Can't right-click Taskbar Icons on Windows 10

windows-10 taskbar context-menu right-click

79,649

Step 1: Right-click the Start button and select Command Prompt (Admin) from the context menu.

Step 2: Type Powershell in Command Prompt and press Enter.

Step 3: Paste the following text in the Powershell window and press Enter.

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

Wait for the command to run and ignore the red error prompts if they arise. The Start Menu should be operational now.

Search and Cortana malfunctioning can be attributed to a corrupted search index database in most cases. To fix it, all you need to do is delete and rebuilt the Search Index. To do this, head to the Control Panel. Locate the Indexing Options utility and launch it. The utility will display a list of all the locations and applications currently being indexed. Check to see if all the drives and folders are being indexed. To add an item, press Modify and you’ll be presented with a list of all locations on the PC; tick ones you require and clock OK.

How To Rebuild Windows Search Index On Windows 10

Even if all the correct locations are being indexed, a malfunctioning Search Index can render the Search function useless. Before we delve into the method, keep in mind that the index rebuilding process may take a while and will affect system performance as well until completion. To rebuild the Index, open Indexing Options. Click on Advanced Options and press the Rebuild button in the Troubleshooting section. Click OK on the confirmation prompt and the process will start.

79,649

PepsiGam3r

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

PepsiGam3r over 1 year

I restarted my PC many times, I also have restarted the Windows Explorer task but it doesn't work. I cannot right-click icons on Taskbar, I can't even click on the Start menu.
EDIT: I don't know if this helps or not, but some of Windows 10 programs are missing now, such as "Groove Music" and "Store".
- MC10 almost 9 years
  
  Try Ctrl+right click and Shift+right click, then normal right click. Do they help at all?
- PepsiGam3r almost 9 years
  
  @MC10 It does not work.
- MC10 almost 9 years
  
  Is there anything else you can't right click? Maybe there was a program in your previous version of Windows that added something to the context menu and now it isn't behaving corrrectly.
- PepsiGam3r almost 9 years
  
  @MC10 I just can't right click the icons on taskbar, also, I cannot open Start menu and Search input.
- MC10 almost 9 years
  
  What about restarting the Tile Data Model Server service mentioned here: superuser.com/questions/947789/…, does it help at all? Is this a laptop with a touchpad?
- PepsiGam3r almost 9 years
  
  @MC10 Same, I still can't left-click on Start menu and right-click on Taskbar icons.
- Divin3 almost 9 years
  
  Does right click from the keyboard work? (try to left click on an icon to select it than press the button the right on your keyboard between the Win key and right Ctrl) Win key + R work? Also Check if Ctrl + Shift + Esc brings up the task manager.
- PepsiGam3r over 8 years
  
  No, it just doesn't.
- j riv over 7 years
  
  Horrible decision to "duplicate it" into that URL. That URL does NOT have a solution, at best it has a very short-lived workaround that does not even address a problem at all.
- Xavierjazz almost 7 years
  
  Shift/rt. click works for me. Thanks @MC10
- Carl Witthoft over 2 years
  
  The answers at the linked post are not answers. The answers here are at least potentially useful
Martin Argerami over 8 years

These steps are not working for me.
Jarrett Neil Ridlinghafer over 8 years

did you get any errors and what are your exact symptoms as there are multiple issues i see in this thread...for example i have no issues with cortana, just the start & taskbar would not work on mine. this fixed both
Martin Argerami over 8 years

After a lot of searching I found that Windows cannot deal with a user's directory being a junction (unbelievable). After moving the main user and appdata directories to a local one and running the commands above now the store works, start menu works, right-click on taskbar icons works. Search still does not work, though.
applejacks01 over 8 years

I can confirm that this DID fix it for me on Windows 10. When I tried right clicking on any icon in the taskbar, nothing happened. I had to use windows explorer to navigate to C:\Windows\System32, find cmd, and right click to run that as administrator. Then I typed powershell, and ran the script. Now everything works!
Vethor almost 8 years

The other answers from the duplicate question do not work for me. This is the only thing that did.
j riv over 7 years

They should remove the "duplicate" flag from this and turn this into a proper solution thread. The other one does not even have a solution, only a workaround that does not even work for 1 minute after it is applied. This actually does solve problems.
Saad Farooq almost 7 years

Thank you. This fixed it for me, with Windows 10.0.15063 Build 15063. Although, it will be interesting to know, why this is happening, and doesn't even gets solved after full system restart.
user541686 about 5 years

I have this problem and I see "waiting to receive indexing status" in the Indexing Options window. This is Windows 1809.
akshita007 almost 5 years

Worked for me as well. Thanks a ton!