Vista -> Win7 7068 = Start Menu not working

[wonderfulme]

I've just only upgraded my Vista x64 to Windows 7 x64 build 7068 and my Start Menu is basically empty. Screenshots: 1) http://hyd.org/start1.png 2) http://hyd.org/start2.png

All the shortcuts in %SYSTEMDRIVE%\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu and %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu are still there, only they don't show up in the menu.

I believe that is not a migration issue since I've just installed a few programs under Win7 and its shortcuts still don't appear in the Start Menu.

Is that a known issue?

Thanks!

 

[Mark]

I would say it's an upgrade issue with registry, can you try creating a new user and see if appears in that, also if that doesn't work try opening elevated command promt and type sfc /scannow and hit enter to see if it finds any corupt system files, failing that you could try a repair install

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/?ltr=R&sort=&order=#http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/?ltr=R&sort=&order=# Repair Install

 

[wonderfulme]

Thanks, Mr. Grim, creating a new user indeed fixed the problem (for that new user, that is)!

So my guess would be that maybe it's some kind of permission inheritance problem, or is it? I have explicitly changed the ownership of both %SYSTEMDRIVE%\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu and %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu to my current user, restarted explorer.exe and the whole system, but still no luck.

Permissions are currently set as follows:

http://hyd.org/perm1.png
http://hyd.org/perm2.png


The username in question is anton/hyd.

 

[Mark]

Well that's a start now all you need to do is transfer all your files music and so on over to the new user account, then delete the old account and rename the new one, not a fix as much as workaround for the problem, you could use the transfer files and settings wizard to make the task easier but just check that you have all the data you want before deleting the account.

 

[wonderfulme]

Thanks again, I'll do just that!

Unless someone suddenly comes up with an idea of how to preserve my current account

 

[basserdan]

I just reinstalled 7057 and do not have app links to some, installed programs, in my start menu. My previous install of 7057 was installed over 7048 and had the links. Whatever!

 

[Mark]

Thanks again, I'll do just that!

Unless someone suddenly comes up with an idea of how to preserve my current account

Just thought of a way you may be able to preserve your original account, try copying the AppData folder from the new account and merge it with the old account and replace all the files and settings with the working account, hopefully that will fix whatever issue is causing the problem.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi all
I'm not a Windows GURU so I can't suggest a fix but from reasonable analysis of this problem it seems to appear when various programs have either taken ownership of system directories / files or some modifications have been made to the system by programs of names unspecified.

Many people on these boards like "customising" their systems and why not ? -- however a lot of early customisations mess around (mostly not malevolently) with system and registry hacks.

In a general "tightening" up of the OS a lot of these "customisations" won't either work anymore or will have unpredictable effects.

Windows (finally after how many years ?) is evolving into a properly secured system. This means system modifications will be harder to get to work properly - but the GOOD side is that there will be a lot more OFFICIAL API's available where the user can make changes WITHOUT fiddling about with the inner workings of Windows -- the recent ability to change LOGON picture is a case in point.

I'd really advise you to do a CLEAN install of W7 then this problem will be GONE.

(Also as a matter of course always CHECK what you download from the Internet and install. Just because the program isn't flagged as malware or a virus doesn't mean that it will work properly -- Have coders ever made mistakes !).

Cheers
jimbo

 

[zach21uk]

This is really not a viable solution for me as I have waaaayyy to many files and e-mails to migrate even to another user.

I'll wait for someone to post a registry fix.

 

[Mark]

This is really not a viable solution for me as I have waaaayyy to many files and e-mails to migrate even to another user.

I'll wait for someone to post a registry fix.

Did you actually make a new account to see if you have a full start menu in it?

 

[csackey]

Hi, this is my first post. I have exactly the same problem. I upgraded Windows 7 x64 build 7000 to build 7068. Upgrade process went smoothly wihout any errors. Only thing not right is that i do not have any menus even though the files are in the directories mentioned in the posts above. I have tried all that has been suggested and even created a new account but the interesting thing is that no new menus were created for this new account.

 

[Mark]

Hi, this is my first post. I have exactly the same problem. I upgraded Windows 7 x64 build 7000 to build 7068. Upgrade process went smoothly wihout any errors. Only thing not right is that i do not have any menus even though the files are in the directories mentioned in the posts above. I have tried all that has been suggested and even created a new account but the interesting thing is that no new menus were created for this new account.

