PSA: Windows 10 Start menu issues and quirks

[valinet]

Before filling a bug report about the Windows 10 Start menu, please read this document which outlines currently known issues and quirks and workarounds.

Pin to Start from other than Explorer and Start menu does not work

Symptom: On Windows 11, when you try to pin a program or shortcut from places other than Start menu and Explorer, nothing happens.
Fix available: No ❌
Workaround available: Yes ✅
Details: Although EP has made Pin to Start through Explorer and Start menu work properly, other places not fully covered by EP such as the Search menu and open/save as dialogs do not have proper Pin to Start behavior. If you want to pin items from the Search menu, for now you can select "Open file location", right click the pre-selected shortcut, and lastly select Pin to Start.

Cannot type to search in full screen Start menu

Symptom: On Windows 11 with Windows 10 full screen Start menu, typing when the Start menu is open doesn't show the Search menu.
Fix available: No ❌
Workaround available: No ❌
Details: The Windows 11 Search menu technically opens at the same time with the Start menu, and puts the caret on the (hidden) text field there so that when it's typed on, the Start menu is dismissed and the Search menu is made visible. However, for some reason the full screen Start does not get dismissed when one types on the full screen Start, but the text field is actually filled in so does the search results list. In this state, pressing Enter will select whatever appears first in the hidden search results view.

More details in here: #1975.

---

The following issues are now no longer present, but are kept here for reference purposes.

Details

Pin to Start from Start menu does not work

Symptom: On Windows 11 22H2 build 22621.1413 or higher, when you right click a program in the app list and choose "Pin to Start", nothing happens.

Fix available: Yes ✅ Install ExplorerPatcher 22621.2428.59.1 or higher
Workaround available: Yes ✅
Details: This problem seems to happen because the tile data store seems to have changed for the Windows 11 menu, while the Windows 10 Start menu still uses the old data store to display tiles. The Windows 10 Start menu has to be disassembled and studied in order to redirect operations on the old data store to the new data store.
Workaround: Until this gets fixed properly, you can pin tiles to Start by dragging the application entry to the pinned tiles area.

Pinned tiles cannot be unpinned

Symptom: On Windows 11 22H2 build 22621.1413 or higher, when you right click on a pinned tile, you cannot unpin it, since the relevant option is not displayed. Instead, "Pin to Start" is displayed, even though the respective program is already pinned, and the option does nothing.

Fix available: Yes ✅ Install ExplorerPatcher 22621.2428.59.1 or higher
Workaround available: Yes ✅
Details: This problem seems to happen because the tile data store seems to have changed for the Windows 11 menu, while the Windows 10 Start menu still uses the old data store to display tiles. The Windows 10 Start menu has to be disassembled and studied in order to redirect operations on the old data store to the new data store.
Workaround: Until this gets fixed properly, you can unpin tiles by dragging the tile away and creating a new group with it. Then, right click the group heading and choose "Unpin group from Start".

Cannot pin programs that are not displayed in Start

Symptom: Programs that cannot be located directly within the Windows 10 Start menu cannot be pinned to the Windows 10 Start menu.

Fix available: Yes ✅ Install ExplorerPatcher 22621.2428.59.1 or higher
Workaround available: Yes ✅
Details: This problem seems to happen because the tile data store seems to have changed for the Windows 11 menu, while the Windows 10 Start menu still uses the old data store to display tiles. The Windows 10 Start menu has to be disassembled and studied in order to redirect operations on the old data store to the new data store. Applications like File Explorer and the Start menu search panel 'talk' to the new data store, thus their "Pin to Start" options try to pin tiles to the Windows 11 Start menu, not the Windows 10 one.
Workaround: Restart File Explorer using the relevant option in Properties. This ensures that no Control Panel windows are opened, which is relevant for this workaround. Then, click the "Pin tiles to Windows 10 Start menu from File Explorer" option in Properties - Start menu. A File Explorer window opens - use this window to browse to the item you want pinned to the Windows 10 Start menu. Once you identify the program, right click and choose "Pin to Start". The program will be pinned to Start. If it does not work, try again one more time. If you can find the program only using Search, right click on it there, choose "Open file location". In the window that opens, copy the address to the program and navigate to it using the special File Explorer window from which you can pin tiles.

Acknowledgments

Some of these workarounds were discovered by our beloved forum members, who I would like to express my deepest gratitude towards and thank them for their effort. More information can be found in this thread: #1108

[YINGCHENELCS]

右键菜单中没有pin to start的选项

[pyrates999]

Here's my workaround: Allows you to pin anything to start.

