Start menu problems

Earlier this week, Microsoft released a preview of next month's KB5028254 update for Windows 11 22H2. While this cumulative update fixes a lot of bugs, a large number of people who have installed it are complaining of Start menu issues.

Although Microsoft concedes that there is a problem, acknowledging that some users may find that the Start menu simply does not open, the company insists that it is not at fault, instead pointing the finger of blame at third parties.

Windows is no stranger to problems, and some issues linger rather longer than others. A good example is a longstanding bug that has blighted both Windows 10 and Windows 11 since the beginning of the year.

The issue means that the Start menu, Windows search and Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps behave strangely or fail to open. Or at least this was the case; Microsoft has now addressed the problems with a new update.

If you have been experiencing problems opening the Start menu, launching UWP apps or accessing Windows search, you can draw some comfort from the fact that Microsoft is acknowledging that something is going wrong.

But, to make a change, the company is shifting the blame away from an often-at-fault Windows update. Microsoft says that the cornucopia of issues -- which can affect both Windows 10 and Windows 11 -- stem from updates to apps themselves rather than a problematic update for Windows.

It is that time of the month again -- the time that Microsoft releases updates for Windows 11. This time around, the company has released the KB5016629 update to not only fix a problem that prevented the Start menu from opening, but also to address various security issues.

This is a cumulative update which also includes the changes that were part of the KB5015882 update that was made available last month. This means that the KB5016629 update fixes problems with File Explorer as well as introducing new Focus Assist features and better Windows 11 updating.

Microsoft has performed another Known Issue Rollback (KIR) after Windows 11 users complained of Start menu problems after installing the KB5014668 update.

KIRs used to be relatively rare, but there have been several issues recently that have required them to be implemented. In the case of the recently released KB5014668 update, some users found that it was not possible to open the Start menu either by clicking the Start button or by using the keyboard.

The release of the KB5015814 update for Windows 11 earlier this week was supposed to fix problems with PowerShell as well as addressing security issues. But as has become disturbingly common, there have also been unwanted side effects for those who jumped on the update and installed it as soon as it was offered up.

Some users are experiencing problems with the Start menu, with complaints indicating that the menu is being interrupted by an app opening and closing. There are also complaints about errors appearing after a failed installation of the KB5015814 update -- specifically error codes 0x8000ffff, 0x8007007e and 0x80073701.

When Microsoft released the KB5010414 update for Windows 11 a couple of week ago, there was great interest in the new features it added. But there was also a sense of heavy anticipation for the almost inevitable problems the update would cause.

We have already had reports of the update not only breaking printing, but also causing some systems to overheat, but this is not all. Users are also complaining that KB5010414 is causing the Start menu to be hidden.