Vanishing Start Menu and "Dead" Windows Key/Icon

[Dennis Ruggeri]

Can anyone suggest what going on and how to fix it? I use a new high end laptop for my business running Windows 10 Pro. Once or twice a day, everyday, if you press the Windows Key, nothing happens. If you click the Microsoft icon, nothing happens. Cortana also no longer works. The only solution is to press Ctl-Alt-Delete, go to the power icon and restart the system. Then everything works again. It's maddening!

 

[Regedit32]

Hi Dennis,

Welcome to the forum.

Some time ago Microsoft released a cumulative update that in part addressed this known bug. That was KB3093266. I myself overcame this issue by doing an in-place upgrade of my OS, i.e. I re-installed Windows 10 over the top of itself, and that seemed to resolve the issue (possibly because during this process it checked for updates and may have installed that KB again.)

The particular update though needs to be reinstalled if you later add language packs to your System.

There are two versions of this update, one for 32-bit operating system, the other for 64-bit operating system.

My guess is your computer is 64-bit, but you can confirm that yourself first checking your Start > Settings > System > About splash screen.

A direct link to the 64-bit download: http://download.windowsupdate.com/c..._6751b43720389771ff946993ed0def5a7ec4acc3.msu should you decide its worth a shot re-installing and your computer os is 64-bit of course.