1. Go to here: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs.
2. Create a new folder, call it anything I named mine "Other".
   3 Create a shortcut to your folder so you can quickly open it at any time.
3. Navigate to the item you want pinned to start, and create a shortcut for the item.
4. Open the folder you created earlier, i.e "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Other" in my case, and place the shortcut in here.
   6 Open the start menu and scroll to your folder and simply drag the shortcut onto start. WallaH!

Hello! After installing the program, applications are not pinned from the explorer for start menu Win10. I tried the method with creating a folder in StartMenu - it did not help.

Please post windows version and build. You can find this by running winver. Please include if you are running x86-64 or Arm.
Please post explorer patcher version.

[Br0m0s]

Here's my workaround: Allows you to pin anything to start.

1. Go to here: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs.
2. Create a new folder, call it anything I named mine "Other".
   3 Create a shortcut to your folder so you can quickly open it at any time.
3. Navigate to the item you want pinned to start, and create a shortcut for the item.
4. Open the folder you created earlier, i.e "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Other" in my case, and place the shortcut in here.
   6 Open the start menu and scroll to your folder and simply drag the shortcut onto start. WallaH!

Hello! After installing the program, applications are not pinned from the explorer for start menu Win10. I tried the method with creating a folder in StartMenu - it did not help.

Please post windows version and build. You can find this by running winver. Please include if you are running x86-64 or Arm. Please post explorer patcher version.

Here. Win running x64

[pyrates999]

Thank you. It helps to know if your windows is up to date and you're using the last release of EP.

[ElusiveT]

Here's my workaround: Allows you to pin anything to start.

1. Go to here: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs.

2. Create a new folder, call it anything I named mine "Other".
   3 Create a shortcut to your folder so you can quickly open it at any time.

3. Navigate to the item you want pinned to start, and create a shortcut for the item.

4. Open the folder you created earlier, i.e "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Other" in my case, and place the shortcut in here.
   6 Open the start menu and scroll to your folder and simply drag the shortcut onto start. WallaH!

I'm on ExplorerPatcher 26100.4946.69.6
Windows 11 Home 25H2, up to date in February 2026
This method worked for me, but I had to do it slightly differently. On my system, there are multiple 'Program' folders with pinned shortcuts in them. Some shortcuts are in this ProgramData folder, others are in AppData\Local, etc. The one that I needed was:

C:\Users[my username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

For me, this was the only Start Menu\Programs folder that I could add subfolders to that would show up in the ExplorerPatcher Win10 start menu. Once I figured that out, then I could:

• open this specific Programs folder in explorer
• add new subfolders there
• put shortcuts in those subfolders
• open the 'all apps' sidebar in the Win10 start menu, go to the new shortcuts in there, right click, pin to start.

I'm posting this here because this was still an issue for me in 2026 and none of the old posted fixes worked exactly right for me, but using the info I found here I was able to finally figure it out. Hope this helps somebody else.

[pyrates999]

Please post windows version and build. You can find this by running winver. Please include if you are running x86-64 or Arm. And what language your windows is in.

February 2026 had 2 patches released. One was a regular update, the other one was a preview update.

[AleksanderNekr]

Its cool that it is possible to launch old explorer to pin tiles! Btw is there any way to launch this explorer (with such parameters) by default instead of Windows default?

[AeliusSaionji]

One additional quirk I've noticed is that the fullscreen start (aka start screen) has a higher Z order than the start menu search window.

When the user types into the start screen, the search dialog (same as Win+S) is automatically invoked. But, as mentioned, it pops up beneath the start screen, where it cannot be seen.

I was unable to do force the search window to a higher Z order using AHK, but maybe it can be fixed with ExplorerPatcher.

Love your work!

[VeganHealer]

have this same issue, it's very annoying
have you figured out how to fix it?

[AeliusSaionji]

No, I'm hoping for a fix from explorerpatcher.

Until then, I'll probably do something silly like remap Win to Win+S, and invoke the startscreen via ctrl+esc (or other remap).

[AeliusSaionji]

Some technical info on how Windows now has several kinds of Z order groups, this is very likely relevant to the problem https://blog.adeltax.com/window-z-order-in-windows-10/

[amurrell305]

For me, it's the exact opposite. I can pin tiles from Start, but not from Explorer.

[GTTeancum]

I'm not able to see any pinned tiles at all. it's as though it's been removed entirely. I'm using the Win 10 start menu setting

[PeterPoint]

Glad to be able to share this with everyone and I would like to ask for a little help or guidance, I will tell you the problem.

