Windows 10 Start menu tiles (icons) don't move / Pin to start is missing

Question

I am on an Alienware 17R4, running Win 10 Pro x64, Ver - 1803, Build 17134.799, and I have the following issues with the "Windows 10 Start Menu Tiles" (Icons).

1. Rearrangement of Tiles / Icons are not possible anymore through "Drag and Drop".
2. Right Click (RC) Option to Resize any Tiles is missing, and the only RC option there is the "More" option.
3. "Pin to Start Menu" Option is mission on the Right Click Option of other shortcut icons in the start menu's Default Shortcut List. So can't make tiles of installed app's start menu shortcut.
4. "Pin to Start Menu" Option is there on applications (programs/exe's) in Windows Explorer. So can make new tiles in the start menu like this, but the new tiles are created in Med size, and lacks the above mentioned right click options to resize, apart from the option "More", so the tiles can't be resized, moved / rearranged.

These are the steps I have taken so far to fix the issue.

1. Checked Group Policies -> User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Start Menu and Taskbar
   a) Prevent changes to Taskbar and Start Menu Settings = Not Configured
   b) Start Layout = Not Configured
2. Windows Registry = Made sure all start menu related entries are correctly aligned to where it's supposed to be.
3. Created a new user account = still the icons won't move and have the above mentioned issue.
4. Ran SFC = It can't find any issue with my system's integrity.

OS and all system drivers, including both the display drivers (Intel and nVidia, for both the GPU's) are up to date with Dell's latest driver releases.

Kindly help resolve this issue. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You mention you've checked

Group Policies -> User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Start Menu and Taskbar

...in there, have you checked the setting "Prevent users from customizing their Start Screen"? Your description resembles the behavior of when that is configured.

Alternatively, check in the Registry:

SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\LockedStartLayout

for both HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and HKEY_CURRENT_USER. Set LockedStartLayout to 0 or delete it.

You'll need to reboot (or kill the Explorer process) to know whether the change worked.

Answer 2

I had the same issue for a long time and have finally found the answer. Initally I thought it was an overzealous IT admin, who had pushed down a policy setting, so I checked the Local group Policy (gpedit.msc) as well as the Resultant Set of Policies (rsop.msc) I tried all of the steps in Can’t pin apps to Start in Windows 10 [COMPLETE GUIDE]

Finally found a site with an answer that works: Reset Start Layout in Windows 10

In short it requires removing the following registry entry and logging out then back in.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CloudStore\Store\Cache\DefaultAccount

I hope this helps. It's taken me ages to find the solution.

Answer 3

I suddenly started having this problem with a few tiles, not all. Especially for folders.

To solve this, I went to Windows Explorer and right-clicked on the folder I wanted a Start Tile for. Instead of Pin to Start, I clicked Create shortcut. I then right-clicked on the shortcut and pinned that to Start. Works fine after that.

Answer 4

It seems that you have changed permissions on Windows folders that are critical for correct functioning, and this causes Windows to fail to make changes in these important folders.

You must undo these permission changes. The problem is that some of these cannot be done from any user account, meaning that only the Windows installer can set such permissions.

To be sure of restoring Windows to a working condition, I suggest doing Repair Install of Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade.

As explained in the article, download the latest Windows 10 ISO for the installation.

This operation will keep all installed applications and almost all Windows settings. However, this is a serious operation and you should ensure good backups and perhaps also a backup image of the system disk.