It’s both alarming and inconvenient when an essential Windows feature mysteriously disappears. This sometimes happens following a Windows update, when you install a program that changes your system settings, or after someone else has used your PC.

If your taskbar has vanished, your Start Menu is missing, or your shutdown options are no longer available, don’t panic. We’ll explain the easiest ways to restore lost Windows tools without needing to reset your computer.

Why Are Some Windows Features Missing on Your Computer?

You might not be able to access certain Windows features in your Windows 10 or 11 due to one or more of the following reasons:

  • Explorer.exe has crashed: The taskbar and start menu are managed by the "explorer.exe" process and if it stops working, both these utilities are likely to run into different problems. Issues like this can typically be fixed by restarting the explorer.exe process in the Task Manager.
  • Corrupt user profile: Your user profiles might be facing a corruption error which is disturbing the desktop environment. There is also a chance that third-party software or recent updates are conflicting with the normal operation of the tools, leading to the issue.
  • Problems with the Registry or GPE: If you have made significant changes to the system using the Registry Editor or the Group Policy Editor, there is a possibility that some settings are conflicting with certain Windows features and causing the problem. In such cases, reverting to default settings might help.
  • Driver issues: In some rare cases, your corrupt or outdated graphics driver might be affecting the overall user interface. Make sure your drivers are up-to-date using the Device Manager.

Now that you know about the possible causes, let's troubleshoot the issue to get rid of it for good.

The search bar next to the Start button in Windows 10 used to be integrated with Cortana. This meant that hiding Microsoft’s voice assistant caused it to disappear, and unhiding Cortana would bring it back.

Now that the two are separated, restoring a missing search bar is even easier in Windows 10. Simply right-click a blank area of the taskbar and choose Search > Show search box.

Show search box option

If that doesn’t work, right-click the taskbar and choose Taskbar settings. If the option to Use small taskbar buttons is set to On, turn it off to bring back the search box.

If you are facing this issue in Windows 11, check out how to fix the Windows Search bar not showing or working.

2. Restore the Taskbar

If your taskbar has vanished, you should first ensure that it isn't just hiding.

  1. Move your mouse pointer to the bottom of the screen to see if it pops up.
  2. If it dfoes, right-click the taskbar and choose Taskbar settings.
  3. Switch off the option Automatically hide the taskbar.
    Disable the "Automatically hide the taskar" option

The taskbar sometimes disappears if there’s a problem with File Explorer. Restarting Explorer (explorer.exe) through Task Manager can fix this, without you needing to reboot your PC. This trick may also work if File Explorer itself disappears.

As you’ll be unable to access Task Manager by right-clicking the taskbar, open it by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc. On the Processes tab, right-click Windows Explorer and choose Restart.

The Restart option for File Explorer

3. Restore Missing Taskbar Icons

If you can no longer see the clock, the volume control, the network icon, and/or other useful icons on your taskbar, here’s how to reinstate them.

Right-click the taskbar, and choose Taskbar settings. Ensure that all the taskbar items are enabled in the following window.

Enable taskbar items in Windows

4. Restore the Start Menu

If your Start menu doesn’t appear when you click the Start button in Windows, there are two main likely causes.

The most common and the easiest to fix is that Windows is in "Tablet mode," which replaces the Start menu with touchscreen-friendly tiles.

To switch back to desktop mode, either click the notifications icon next to the clock on your taskbar or press Win + A. When the Notifications panel opens, click Tablet mode to turn it off.

Disabling Tablet Mode on Windows

The second, more serious cause is that the Start menu is corrupted. You can fix it by re-registering the menu through PowerShell, which can be accessed through Task Manager if the search box isn’t working or available.

  1. In the Windows Search utility, type "Powershell" and choose Run as administrator.
  2. When PowerShell opens, copy and paste the following, and press Enter:
            Get-appxpackage -all *shellexperience* -packagetype bundle |% {add-appxpackage -register -disabledevelopmentmode ($_.installlocation + “\appxmetadata\appxbundlemanifest.xml”)}
        
Re-registering the Start menu through PowerShell in Windows

Reboot your computer, and the Start menu should be restored.

5. Restore the Recycle Bin

If the Recycle Bin icon has disappeared from your desktop, you won’t be able to drag and drop files to delete them or recover deleted files. Here’s how to get it back. These steps work for both Windows 10 and 11 users.

  1. Go to Start > Settings > Personalization.
  2. Choose Themes in the left-hand menu.
  3. Scroll down, and click Desktop icon settings.
  4. Select the Recycle Bin checkbox and click OK or Apply.
Modify the desktop icon settings in Windows

If the checkbox is already ticked, Windows may be in Tablet mode, as covered in the previous tip. This automatically hides desktop icons, including the Recycle Bin.

To show the Recycle Bin when in this mode:

  1. Go to Start > Settings > System > Tablet > Change additional tablet settings.
  2. Switch off the option Hide app icons on the taskbar in tablet mode.

6. Restore Missing Power Options

Clicking Power in the Start menu usually lets you restart or shut down your PC or put it in Sleep mode. If you see a blank box instead of those options or a message saying "There are currently no power options available," there are several fixes to try.

1. Run the Power Troubleshooter

The simplest solution to missing power options is to run the Windows Power troubleshooter.

This tool will allow Windows to check for power problems and hopefully suggest a fix to apply (or apply it automatically).

Power troubleshooter in Windows 11

2. Edit the Windows Registry

If you’re using Windows Home, there’s a registry tweak that can bring back the power options (this also works in other editions of Windows). Here is what you need to do:

  1. Launch the Registry Editor and navigate to the following location:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
  2. Double-click the entry NoClose in the right-hand pane (if there is one) and change its value from 1 to 0.
    Modify the NoClose entry in Registry

7. Restore the Disk Cleanup Button

The in-built Disk Cleanup tool in Windows lets you quickly delete junk files and free up space. Sometimes, however, its button goes missing from a drive’s Properties.

  1. To restore the Disk Cleanup button, open the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:
            HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer
  2. Right-click MyComputer, choose New > Key, and call the new key cleanuppath.
  3. Right-click Default in the right-hand pane and choose Modify.
  4. Type (or copy and paste) the following in the Value data field, then click OK:
    %SystemRoot%\System32\cleanmgr.exe /D %c
Modify the Cleanuppath key in Registry

Once done, open This PC in File Explorer, right-click a drive, and choose Properties. The Disk Cleanup button should now be available on the General tab.

Get Back What's Lost on Windows

Although it’s natural to fret when you can’t access a familiar Windows feature, restoring it is usually pretty straightforward. You just need to know the relevant setting to change or tweak to apply.

However, if the missing Windows tool proves impossible to get back, we recommend reaching out to the official Microsoft support team and reporting the problem to them. Hopefully, they will be able to identify the exact cause of the problem and fix the issue for good.