I have been using ExplorerPatcher for a year now and I am delighted. I have always kept it updated to the latest version.
Today is August 11, I got a big Windows 11 update the day before yesterday, and when Windows finished updating, ExplorerPatcher stopped working. As much as I tried to update it, it gave me an error and told me that it did not work. I thought it would be necessary to wait a few days until I could get an update to ExplorerParcher that would fix the problem. Today I tried to access the "Update" menu of ExplorerPatcher and there was no ExplorerPatcher, so I decided to install the one I had saved from a year ago and... ABSOLUTE DISASTER. When logging into the Explorer system, it cannot be executed and the screen makes a permanent "Flick". I have tried many things (I can't find the name of the installed ExplorerPatcher to try to uninstall it), like putting all startup applications to "Disable", but nothing works.
Could someone give me a clue to try to solve the problem?

Network services are working, and because I have the C: drive shared, I can access it from another computer, but I don't know what to do.
I've also managed to run a CMD, but I don't know what to do either.
PLEASE HELP !!!!

[pyrates999]

There are currently 4 ways of doing this:

• Identify "ExplorerPatcher" in Settings > Apps > Apps & features. Click the "three dots" button, and then click "Uninstall" and confirm the prompts.
• Identify "ExplorerPatcher" in Control Panel > Programs and Features. With it highlighted, click "Uninstall" and confirm the prompts.
• Run ep_setup.exe /uninstall.
• Rename ep_setup.exe to ep_uninstall.exe and execute that.

[PeterPoint]

Thank you VERY VERY MUCH !!! Solved !!!

[eyehiel]

I have upgraded to 10.0.22621 Build 22621 and after restart, File explorer is keeping crashing multiple times until I see a prompt from Explorer Patcher that because there were 3 crashes within 10 seconds it might be related to Explorer Patcher so it doesn't load itself anymore.
Then I could uninstall Explorer Patcher but all the icons on the desktop were messed up. after re-login, the icons returned to their places properly.

First I'm lucky that you have added this error handling, otherwise, I don't know what I would do..
But unfortunately, the Explorer Patcher is not working with this latest version of Win 11.

[pyrates999]

There is no build number 22621. Please post the version and build by running winver.

[eyehiel]

Indeed, looks like System Information duplicates the release number to build field

Anyway here is from Winver:

[pyrates999]

thank you.

[eyehiel]

Resolved by @EliotAku's suggestion below.

[EliotAku]

@eyehiel I'm on the same OS build as you and I've manage to make everything works again by doing what pyrates999 said here, hope it will work for you as well...

[eyehiel]

@EliotAku - Indeed I confirm that it helped and now I can run EP on my latest OS version, Thanks !!

just about step 5: "verify you get a notification that symbols have been downloaded"
I didn't see this notification...

[EdgeDev01]

well i haven't had the issue on 23H2 and the pin to tile and everything works, i just ask for the option to customize the windows 11 action center flyout to look like windows 10's using this tool, and to have the windows 10 styled searchbox when i have search box mode enabled in settings on windows 11.

[Kady67]

Please help! I cant get explorer to work or uninstall..I've tried all the suggestions that were above but nothing has worked. When I right click on taskbar it vanishes for a few seconds then I get a notice on the side to update explorer patcher which I do but nothing changes..stuck here. I cant get to the menu at all

[eyehiel]

@Kady67 I also encountered that.
To overcome that you need to cause 3 crashes to Win File Explorer withing 10 seconds thus Explorer Patcher will notice there is a problem and won't load itself, then you will be able to uninstall it, remove the 2 registry trees as described here and then install the latest version.

In order to cause 3 crashes withing 10 seconds try type Ctrl + R very quickly right when you see the taskbar back on the screen. do it multiple times until you get error message from Explorer Patcher that indicates there it might has a problem and therefore it won't load itself.

[Kady67]

ok thank you so much

[eyehiel]

Your confirmation that it helped you will be appreciated also by others that will visit this page.

[Kady67]

I cant even get the registry path to work right.i'm new to windows 11 so I dont have all the settings just right yet but when I put that path in it tries to open in my browser.I have tried doing a search for explorer patcher and a few things have come up.Should I delete those files? Also once I get it working again can you tell me how I can get volume on screen once i'm using the windows 10 taskbar look please?

[milestprower92]

@valinet i made some research and i noticed that the StartTileData.dll checks the registry tweak "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell\Update\Packages\UndockingDisabled", after enabling it, pin to start fixes it self but search breaks (sorry but my os is in spanish and sorry for the bad grammar)
Anclar a inicio = Pin To Start, Desanclar de Inicio= unpin from start

[pyrates999]

You need to rebuild the search index. This is a known issue with windows 11.

