Quick answer (for the impatient)
Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc), find Windows Explorer, right-click it, and select Restart. That fixes it 70% of the time. If not, run the two commands below in an elevated PowerShell.
Why the right-click menu stops working
What's actually happening here is that the Win+X menu — the technical name for that right-click menu — depends on a specific Explorer process called Explorer.exe and a set of shell extensions loaded into it. When one of those extensions crashes or hangs, the menu doesn't render. The reason this happens so often is that third-party software — mostly older file archivers like 7-Zip, cloud sync tools like Dropbox, or even Nvidia's graphics driver overlay — registers a shell extension that conflicts with the built-in Win+X handler.
Another common trigger: a Windows Update that didn't install cleanly. The update might replace a system file that the Win+X menu relies on, but leaves a stale version behind. On Windows 10 specifically, I've seen it happen after the 22H2 feature update. On Windows 11, it's usually the Nvidia overlay or a corrupted shell32.dll cache.
Step-by-step fix
1. Kill the deadlock — Restart Explorer
- Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager.
- If you see “More details” at the bottom, click it.
- Find Windows Explorer in the Processes tab.
- Right-click it and choose Restart.
Your taskbar will disappear for a second and come back. Try right-clicking Start again. If it works, you had a hung Explorer process. If not, move on.
2. Run the DISM + SFC combo
This is the true fix for corrupted system files. Run PowerShell as Admin (Win+X … oh wait, that's broken. Open Start, type “PowerShell”, right-click it, choose “Run as administrator”).
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
SFC /SCANNOW
Run DISM first. It checks the component store for corruption and repairs it from Windows Update or a local image. Then SFC scans all protected system files and replaces any that are wrong. The reason step 3 works is that DISM fixes the source that SFC pulls from — if you run SFC alone, it might not have a clean reference file to restore.
Let both finish. Restart your PC. Test the right-click menu again.
3. Reset the Win+X folder structure
If the menu still won't open, the Win+X shortcut folder itself might be broken. This folder lives in your user profile and stores the shortcuts for the right-click menu. Here's how to force Windows to recreate it:
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}
Run that in an elevated PowerShell. It re-registers all built-in Windows apps, including the Start menu infrastructure. Takes about 30 seconds. Restart after.
4. Disable third-party shell extensions (the real culprit)
If none of the above fixed it, a shell extension is blocking the menu. Shell extensions are DLLs that Explorer loads to add right-click options in File Explorer — things like “Extract here” or “Share on Dropbox”. When one of them misbehaves, it can bring down the whole Win+X menu.
How to find and kill the offending extension:
- Download ShellExView from NirSoft. It's free and tiny. No installer, just a .exe file.
- Run it. Sort by Type. Look for entries marked “Context Menu”.
- Disable all non-Microsoft extensions. Microsoft's own extensions have “Microsoft” in the Company field.
- Restart Explorer (step 1 again).
- Test the Start right-click menu. If it works, re-enable extensions one by one until it breaks again. That's your culprit.
The most common offenders I've seen: 7-Zip (version 19.00 and older), Dropbox (the old sync engine, not the newer one), Nvidia Share / ShadowPlay, and WinRAR (if installed with shell integration). Uninstall or update the offending software.
Alternative fixes (if main steps fail)
Create a new user profile
Sometimes the profile itself is corrupted. Create a new local user account (Settings > Accounts > Family & other users > Add someone else to this PC). Sign into it and test the menu. If it works, migrate your files over.
Restore from a restore point
If you have a restore point from before the issue started, roll back. This only works if System Restore was enabled before the problem hit. Open rstrui.exe and pick a point.
Prevention tip
The number one thing you can do: keep your shell extension count low. Every file archiver, cloud storage app, and image editor that adds a right-click option in Explorer is a potential time bomb. Use portable versions of tools like 7-Zip and disable cloud sync shell integration in the app's settings. Also, never install a Windows feature update without running DISM + SFC after — I do it every time and haven't seen this bug in two years.