If your taskbar has vanished, your Start Menu is missing, or your shutdown options are no longer available, don’t panic. We’ll explain the easiest ways to restore lost Windows tools without needing to reset your computer.
Restore the Search Bar
The search bar next to the Start button in Windows 10 used to be integrated with Cortana. This meant that hiding Microsoft’s voice assistant caused it to disappear, and unhiding Cortana would bring it back.
Now that the two are separated, restoring a missing search bar is even easier. Simply right-click a blank area of the taskbar and choose Search > Show search box.
If that doesn’t work, right-click the taskbar and choose Taskbar settings. If the option to Use small taskbar buttons is set to On, turn it off to bring back the search box.
Restore the Taskbar
If your taskbar has vanished, you should first ensure that it isn’t merely hidden. Move your mouse pointer to the bottom of the screen to see if it pops up. If so, right-click the taskbar and choose Taskbar settings.
Switch off the options Automatically hide the taskbar in desktop mode and Automatically hide the taskbar in tablet mode. Switch on Lock the taskbar to secure it in place.
If the taskbar doesn’t appear, press Windows Key + I to open the Windows Settings app. Select Personalization > Taskbar and turn off the auto-hide options there.
The taskbar sometimes disappears if there’s a problem with File Explorer. Restarting Explorer (explorer.exe) through Task Manager can fix this, without you needing to reboot your PC. This trick may also work if File Explorer itself disappears.
As you’ll be unable to access Task Manager by right-clicking the taskbar, open it by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc. On the Processes tab, right-click Windows Explorer and choose Restart.
Restore Missing Taskbar Icons
If you can no longer see the clock, the volume control, the network icon, and/or other useful icons on your taskbar, here’s how to reinstate them.
Right-click the taskbar, choose Taskbar settings and scroll down to the Notification area section. Click Turn system icons on or off and ensure that all the taskbar icons you need are selected in the list.
If the missing icon isn’t listed, click back to the previous screen and choose Select which icons appear on the taskbar. Hopefully, you’ll find and be able to turn it on there.
Restore the Start Menu
If your Start menu doesn’t appear when you click the Start button in Windows 10, there are two main likely causes.
The most common and the easiest to fix is that Windows is in Tablet mode, which replaces the Start menu with touchscreen-friendly tiles.
To switch back to desktop mode, either click the notifications icon next to the clock on your taskbar or press the Windows Key + A. When the Notifications panel opens, click Tablet mode to turn it off.
The second, more serious cause is that the Start menu is corrupted. You can fix it by re-registering the menu through PowerShell, which can be accessed through Task Manager if the search box isn’t working or available.
Open Task Manager from the taskbar and click File > Run new task. Type powershell in the Open field, select Create this task with administrative privileges and click OK. When PowerShell opens, copy and paste the following, and press Enter: Get-appxpackage -all shellexperience -packagetype bundle |% {add-appxpackage -register -disabledevelopmentmode ($_. installlocation + “\appxmetadata\appxbundlemanifest. xml”)} Reboot your computer, and the Start menu should be restored.
Restore the Recycle Bin
If the Recycle Bin icon has disappeared from your desktop, you won’t be able to drag and drop files to delete them or recover deleted files. Here’s how to get it back.
Go to Start > Settings > Personalization or right-click the desktop and choose Personalize.
Choose Themes in the left-hand menu, scroll down, and click Desktop icon settings. Select the Recycle Bin checkbox and click OK or Apply.
If the checkbox is already ticked, Windows may be in Tablet mode, as covered in the previous tip. This automatically hides desktop icons, including the Recycle Bin.
To show the Recycle Bin when in this mode, go to Start > Settings > System > Tablet > Change additional tablet settings. Switch off the option Hide app icons on the taskbar in tablet mode.
Restore Missing Power Options
Clicking Power in the Start menu usually lets you restart or shut down your PC or put it in Sleep mode. If you see a blank box instead of those options or a message saying “There are currently no power options available,” there are several fixes to try.
1. Run the Power Troubleshooter
The simplest solution to missing power options is to run the Windows 10 Power troubleshooter. Type troubleshooter in the Start menu search bar and click Troubleshoot settings.
When the Troubleshoot screen opens, click Additional troubleshooters, select Power, and click Run the troubleshooter. Windows will then check for power problems and hopefully suggest a fix to apply (or apply it automatically).
2. Tweak Group Policy Editor
If you’re running Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise, you can restore the missing power options through the Group Policy Editor.
Type gpedit. msc in the Start menu search bar and press Enter. When Group Policy Editor opens, go to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar. In the right-hand pane, select Remove and prevent access to the Shut Down, Restart, Sleep, and Hibernate commands. Select Not Configured or Disabled, then click Apply and OK. The Sleep, Restart, and Shut down options should then reappear in your Start menu without you needing to reboot your PC.
3. Edit the Windows Registry
If you’re using Windows 10 Home, there’s a registry tweak that can bring back the power options (this also works in other editions of Windows). Type regedit in the Start menu search box and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.
Navigate to the following registry key:
Double-click the entry NoClose in the right-hand pane (if there is one) and change its value from 1 to 0.
Restore the Disk Clean-up Button
The in-built Disk Clean-up tool in Windows 10 lets you quickly delete junk files and free up space. Sometimes, however, its button goes missing from a drive’s Properties.
To restore the Disk Clean-up button, open the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:
Right-click MyComputer, choose New > Key and call the new key cleanuppath. Right-click Default in the right-hand pane and choose Modify.
Type (or copy and paste) the following in the Value data field, then click OK: %SystemRoot%\System32\cleanmgr.exe /D %c
Open This PC in File Explorer, right-click a drive and choose Properties. The Disk Clean-up button should now be available on the General tab.
What’s Lost Can Always Be Found
Although it’s natural to fret when you can’t access a familiar Windows feature, restoring it is usually pretty straightforward. You just need to know the relevant setting to change or tweak to apply.
However, if the missing Windows tool proves impossible to get back, it may be corrupted. In that case, your best option is to run the System File Checker (SFC). This will detect if a system file has been corrupted or modified and automatically replace it with the correct version.