[valinet]

The menu doesn't open for me if I set UndockingDisabled to 1. OS build 22621.2283.

[milestprower92]

@valinet I Found The Problematic Dll that caused the "pin to start" bug, is StartMenu.dll Located On C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.Core_cw5n1h2txyewy After renaming or deleting it Fixes "Pin To Start"

[milestprower92]

fixed.pin.to.start.1.1.mp4

[Giresharu]

@valinet I Found The Problematic Dll that caused the "pin to start" bug, is StartMenu.dll Located On C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.Core_cw5n1h2txyewy After renaming or deleting it Fixes "Pin To Start"

It works!

[emvaized]

It turns out you can use open-source utility TileIconifier to create tiles for apps missing from the Start menu. No other option from suggested worked for me.

[YYSFHBQ]

The "start" bar on the left side of the start menu cannot pin items. I tried setting it in Settings > Personalization > Start > Folders, but nothing happened. Should it be added from somewhere else?

[ghost]

Newest updates to ExplorerPatcher fixes the pinning and unpinning bug

[ghost]

yep :)

[nekku-o2]

Just a quick FYI: 22h2 22621.2428 introduced the Start Menu breakdown. Properties Restart File Explorer doesn't help.

[Amrsatrio]

I'd assume your PC just performed a feature upgrade. In that case, please reinstall EP (of course with the latest version) and see if the old menu returns.

[eyehiel]

[Poopooracoocoo]

Please create a new discussion or issue. Or create a message in the Discord server

[Amrsatrio]

It works if you use the latest version of EP. Unless Microsoft pushed a feature flag that broke the old taskbar.

[Amrsatrio]

I just made a new prerelease that fixes a very specific installation/uninstallation issue. Can you try it and let me know how it goes? Otherwise you can DM me on Discord (EP server invite is in readme) and we'll sort it out together.

[Amrsatrio]

EP does not modify icons from Windows 11 to Windows 10.

[OKGoogle7348]

pin function still cannot work properly in 22621.4317.67.1

[mYLnote]

我是将开始菜单的所有软件列表展开，找到需要的软件，通过右键定位列表中软件的快捷方式并删除（这个位置应该在C:\Users\administrator\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\）。这个时候原来的其他位置的快捷方式或原始exe右键会增加（固定到开始菜单磁贴）选项 。希望这对你有帮助🙂 If you do not understand Chinese please use the translator。 jasonzhang98 ***@***.***> 于2025年2月27日周四 11:41写道：

…

May I ask how you solved it? I have also encountered the same problem — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#1679 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BO3OF26JBZYAB23PIVZF7AT2R2CP7AVCNFSM6AAAAAA2YRIDZGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTEMZTGM3TIMY> . You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: <valinet/ExplorerPatcher/repo-discussions/1679/comments/12333743@ github.com>

[iTetsuryu]

Best solution so far.

[evgeniygrim]

https://github.com/evgeniygrim/makeLnk

I made a simple utility for creating *.exe launchers, due to the fact that shortcuts can't be fixed.
may help someone.

[hpr895]

works on windows 11 24H2:

1. create chortcut (on desktop) of anything you need
2. prepend "explorer " to Object name, like "explorer C:\Program Files...\app.exe"
3. set icon
4. now it can be pinned to start menu
5. remove that shortcut from desktop

[iTetsuryu]

or you could do as chinese guy said earlier open C:\Users\administrator\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\StartMenu\Programs\）delete shortcuts from there if any and context menu on .exe you want to pin will have option to pin on statup menu.
still doesn't solve problem with unpin menu in startup menu

[iTetsuryu]

also check this folder C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

[iTetsuryu]

Any news hof to fix pin to start menu? I don't like windows 11 looks, but i don't like inability to pin my shortcuts to start menu way more

[kitayky]

How to add image tiles? Apart from shortcuts and .exe files, other files won't be displayed in the left program menu, and there's no "pin to start" option in the right-click menu of image files either

[LazyChara]

I find in Start Menu-App list settings I set it hide,but it not work,I already restarted my Explorer and my PC


My windwos ver. WINDOWS 11-22H2

[pyrates999]

You're running a windows 11 insider preview from Dec 2022: https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2022/12/06/announcing-windows-11-insider-preview-build-22621-1028-and-22623-1028/

It's time for you to update.

[leoncrf]

I think it would be easier for the EP developer to support a folder where we can store our apps, programs, and other things, because even if they release an update fixing this issue, it doesn't mean we won't run into problems again in the future. Having a dedicated folder for pinning things to the Start menu would always be a safer and easier alternative than the approaches above.

