Posted October 28, 2016 (edited) For the past few months, I noticed that my Windows 10 apps (I don't know if they're still referred to as "Metro Apps" but that's what I'm talking about) were starting to disappear. If I recall correctly, it started with the Groove Music app, a couple others, and eventually the Windows 10 App Store just disappeared. It wasn't too much of an issue because I almost never used the Windows 10 App Store anyways and all of my other Metro Apps still worked. The strange thing about these disappearances is that I was able to find other ways to find the application's launcher and I tried launching the application from there, but they wouldn't launch. Fast forward to today. I'm playing TERA, a Steam game. The game crashes (like it sometimes does) and when it does, I restart my computer because TERA doesn't always work again after restarting it. At this point I press and hold the power button to manually shut it off (I don't remember what prompted me to do so) and I reboot the machine. As it was booting, it decided that it would be a good idea to scan the hard drive for any issues. I wait for it to complete and sign back in and start playing TERA again. The game's freezing for a few seconds every few seconds so I decide to restart TERA again. After the game's closed, I leave my computer on the desktop for about 5 minutes while I play around with my phone and I suddenly get a Blue Screen of Death. The stop code was "THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER". This "THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER" issue appears to be easily resolved through either BIOS/UEFI updates, Windows Update or driver updates and seems to be most common with AMD/ATi graphics drivers (see system specs below). During the Blue Screen of Death, I decided I'd just manually restart the computer before it's finished collecting the error information (I think I powered my computer off when it was about 35-40% complete), an action which I wish I had not done, though I'm not sure if it's what caused the issue I'm about to describe. I restart my computer again and log in normally. I decide that I will run a full system scan with Kaspersky and have it go while I'm sleeping, so I decided that I would go and make sure that my computer would not go to sleep after a certain period of time. That's when I discovered my Start Menu was completely empty - no Metro Apps, no desktop shortcuts, nothing. Searching for these apps yields no results besides Internet results, indicating that they cannot be found on the hard drive. I also noticed that the Windows Settings app is also gone. Searching for it also yields absolutely zero results and I cannot get it launched. I still have access to the old Windows Control Panel, but as some of us know, a lot of these options were moved to the Windows Settings app and others link to the Windows Settings app. They moved Windows Update to this Settings app and now that it's suddenly gone, so I have no access to Windows Update. I restarted my computer and there's still nothing. My computer is otherwise usable, but the lack of Windows Update and other tools presents a significant problem. I'm hoping to get this issue resolved without reinstalling Windows. The computer in question is an HP laptop with an AMD A10-4600M CPU, AMD Radeon HD 7660G integrated graphics with AMD Radeon HD 7670M dedicated graphics. I've had issues with the preloaded HP software in the past (including other stuff you wouldn't otherwise know exists through normal means) so I'm wondering if this may be a cause. I'm sure there are other things that could cause this too. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? EDIT: I just discovered that I can access the full Settings application by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting "Personalize" or "Change Display Settings". The Settings app opens and otherwise appears functional; however, its behaviour is weird. It does not show up in the Task Bar or Windows Task View and it doesn't have the Settings icon in the Windows Task Manager. Instead, it has the icon that's used when a shortcut or icon is missing. Right-clicking its process also does not give me any options to minimize, maximize or bring forward options like most other applications have. I decided to have Windows Update check for updates and it appears that it has discovered a few. These updates are, in order: Cumulative update for Windows 10 version 1607 for x64-based systems (KB3197954) Update for Windows 10 version 1607 for x64-based systems (KB3199986) Security update for Adobe Flash Player for Windows 10 version 1607 for x64-based systems (KB3201860) It says it's downloading the updates, but it's been sitting at 7% for a little while now. I'm wondering if it will even continue to download them. However, once they download (if they do) I will install them and see what, if anything, happens or changes. Edited October 28, 2016 by LOLZpersonok Added details I have no signature. There is nothing to see here. Move along. Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/681947-incredibly-strange-windows-10-behaviour/ Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 28, 2016 How was windows 10 installed on this computer? NEW PC build: Blank Heaven minimalist white and black PC Old S340 build log "White Heaven" The "LIGHTCANON" flashlight build log Project AntiRoll (prototype) Custom speaker project Spoiler Ryzen 3950X | AMD Vega Frontier Edition | ASUS X570 Pro WS | Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB | NZXT H500 | Seasonic Prime Fanless TX-700 | Custom loop | Coolermaster SK630 White | Logitech MX Master 2S | Samsung 980 Pro 1TB + 970 Pro 512GB | Samsung 58" 4k TV | Scarlett 2i4 | 2x AT2020 Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/681947-incredibly-strange-windows-10-behaviour/#findComment-8767815 Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 28, 2016 Author 1 minute ago, Enderman said: How was windows 10 installed on this computer? This computer came with Windows 8 preinstalled, before the Windows 8.1 update. I upgraded to Windows 10 when it was released. I also updated the initial post, the new information is at the bottom. I have no signature. There is nothing to see here. Move along. Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/681947-incredibly-strange-windows-10-behaviour/#findComment-8767819 Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 28, 2016 Author 4 minutes ago, roblesaturcamilo said: -snip- What's this supposed to mean? I have no signature. There is nothing to see here. Move along. Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/681947-incredibly-strange-windows-10-behaviour/#findComment-8767825 Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 28, 2016 1 hour ago, LOLZpersonok said: For the past few months, I noticed that my Windows 10 apps (I don't know if they're still referred to as "Metro Apps" but that's what I'm talking about) were starting to disappear. If I recall correctly, it started with the Groove Music app, a couple others, and eventually the Windows 10 App Store just disappeared. It wasn't too much of an issue because I almost never used the Windows 10 App Store anyways and all of my other Metro Apps still worked. The strange thing about these disappearances is that I was able to find other ways to find the application's launcher and I tried launching the application from there, but they wouldn't launch. Fast forward to today. I'm playing TERA, a Steam game. The game crashes (like it sometimes does) and when it does, I restart my computer because TERA doesn't always work again after restarting it. At this point I press and hold the power button to manually shut it off (I don't remember what prompted me to do so) and I reboot the machine. As it was booting, it decided that it would be a good idea to scan the hard drive for any issues. I wait for it to complete and sign back in and start playing TERA again. The game's freezing for a few seconds every few seconds so I decide to restart TERA again. After the game's closed, I leave my computer on the desktop for about 5 minutes while I play around with my phone and I suddenly get a Blue Screen of Death. The stop code was "THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER". This "THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER" issue appears to be easily resolved through either BIOS/UEFI updates, Windows Update or driver updates and seems to be most common with AMD/ATi graphics drivers (see system specs below). During the Blue Screen of Death, I decided I'd just manually restart the computer before it's finished collecting the error information (I think I powered my computer off when it was about 35-40% complete), an action which I wish I had not done, though I'm not sure if it's what caused the issue I'm about to describe. I restart my computer again and log in normally. I decide that I will run a full system scan with Kaspersky and have it go while I'm sleeping, so I decided that I would go and make sure that my computer would not go to sleep after a certain period of time. That's when I discovered my Start Menu was completely empty - no Metro Apps, no desktop shortcuts, nothing. Searching for these apps yields no results besides Internet results, indicating that they cannot be found on the hard drive. I also noticed that the Windows Settings app is also gone. Searching for it also yields absolutely zero results and I cannot get it launched. I still have access to the old Windows Control Panel, but as some of us know, a lot of these options were moved to the Windows Settings app and others link to the Windows Settings app. They moved Windows Update to this Settings app and now that it's suddenly gone, so I have no access to Windows Update. I restarted my computer and there's still nothing. My computer is otherwise usable, but the lack of Windows Update and other tools presents a significant problem. I'm hoping to get this issue resolved without reinstalling Windows. The computer in question is an HP laptop with an AMD A10-4600M CPU, AMD Radeon HD 7660G integrated graphics with AMD Radeon HD 7670M dedicated graphics. I've had issues with the preloaded HP software in the past (including other stuff you wouldn't otherwise know exists through normal means) so I'm wondering if this may be a cause. I'm sure there are other things that could cause this too. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? EDIT: I just discovered that I can access the full Settings application by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting "Personalize" or "Change Display Settings". The Settings app opens and otherwise appears functional; however, its behaviour is weird. It does not show up in the Task Bar or Windows Task View and it doesn't have the Settings icon in the Windows Task Manager. Instead, it has the icon that's used when a shortcut or icon is missing. Right-clicking its process also does not give me any options to minimize, maximize or bring forward options like most other applications have. I decided to have Windows Update check for updates and it appears that it has discovered a few. These updates are, in order: Cumulative update for Windows 10 version 1607 for x64-based systems (KB3197954) Update for Windows 10 version 1607 for x64-based systems (KB3199986) Security update for Adobe Flash Player for Windows 10 version 1607 for x64-based systems (KB3201860) It says it's downloading the updates, but it's been sitting at 7% for a little while now. I'm wondering if it will even continue to download them. However, once they download (if they do) I will install them and see what, if anything, happens or changes. Seems like you installed a very unstable version of windows on your pc. You are definitely going to need a clean install to repair missing or damages files. Tech enthusiast and CS Student Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/681947-incredibly-strange-windows-10-behaviour/#findComment-8767826 Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 28, 2016 1 minute ago, LOLZpersonok said: This computer came with Windows 8 preinstalled, before the Windows 8.1 update. I upgraded to Windows 10 when it was released. I also updated the initial post, the new information is at the bottom. That's the problem, the upgrade process has a ton of issues. If you clean installed instead of doing the upgrade then everything would be