We’ve deep-dived into this issue and discovered that there are actually multiple potential culprits with the potential of breaking the Start functionality. Here’s a shortlist of causes that might be triggering this Windows 11 glitch: If you’re currently facing the same issue and you’re looking for ways to mitigate it, follow the fixes below (each of the methods featured in this article we’re confirmed to work by other users dealing with the same issue).
Reboot your Windows 11 PC
By far, the most desirable cause that will break the Start menu on Windows 11 is a memory leak. Different from other potential culprits, fixing a memory leak on Windows 11 is a simple matter of rebooting your PC. Memory leaks of this kind are a fairly common occurrence with Insider builds and the majority of them can be resolved simply by allowing the Windows PC to reload the OS. But since you won’t be able to initiate a reboot as you would normally do (since the Start bar is not working), you’ll have to do it via the WinX menu – Press Windows key + X to open up the WinX menu. From the context menu that just appeared, click on Shut down or sign out > Restart from the context menu. If the Start issue you’re currently dealing with is related to a memory leak affecting File Explorer, a simple reboot will address the problem temporarily. Of course, for a proper fix, we’ll need to wait on the official fix from Microsoft. In case a reboot was not effective in your case, or you’re looking for a permanent fix, move down to the next potential fix below.
Uninstall Update KB5004300
The second most common scenario that might cause this problem is a badly installed update. This mostly occurs when there’s an unexpected system interruption while a new update is installing. As it turns out, the KB5004300 Windows 11 update has a tendency of installing partially and breaking the Start functionality. This event is reported by a lot of early Windows 11 adopters. Fortunately, there’s also a fix that should allow you to fix the issue and utilize the Start bar normally. To do this, you’ll need to uninstall the KB5004300 update and restart your PC before checking for updates again and installing the problem once again. If this scenario looks like it could be applicable, follow the instructions below to uninstall the KB5004300 update in order to resolve the Start bug on Windows 11:
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