[Decepticon13]

Regarding post: 'Pin to Start from other than Explorer and Start menu does not work' I tried using 'Open file location' but still not working. Where is the new location for pinned start menu items? Perhaps I can drop shortcuts directly there.

[pyrates999]

try this work around for pinning: #3984 (comment)

try this work around for unpinning: #3984 (comment)

[616659]

any plan on working on the issue of Cannot type to search in full screen Start menu?
or is this how it's gonna be forever. I usually search for certain things only so can use it without being able to view search result, but it is still bit inconvenient.

and unrelated question, is it possible to adjust the background dimming of the full screen start menu

[vs-smvdbrink]

When I try to set App list on Start Menu from Display to Hide, it wants elevation. When I give it elevation, the value remains Display.

[pyrates999]

is your user a member of the group administrators?

[vs-smvdbrink]

is your user a member of the group administrators?

The elevated user is, yes.

[pyrates999]

Please post explorer patcher version, by running EP properties application and click on About on the left side.

[vs-smvdbrink]

That screenshot is at the bottom of my first message.

[pyrates999]

Now I see it, thank you.

[panyann]

For those who want to have a working search function in a Start Menu - I made a "fix".

With AI help I made a short script for AutoHotkey, which opens up a PowerToys Run, which has a search and other functions.
You can't pin shortcuts from it, but beside that it's very convenient.
I made sure that the Windows button still works with other shortcuts (like Win+D).

tl;dr: You open a start menu and start typing for search results!
You need to have this shortcut set for PowerToys Run: Win+`
Or you can change the shortcut in the script for your own.

AutoHotkey script

#Requires AutoHotkey v2.0

StartClass := "ahk_class Windows.UI.Core.CoreWindow"

chars := "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789"

; Tworzymy hotkeye dynamicznie
for c in StrSplit(chars)
    Hotkey "~*" c, HandleChar.Bind(c)

Hotkey "~*Space", HandleChar.Bind(" ")

IsStartActive() {
    global StartClass
    return WinActive(StartClass)
}

IsModifierPressed() {
    return GetKeyState("LWin","P")
        || GetKeyState("RWin","P")
        || GetKeyState("Ctrl","P")
        || GetKeyState("Alt","P")
        || GetKeyState("Shift","P")
}

HandleChar(char, *) {
    global StartClass

    if !IsStartActive()
        return

    if IsModifierPressed()
        return

    ; Zamknij Start
    Send("{Esc}")

    ; Poczekaj aż Start faktycznie zniknie
    WinWaitNotActive(StartClass,, 0.5)

    ; Wyślij skrót PowerToys Run (Win + `)
    SendInput("#``")

    Sleep 30

    ; Wyślij pierwszy znak
    SendText(char)
}

[chlingzool]

cant view VSCode icon

[chlingzool]

does it show up in the windows 11 start menu?

yes and i can see it in the windows 10 start menu application list too

[pyrates999]

Those look like categories. That is a new feature in the windows 11 start menu. Like this? https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows11/comments/1qdi1zj/windows_11s_new_start_menu_with_categories_layout/

If this is only happening in the windows 11 start menu and inside a category, then this is not a bug with EP.

[chlingzool]

Those look like categories. That is a new feature in the windows 11 start menu. Like this? https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows11/comments/1qdi1zj/windows_11s_new_start_menu_with_categories_layout/

If this is only happening in the windows 11 start menu and inside a category, then this is not a bug with EP.

no my mean just is i cant see VSCode tile icon in windows 10 start menu

[pyrates999]

Your images are from the windows 11 start menu because only it supports categories. Please verify in EP Properties application, that it is set to the windows 10 start menu.

[chlingzool]

Your images are from the windows 11 start menu because only it supports categories. Please verify in EP Properties application, that it is set to the windows 10 start menu.

it just is windows 10 in ep! and i circled in yellow the places that show abnormalities.

[WXR-SEU]

Cannot load vscode icon in Win10 Start style too.

[Amrsatrio]

Hi @chlingzool @WXR-SEU, this is a bug (or rather oversight?) within VSCode, not a bug within the Windows 10 Start menu on Windows 11. It also appears like this on Windows 10. They recently switched the VSCode binaries and resources to be like A/B partitions in Android. I am speculating two things, since Windows 10 Start menu is not part of a supported consumer operating system anymore:

1. They forgot to make sure that the icons referenced Code.VisualElementsManifest.xml are still valid, or update the paths in there to prepend the version directory hash name.
2. They forgot to remove Code.VisualElementsManifest.xml.

This issue has been reported in the VSCode repository, and they said that this has been fixed on 1.112. There is also a workaround in that issue report in case that update hasn't been out for you.