A
AllanP1
My Windows 10 right-click functionality and file explorer was malfunctioning. However, it's not just a problem in explorer, but also right-click functionality in the Start menu.
Here are the symptoms I have found:
1) After a fresh reboot, some of the app icons pinned in the Start menu are blank. None of the icons in the Start menu itself exhibit this, only the pinned ones.
2) If I right-click the Start menu, some applications will launch while others do not. It seems that the ones that launch are the ones introduced in Windows 10 such as
- Apps & features
- Power options
- System
- Settings
- Search
while others that don’t work are
- Device manager
- Disk management
- Computer management
- Command Prompt
- Command Prompt (Admin)
If I try to launch one of the ones that I know will fail, then file explorer will be messed up from that point forward until I reboot. I will explain below.
3) If I launch file explorer after a reboot, I can move my way around drives and folders. I can double-click on files and the associated app will launch and open the file e.g. txt, docx, pdf etc. If I try to right-click a file, I get the blue circle and the right-click context menu never shows up. From that point on explorer is locked up. I can no longer double click on a file.
I have tried the following:
Re-starting the locked up explorer in task manager does no good. I cannot double click files in the new explorer instance if the previous one was already broken..
I have run DISM and SFC. They didn't find errors.
I have booted to safe mode. The problem does not appear when in safe mode. Everything works fine.
I have run Msconfig and set it to diagnostic mode and rebooted. The is no problem.
I kept running Msconfig and determined that it was not any of the third party services. After many hours of enabling small groups at a time of the Microsoft services, I finally determined that it was the Windows Search service that was the problem. It would not start. I ran the troubleshooter. It changed fixed some permissions and then the service could start.
Once Windows Search was running, the right click problem disappeared.
I just wanted to share this with you as I could not find any mention of this anywhere.
Continue reading...
Here are the symptoms I have found:
1) After a fresh reboot, some of the app icons pinned in the Start menu are blank. None of the icons in the Start menu itself exhibit this, only the pinned ones.
2) If I right-click the Start menu, some applications will launch while others do not. It seems that the ones that launch are the ones introduced in Windows 10 such as
- Apps & features
- Power options
- System
- Settings
- Search
while others that don’t work are
- Device manager
- Disk management
- Computer management
- Command Prompt
- Command Prompt (Admin)
If I try to launch one of the ones that I know will fail, then file explorer will be messed up from that point forward until I reboot. I will explain below.
3) If I launch file explorer after a reboot, I can move my way around drives and folders. I can double-click on files and the associated app will launch and open the file e.g. txt, docx, pdf etc. If I try to right-click a file, I get the blue circle and the right-click context menu never shows up. From that point on explorer is locked up. I can no longer double click on a file.
I have tried the following:
Re-starting the locked up explorer in task manager does no good. I cannot double click files in the new explorer instance if the previous one was already broken..
I have run DISM and SFC. They didn't find errors.
I have booted to safe mode. The problem does not appear when in safe mode. Everything works fine.
I have run Msconfig and set it to diagnostic mode and rebooted. The is no problem.
I kept running Msconfig and determined that it was not any of the third party services. After many hours of enabling small groups at a time of the Microsoft services, I finally determined that it was the Windows Search service that was the problem. It would not start. I ran the troubleshooter. It changed fixed some permissions and then the service could start.
Once Windows Search was running, the right click problem disappeared.
I just wanted to share this with you as I could not find any mention of this anywhere.
Continue reading...