working perfectly right now. The thing you can try to do is sfc /scannow in CMD, but other than that your only option is to do a clean install (which should have been done in the first place) http://www.howtogeek.com/224342/how-to-clean-install-windows-10/ NEW PC build: Blank Heaven minimalist white and black PC Old S340 build log "White Heaven" The "LIGHTCANON" flashlight build log Project AntiRoll (prototype) Custom speaker project Spoiler Ryzen 3950X | AMD Vega Frontier Edition | ASUS X570 Pro WS | Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB | NZXT H500 | Seasonic Prime Fanless TX-700 | Custom loop | Coolermaster SK630 White | Logitech MX Master 2S | Samsung 980 Pro 1TB + 970 Pro 512GB | Samsung 58" 4k TV | Scarlett 2i4 | 2x AT2020 Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/681947-incredibly-strange-windows-10-behaviour/#findComment-8767831 Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 28, 2016 Author 1 minute ago, CmzPlusHardware said: Seems like you installed a very unstable version of windows on your pc. You are definitely going to need a clean install to repair missing or damages files. I created a restore CD when I upgraded to Windows 10. This is the only way I'd be able to reinstall. I have no signature. There is nothing to see here. Move along. Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/681947-incredibly-strange-windows-10-behaviour/#findComment-8767832 Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 28, 2016 Just now, LOLZpersonok said: What's this supposed to mean? avoid troubleshooting, install w7... w10 will always come with some dumb shit (call it updates, security fixes, privacy policies, etc...) tomorrow or the next day... install w7, that's it... Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/681947-incredibly-strange-windows-10-behaviour/#findComment-8767839 Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 28, 2016 1 hour ago, LOLZpersonok said: I created a restore CD when I upgraded to Windows 10. This is the only way I'd be able to reinstall. If you have a USB Flash Drive, Download Windows 10 Media Creator and have it create a bootable USB. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10/ Tech enthusiast and CS Student Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/681947-incredibly-strange-windows-10-behaviour/#findComment-8767841 Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 28, 2016 Author I'm starting to realize that maybe I'm not as screwed as I previously thought. While the Settings app's behaviour is still really strange (no task bar icon, no Start Menu listing) it otherwise appears functional. I've also just discovered that, while my Start Menu shortcuts are gone, I can add new ones - and here's what pleasantly surprised me - applications that had disappeared months ago (like my Windows App Store and Groove Music) are listed in the "All Apps" category and will open and work. Well, the Windows App Store still appears to crash but the others seem to work. Furthermore, I can also add shortcuts to the Start Menu. I should also mention that these apps do have their icons in the Task Bar, unlike the Settings app. They also appear properly in the Task Manager and Windows Task View. I have no signature. There is nothing to see here. Move along. Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/681947-incredibly-strange-windows-10-behaviour/#findComment-8767846 Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 28, 2016 I'm starting to think that something might be messed up with your Registry. Tech enthusiast and CS Student Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/681947-incredibly-strange-windows-10-behaviour/#findComment-8767850 Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 28, 2016 Author 2 minutes ago, roblesaturcamilo said: avoid troubleshooting, install w7... w10 will always come with some dumb shit (call it updates, security fixes, privacy policies, etc...) tomorrow or the next day... install w7, that's it... To you (and some others) this might seem like an okay idea. However, there are a few problems with this: There are no Windows 7 drivers for this laptop. Almost nothing will work under Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 without them, I doubt they'd work natively under Windows 7. I don't have a license for Windows 7 and cannot afford one. I'd rather not downgrade. I may not be as screwed as I previously thought (see this post) I have no signature. There is nothing to see here. Move along. Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/681947-incredibly-strange-windows-10-behaviour/#findComment-8767855 Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 28, 2016 Author 3 minutes ago, CmzPlusHardware said: I'm starting to think that something might be messed up with your Registry. That's a good possibility. Short of running CCleaner or reinstalling Windows, I don't know what to do about it. I'm running CCleaner (in addition to a full system scan for malware) to see if that will help at all, but I very seriously doubt it will. I have no signature. There is nothing to see here. Move along. Link to comment https://linustechtips.com/topic/681947-incredibly-strange-windows-10-behaviour/#findComment-8767863 Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 28, 2016 15 minutes ago, roblesaturcamilo said: avoid troubleshooting, install w7... w10 will always come with some dumb shit (call it updates, security fixes, privacy policies, etc...) tomorrow or the next day... install w7, that's it... You have purchase a new key ... and also the fact newer games are only supported through window 10, window 10 is not as bad you seem. After you disable questionable privacy settings, i have little problems with window 10. The problems i have encountered was easily fixed and the fact windows 10 have little better driver support of the bat with newer computer and even old ones. Normally for window 7 i have go install network drivers which is pain as i can download my drivers off internet witin seconds or drivers located in NAS. Also window 7 will be losing support and patches so good luck on that. You can always run VM if you run in compability issues or dual boot. Magical Pineapples