Maybe you could try doing another repair install.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/?ltr=R&sort=&order=# Repair Install

 

[neo7]

'All Programs' in Start Menu is blank in 7068 x64. Tried repair install and creating a new user account, but still 'All Programs' is empty. Registry values are all OK and items are navigable in the original folders that are used to populate 'All Programs' and also have correct permissions, exactly as on another 7068 x86 machine where Start Menu is fine.

 

[WebHobbit]

easier fix

Hello.

I just found this place vai a Google search as I had the same deal going from 7000 to 7068.

I fixed this simply by deleting all the shortcuts from the user folder location and re-pinning everything. Was quick and fixed it.

No reason to recreate the whole user account or repair installs.

 

[neo7]

No the issue you are describing is different. We are not talking about programs that a user can pin the the start menu, but about the All Programs list:

Not yet solved!

 

[WebHobbit]

Ahhhh....I didn't have THAT happen!

 

[scottt732]

Very very annoyed.

I just got a 1 TB drive, I have 2 500 GB drives that I'd like to turn into a RAID 1 array. One is currently a data drive, the other is my old OS. So I need to empty those 2 500GB drives onto my shiny new Win7 TB drive so I can make an array out of them.

When I installed Win7, it was on the TB drive. Apparently, I made the foolish mistake of installing Win7 with another drive in my computer (dear MS: this is not a mistake... it shouldn't matter.) Why is that bad?!?! Because Win7 decided to setup the boot configuration data on the D drive... because the only better than a single point of failure is 2 points of failure (wtf!). So after spending a Wednesday night learning how to rebuild the BCD from scratch--AGAIN, I was up and running again. Yay.

Then I replaced the 1 500GB data drive with the other 500GB drive containing my old Windows Vista drive (again as a D drive). Again, the idea was to back things up to my C drive and clean the drive out. Well, Windows 7 won't let you delete protected system files from another OS without taking ownership of the files. Fine. This shouldn't be a problem. So I right click on the drive, take ownership, apply it to all of the subfolders/files, change the permissions, give 'Everyone' Full Control (again to subfolders and files). Now I should have complete control to do whatever I want with the files on my old Vista install. Great.

I get what I need off the drive, deleting everything I don't need as I go along (including Windows, Program Files, Users, etc.). So far so good, right? Just emptying out a drive that is in no way related to my current OS installation... (whistling inconspicuously)

Then I notice that everything pinned to the task bar is broken. Even the Explorer & Media Player links. Then it tells me that the recyle bin on my D drive is corrupt & offers to rebuild it--fine. I don't care about that drive anymore anyway. My desktop wallpaper is gone. Huh. Wtf? No big deal. I reset my wallpaper and figured I'd re-pin the items to the bar... Click the start menu, all programs, Accessories--empty. Administrative Tools--empty. Startup--empty. In fact, every single folder in these directories:

%appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
%programdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

empty. Not a shortcut to be found.

Let me google this and see if anyone else had this problem. Why is Firefox asking me if I want to import stuff from IE? I already said no to this before I installed my 15 extensions and configured them all the way I like them... Not anymore...

Somehow, even though I installed Win7 on Tuesday, the timestamp of c:\users\scott is 10:08 AM this morning. Apparently, changing NTFS permissions on what appears to be a Windows installation and deleting files COMPLETELY RUINS a perfectly good installation of Windows. That makes sense... I'm not annoyed by that at all.

Well, I'm off to install an axe into my motherboard.

-Scott

 

[Elooder]

I have this same issue and a temporary solution so far has been to move all the folders and shortcuts from the "Programs" folder in start menu to a temporary folder and immediately move them back . They will then stay there until the next time I install anything that adds itself to the start menu. This workaround also works for the common start menu items from \ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

Also, I've also had it happen that IE and Firefox and some other programs intermittedly don't remember their settings... like Windows Media Player asking it's setup questions on every third or fourth start for the first few days after installing or upgrading windows... IE does the same.

I suspect it may have something to do with access priviledges on system folders... or even system drives....

 

[BJReplay]

Same problem on 7100 RC, same fix (move out, move in).

 

[Uber Philf]

zack21uk,

editing the registry isnt a smart idea as i figured out anyway (attempting a registry clean and failing miserably) might take a long time but maybe its for the better that you move your things over to the other account, and rename, thats just my advice.

Enzo.