as normal and one as elevated/admin (don't minimize...)

Open Task Manager and End task Explorer.exe

On the elevated Powershell, run the below command. You will see errors but ignore...
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

On the normal (non-elevated) Powershell, do the following commands, ignore any errors...

• Get-AppXPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy\AppXManifest.xml"}
• Get-AppxPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "C:\Windows\SystemApps\ShellExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\AppXManifest.xml"}
• Get-AppXPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy\AppXManifest.xml"}
• if (-not (Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.AAD.BrokerPlugin)) { Add-AppxPackage -Register "$env:windir\SystemApps\Microsoft.AAD.BrokerPlugin_cw5n1h2txyewy\Appxmanifest.xml" -DisableDevelopmentMode -ForceApplicationShutdown } Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.AAD.BrokerPlugin
• if (-not (Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.CloudExperienceHost)) { Add-AppxPackage -Register "$env:windir\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.CloudExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\Appxmanifest.xml" -DisableDevelopmentMode -ForceApplicationShutdown } Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.CloudExperienceHost
• Start-Process explorer.exe

Once taskbar/explorer is up, test start/search/o365 auth/registration.

Answer 2

We are also struggling with this issue, also the PCs seems too loose their Window 10 enterprise activation and falling back to Pro for unknown reason.

Answer 3

Does anybody know if there's a Microsoft KB number or known issue about it? I had related this issue to Clickshare but now we are also seeing computers without Clickshare having these symptoms so I'm thinking there must be another app also triggering this. Unfortunately I can't find any Microsoft ack that this is a bug

Answer 4

Same problem here, but not only on HP computers, problem occurs on LENOVO THINKPAD L580 and THINKPAD L14 G1 too.

We use Barco Clickshare too and it seem that the problem occurs when it updated this morning.

The following script run as user works for us too :

$acl1 = Get-Acl "HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders" 
$sid = New-Object System.Security.Principal.SecurityIdentifier ("S-1-15-2-1") 
$person_temp = $sid.Translate( [System.Security.Principal.NTAccount]) 
$person = $person_temp.Value.Split("")[1] 
$access = [System.Security.AccessControl.RegistryRights]"ReadKey" 
$inheritance = [System.Security.AccessControl.InheritanceFlags]"ContainerInherit,ObjectInherit" 
$propagation = [System.Security.AccessControl.PropagationFlags]"None" 
$type = [System.Security.AccessControl.AccessControlType]"Allow" 
$rule = New-Object System.Security.AccessControl.RegistryAccessRule($person,$access,$inheritance,$propagation,$type) 
$acl1.AddAccessRule($rule) 
$acl1 | Set-Acl
if (-not (Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.AAD.BrokerPlugin)) { Add-AppxPackage -Register "$env:windir\SystemApps\Microsoft.AAD.BrokerPlugin_cw5n1h2txyewy\Appxmanifest.xml" -DisableDevelopmentMode -ForceApplicationShutdown } Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.AAD.BrokerPlugin

Answer 5

We've had the same problem since this morning.
The following Powershell script from Barko / Clickshare worked directly without a restart:

$idRef = [System.Security.Principal.SecurityIdentifier]("AC")   
$access = [System.Security.AccessControl.RegistryRights]"ReadKey"
$inheritance = [System.Security.AccessControl.InheritanceFlags]"ContainerInherit,ObjectInherit"
$propagation = [System.Security.AccessControl.PropagationFlags]"None"
$type = [System.Security.AccessControl.AccessControlType]"Allow"
$rule = New-Object System.Security.AccessControl.RegistryAccessRule($idRef,$access,$inheritance,$propagation,$type)

$folder = 'HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders'
$acl = Get-Acl $folder
try {
    $acl.AddAccessRule($rule)
    $acl |Set-Acl
} catch { }

$folder = 'HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer'
$acl = Get-Acl $folder
try {
    $acl.AddAccessRule($rule)
    $acl |Set-Acl
} catch { }