Every upgrade to Windows brings its fair share of bugs, issues, and vulnerabilities, which can be frustrating at times. After a troublesome update, crucial functionality frequently disappear, making it challenging to utilise your computer to its full potential. So, you’ve come to the perfect place if you’re trying to recover some crucial Windows 10 functionality. Here, we’ll demonstrate how to restore critical functions and UI components that may have vanished from your Windows 10 PC as a result of a faulty update.
Restore Missing UI Features in Windows 10
Please be aware that some of these functions may also disappear after making adjustments to the system’s fundamental settings or after installing specific third-party Windows applications. When your PC is in tablet mode, several of these functionalities are also purposefully concealed. Whatever the situation, here’s how to restore some of Windows 10’s most crucial UI components when they vanish.
1. Restore Missing Start Menu in Windows 10
In tablet mode, the Start Menu is by default hidden. You must change to desktop mode in order to get it. To get started, either tap or click the Notification icon located in the top-right corner of your Taskbar, near to the time.
By touching or clicking on the Tablet Mode tile, as seen in the screenshot below, you can now convert to desktop mode.
While the aforementioned solution ought to function in the majority of situations, it won’t help if the Start Menu is damaged. You must use PowerShell to re-register the Start Menu in order to repair it. To do that, launch Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc, then select File > Run New Task.
Type powershell.exe (without the quotes) in the pop-up box and choose the Create this task with administrative privileges checkbox. Then click OK. Keep in mind that for this to work, PowerShell must be run with administrative privileges.
Copy and paste the following code into the PowerShell window, then hit Enter.
Get-appxpackage -all *shellexperience* -packagetype bundle |% {add-appxpackage -register -disabledevelopmentmode ($_.installlocation + \appxmetadata\appxbundlemanifest.xml )}Restarting your computer should restore your Start Menu.
2. Restore Missing Recycle Bin in Windows 10
Another UI piece that isn’t present in tablet mode is the recycle bin, although as mentioned above, you can get it back by returning to desktop mode. Go to Start > Settings if it is still not displayed.
Select System as shown in the illustration below.
Toggle off Hide app icons on the Taskbar in Tablet Mode by clicking Tablet Mode in the right pane. Your desktop Taskbar’s Recycle Bin should now be present.
Go to Start > Settings as previously mentioned in order to reactivate the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop.
Click Personalization now.
Then, click Desktop icon settings at the bottom of the window after selecting Theme in the left pane.
Select Recycle Bin (and any other desktop icons you desire) in the ensuing pop-up box, then click Apply or OK to save the new option.
3. Restore Missing Search Bar in Windows 10
The Recycle Bin icon ought to now appear on your Windows 10 desktop.
Due to incorrect settings, the Search Bar sometimes disappears next to the Start button. Right-click the Taskbar and select Search > Show Search Box to restore it.
4. Restore Missing File Explorer in Windows 10
The end! Right away, the Start button should be available next to the Search Bar.
The Taskbar, Start button, desktop icons, and other elements of the desktop can all disappear along with TheFile Explorer on occasion. Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) and select File > Run New Task to restore it (as described in [1] above).
Enter explorer.exe (without the quotations) in the pop-up window at this point. Before clicking OK or Enter, make sure the option to create the task with administrative rights is checked.
5. Restore Missing Taskbar in Windows 10
Without having to restart your computer, you should immediately resume using your complete desktop experience.
Check to see whether the Taskbar is just hidden if you can’t see it. Place the mouse pointer at the bottom of your screen to do that. Check the box next to “Lock the Taskbar” if the Taskbar appears. If the option isn’t visible, click Taskbar Settings.
The option to lock your Taskbar can be found in the following window (which you can also access from Settings > Personalization > Taskbar). As shown in the screenshot below, turn the option on. Additionally, you want to turn off the auto-hide features for the taskbar in tablet and desktop modes.
6. Restore Missing Notification Area Icons in Windows 10
In some cases, if there is a problem with File Explorer, the Taskbar will also vanish. The issue should be resolved in that case by restarting File Explorer as mentioned in [4] above.
The clock, volume, network, and other Notification Area icons, which are located in the bottom right corner, can be readily replaced if they disappear. Go to Taskbar Settings (as mentioned in [5] above), go down, and select Turn system icons on or off to accomplish that.
In the taskbar notification area, turn on all the icons you want and turn off all the ones you don’t.
7. Restore any Built-in Windows Tool Using System File Checker
If the icon you want to restore isn’t listed above, select which icons should appear on the taskbar by pressing the back arrow in the top-left corner of your window. Hopefully, you’ll discover your icon there.
The aforementioned techniques could occasionally fail, or you might want to restore functionality that is difficult to do so. To check if any of the crucial system files are corrupted in such circumstances, you must use the System File Checker (SFC).
To begin, launch Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) and select File > Run New Task (as described in [1] above).
sfc /scannow
Now enter cmd.exe and choose the Create this task with administrative privileges checkbox. Then press Enter.
Easily Restore Missing UI Elements in Windows 10
As shown in the screenshot below, this ought to launch the Command Prompt.
