Solved Power User Menu (WIN-X) not working

JCClouser

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When invoking the Power User Menu, no shortcut will work except the "Run" command. This has been this way since I upgraded my Win 7 to Win 8. The short cuts do exist in the appropriate $user$/Appdata/.../WinX subfolder, but the menu doesn't seem to connect to them..

Yes, I tried using the Power User Menu Editor suggested in the tutorials here on the forums, but to know avail. :(

As another bit of info...When I upgraded from 7, I was using the program Start Menu X (paid version) as a Start Menu replacement. As I liked the Win 8 Start Screen from using the previews for many months, I uninstalled Start Menu X.
My guess this may have affected the Power User Menu in some fundamental way, as I was not able to use said menu when a third party start menu replacement was in effect.

Thanks for any help with this problem.

John
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1 Update 1 Pro 32-bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP m8200n Media Center PC
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+
    Motherboard
    ECS Nettle2 (Socket M2)
    Memory
    4 GB DDR2 335 Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    1GB NVidia GeForce GT 430
    Sound Card
    Onboard Realtek HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung BX2440
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung (primary) 500 GB,
    WDC-WD10 HP Personal Media Drive (USB) 1.0 TB
    Keyboard
    HP Multimedia
    Mouse
    Microsoft Explorer Trackball
    Internet Speed
    10Mbps/750Kbps DSL
    Browser
    IE 11
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Windows Defender
Well, when these kinds of things happen, it's usually due to a bad upgrade. You can try doing a system refresh, but if all else fails you may have to do a clean install.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    CPU
    Intel i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77X-UD4 TH
    Memory
    16GB DDR3 1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia GTX 650
    Sound Card
    Onboard Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Auria 27" IPS + 2x Samsung 23"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440 + 2x 2048x1152
    Hard Drives
    Corsair m4 256GB, 2 WD 2TB drives
    Case
    Antec SOLO II
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000
    Mouse
    Logitech MX
Yeah, I thought of this myself, but didn't want to reinstall all my software so soon after the upgrade. I finally was able to do the upgrade only after removing my NVidia graphics card and using the onboard card. But that's a whole other story in itself. :(

John
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1 Update 1 Pro 32-bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP m8200n Media Center PC
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+
    Motherboard
    ECS Nettle2 (Socket M2)
    Memory
    4 GB DDR2 335 Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    1GB NVidia GeForce GT 430
    Sound Card
    Onboard Realtek HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung BX2440
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung (primary) 500 GB,
    WDC-WD10 HP Personal Media Drive (USB) 1.0 TB
    Keyboard
    HP Multimedia
    Mouse
    Microsoft Explorer Trackball
    Internet Speed
    10Mbps/750Kbps DSL
    Browser
    IE 11
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Windows Defender
Well, given you've had problems with the upgrade already, I'd say that's almost surely the problem.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    CPU
    Intel i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77X-UD4 TH
    Memory
    16GB DDR3 1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia GTX 650
    Sound Card
    Onboard Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Auria 27" IPS + 2x Samsung 23"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440 + 2x 2048x1152
    Hard Drives
    Corsair m4 256GB, 2 WD 2TB drives
    Case
    Antec SOLO II
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000
    Mouse
    Logitech MX
I bit the bullet and did a refresh....Problem solved! And now installing software...Well, it is a good way to clean up unneeded stuff!!!
:geek:

John
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1 Update 1 Pro 32-bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP m8200n Media Center PC
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+
    Motherboard
    ECS Nettle2 (Socket M2)
    Memory
    4 GB DDR2 335 Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    1GB NVidia GeForce GT 430
    Sound Card
    Onboard Realtek HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung BX2440
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung (primary) 500 GB,
    WDC-WD10 HP Personal Media Drive (USB) 1.0 TB
    Keyboard
    HP Multimedia
    Mouse
    Microsoft Explorer Trackball
    Internet Speed
    10Mbps/750Kbps DSL
    Browser
    IE 11
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Windows Defender
I have been looking for a solution to this problem for days. Win+X doesn't work on my Windows 8.1 Pro computer. All the other Win+ keys work just fine. Right-clicking on the Start Button does nothing - no context menu appears. This happens when logged in as any user, including a new, clean profile. It happens in Safe Mode. It happens with a Clean Boot. The %appdata%\...\WinX folder is present and correct. I tried every fix suggested on every website I could find and none of them worked until I hit on this forum.

Solved Win+X doesn't work anymore - Windows 10 Forums

I had previously removed the shortcut arrow from desktop icons. I have been doing this for 20 years, ever since Windows 98 came out. I found a tip for Windows 98 years ago that said you could remove the shortcut icon arrows by editing these two keys:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile]
"IsShortcut"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\piffile]
"IsShortcut"=""

All you had to do was rename the two values "ShortcutIs" and restart or logout and log in, and the arrows would be gone. Been doing that for 20 years with no problem, from Win98 to Win7.

However, it seems that when you do this in Windows 8.1 Pro, it disables the Win+X key. As soon as I set both values back to the default (IsShortcut) and restarted, the Win+X key worked, and right-clicking on the Start button gave me back the Start context menu.

I don't actually like the Win+X menu, I always install Classic Start Menu and give myself back a Windows 7-style Start menu. But it annoyed me that the Win+X menu was missing, even though I don't use it. I knew this meant something was wrong, which bugged me.

I had NO intention of reinstalling Windows 8.1, which many sites (including Microsoft) had suggested - that is too drastic a solution and it wasn't worth the time and trouble, and I would simply have hidden the shortcut arrows again and been back where I started.

This may not work for everyone who has the Win+X problem, but it worked for me.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
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