Thread: Program Icons Missing in All Programs Menu

Yep, i am also haveing this problem. Please help

Just upgraded from the beta to the rc and now have the exact same problem... I've tried the same things as the OP mainly with permissions... If I copy files from the c:\programdata folder to the c:\users\User Name\appdata folder a few icons show up but not very many and only the Microsoft apps such as DVD Maker.

I have exactly the same problem. Upgraded Vista Business 32bit to Windows 7 Pro 32bit RC1 (Build 7100).

I cannot understand how this has happened, but the solution may be to copy (not move!) all the shortcuts to the global start menu. That is under \Program Data - Microsoft _ Windows _ Start Menu _ Programs

Same problem here, after i upgraded my Vista home premium to RC 7100, all programs are missing from start menu (is blank), even if shortcuts icons are in start menu folders. When i copy it there and there, some icons shows, but when i do some changes in start menu options, all disappears again. This is curious MEGA BUG!! I tried many things, nothing help.

//ok i fixed this problem.. partially. I moved all my startmenu shortcuts from AppData (current user) and ProgramData (all users) to another location. Then a moved it all to ProgramData startmenu folder. In "programs" directory under Start Menu i have only subfolders with shortcuts. Other shortcuts files are directly under Start Menu folder. I found that this working, but there is some limit in number of subfolders which are in Startmenu/programs folder. When i exceeded this limit, start menu is blank. I don't know exact number, but now i have 77 subfolders + 14 shurtcuts under start menu folder and starmenu working fine. But with around 100 subfolders it was empty. So try this and delete unused shotcuts.

On another site a fix was posted for a previous beta version of Windows 7. That fix doesn't translate to current windows 7 because the registry directories have changed somewhat. I think it may be a matter of just finding the right area of the registry which is slightly re-arranged from this fix. I tried adding this registry fix to a few places similar to the description below but so far no luck. If anyone can find the right location for build 7100 please let us know. It may also be a permissions issue.

"use regedit and browse to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\Explorer

make sure the value of "StartMenuLogoff" is set to "0"

you have to logoff/logon for the changes to take effect

I thought MSPEEDO was on to something, so instead of going through the process he went through, I simply right clicked on "all programs" in the start menu and chose "open all users." Then I went into the Programs directory and began deleting icons and folders, bringing the number down to 70.

Lowe and behold, I clicked on start, all programs, and everything was back.

Either this is a bug, or Microsoft has intentionally put a 70 item limitation on start menu items....


For now this is the workaround.

// Just because I am insanely curious, I went back and created a bunch of test folders to see if the items in the all programs menu would go away. I originally had 106 items in the start menu, so I went crazy and added 133 by creating random folders and moving files and shortcuts here. The All programs menu did not dissapear, and all items were displayed.

I think this is a bug that occurs during the upgrade process of one build to another. It happened specifically for me after I went from 7057 to 7077. I currently run 7100.

So this is a fix, not a workaround.

I did an upgrade from Vista Ultimate and have the same problem! Not one of my program icons appears and I've had no luck tracking down how to fix this problem. I thought I had gotten rid of that virus known as Vista but it appears to have given me the finger one last time...

Jeff