-ClearStart clears start menu not once, but on every relogin

[Nikolai2038]

Describe the bug
I don't know if this is intended, but when I apply -ClearStart option, the start menu clears start menu not once as expected, but also on every my relogin to the system. I used these scripts for quite a while and don't remember if this was an issue before, or this is how this option works now.

I think the desired start2.bin file format/something in it has been changed - if I delete it, and then somehow update start menu - new file's size differ (I renamed start2.bin to start2.bin.err here before making any changes to start menu):

When using start2.bin from this repository, I think the Windows will fail to load it and will fail to save it - so it will look like start menu has been reset each login.

Also, I noticed that the .bkp file has different size too. I tried it and it also does not work. I think this is because on that machine I applied both -ClearStart and -ClearStartAllUsers, but I am not sure.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Install fresh Windows 11;
2. Run script with just -Silent -ClearStart options;
3. Wait for script to complete - no errors;
4. Check that start menu has been cleared;
5. Pin some apps in start menu;
6. Log out;
7. Log back in.

Expected behavior
Start menu contains apps, that I pinned after script clears all other for me.

Current behavior
Start menu is empty again.

Additional context
To resolve this issue for now:

• -ClearStart: Go to %localappdata%\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState and remove start2.bin
• -ClearStartAllUsers: Go to C:\Users\default\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState and remove start2.bin. If users were created after this setting applied - remove this file for each of them too.

(I got this paths from here - this is a mentioned link in source code)

[Raphire]

Heya,

Thanks for the detailed report on the issue. This is definitely a strange one. I'll report back once I've had time to reproduce the issue.

[Targink321]

for me it also happens when i restart and on th8e lock screen too

[Raphire]

Apologies for the late response, I've had very little spare time lately.

On my personal machine I'm not able to reproduce this issue on my personal machine unfortunately.

I'll install a fresh image of Windows on a virtual machine to test if I can somehow reproduce it there.

[Nikolai2038]

Thank you! Take your time. I installed and then use this fresh Windows without an Internet connection - consider that too. ISO is official (US region), downloaded on 2024-04-28. So maybe this happens because image is quite outdated now

[Raphire]

Thank you! Take your time. I installed and then use this fresh Windows without an Internet connection - consider that too. ISO is official (US region), downloaded on 2024-04-28. So maybe this happens because image is quite outdated now

I suppose that's possible. I am still unable to reproduce this. It's also possible the file was corrupted as it was written by the script, hard to say though.

If you are willing, could you check if the issue occurs again after running the script once more? Please do make sure to backup your current start menu binary at %localappdata%\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState before doing this.