Windows 7 Start Menu All Programs Missing

Hello,

I have an issue with the Windows 7 Start Menu where all the program shortcuts are missing. When you click on Start on the lower left, then
All Programs, it usually shows a complete list of all the installed programs. But Mine has suddenly gone blank. Now there's no programs showing. Is there is any way to restore it? Thanks.

 

OK, here is something else you can check.

Press the WINKEY+R.

In the Run dialog box, type regedit.exe and press OK.

This will open the Registry Editor.

Navigate down to the following key.


HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced


With Advanced selected, look in the right side pane for a Value named 'StartMenuInit'.

This value should show a number ending in '3'.

If it has any other number, double click this value.

In the 'Value Data' box, change the number to 3.

Click OK.



If the 'StartMenuInit' value does not exist, create the value.

Right click and empty area in the right side pane and select,

New/DWORD (32bit) Value.

Name the new value StartMenuInit (Case sensitive)

Double click this new value.

Type the number 3 in the Value Data box.

Click OK.



Exit the registry editor and reboot the computer.

And by the way have you used and os cleaner like ccleaner recently.This might be the cause of this issue.And if you have system restore you can try that as well.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. The value was set to 4, so I changed it to a 3 and re-booted. Unfortunately, it didn't fix the problem. When I click Start > All Programs, it's still blank. The only thing that changed after re-booting was a few applications got pined to the task bar and the recently used programs that you see when you click Start were changed. Other than that, Start > All Programs still brings up nothing.

 

Have you installed a third party theme? Because all your checkboxes are also missing.
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/index.php?threads/checkboxes-missing-from-folder-options.300377/

 

No on the 3rd party theme. I have customized my theme, so that's why it looks different. The issue with the checkboxes has been solved. It was a matter of needing to toggle a theme color to make it display properly (my fault).

 

Have a look over here.
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/144277-start-menu-all-programs-list-enable-disable.html

 

Thanks for the idea. I found that same posting as well and tried Option 1, but no-go. Still having the same problem. The disabling of All Programs was never enabled in the group policy manager to begin with. Mine has always at least shown the "All Programs" option. If it's disabled in the group policy manager, then I think "All Programs" wouldn't even show at all when you click on Start.

 

In Group Policy Editor, if you select Disabled or Not Configured, All Programs will show on the Start Menu.
When last did you do a full scan for malware?

 

Have a Look here to see if this will help you.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2603415

You might have a virus or malware i agree with eldon on that.

This all so sounds like an old bug from 2009.

 

I am trying to give you some options to work with.

If that did not work try this one below.
http://coolthingoftheday.blogspot.com/2009/05/story-of-windows-7-and-empty-all.html

 

If them two items don't work you might have to go extrem on this.

Here below is a list of stuff that worked for a lot of people.

http://www.smartestcomputing.us.com...s-hiddendeleted-by-a-virus/hyperanchor1.3://a[@id="entry167099"]/following-sibling::div[1]/div[2]/div[1]/span[7]/span[1]/span[1]/strong[1]%280%29%283%29%28MET%29&//a[@id="entry167099"]/following-sibling::div[1]/div[2]/div[1]/span[7]/span[1]/span[1]/strong[1]%2817%29%283%29%28ual%29

 

I did a complete scan with Malware bytes and AVG free and neither one found any problems. It will also not let me manually add shortcuts to All Programs by dragging and dropping. I get a black circle with a line in it indicating it won't let me do it.

 

I've tried the issue with the Hidden checkbox and the 70 items or less and neither one fixed it. Once I get some time, I'll go through and try that UnHide program.

 

Right-click on All Programs or Back and click Open All Users. Right-click on the white area & click Properties. What do you see next to Contains:?
xxx Files, xxx Folders

 

It contains: 192 Files, 47 Folders. I tried Unhide twice with 2 re-boots and it didn't work.

 

That means your Start Menu shortcuts are not missing, they're just hidden.
Is the box next to hidden checked?

 

It's unchecked. That's actually something I looked at a while back and it's always been unchecked.

 

Click on the same place you just did and look at the location tab. Try 'Find Target' or 'Restore Default'

 

If I click on Find Target, it opens a new window at C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows . When I click Restore Default, nothing happens.

 

Looking at your screenshots, your files are where they should be. Double-click Programs, what do you see?

 

Navigate to that folder and see what's there.

 

It shows all the items I used to see in Start > All Programs.

 

As a work-around until it's figured out you can navigate back to where you see Start Menu, right click and select 'send to' 'desktop as a shortcut'. This will give easier access to your stuff until the proper way is corrected. Once fixed the shortcut can be deleted.