Start Menu Wont Open After Accidentally Setting Image as App Tile Background

Windows 10
1

Accidentally set a picture as the background for my app tiles, and now the Start menu won't open. How can I resolve this issue?

2

Nice job on getting yourself into a weird situation!

Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered. Since you can’t access the Start menu, we’ll need to use the Windows key + R shortcut to open the Run dialog box. From there, we can try a few things to get your Start menu up and running again.

Method 1: Resetting the Start menu layout

  1. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run dialog box.
  2. Type powershell and press Enter to open PowerShell.
  3. In PowerShell, type Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers |Where-Object {$_.InstallLocation -like "*SystemApps*"} | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}
  4. Press Enter to execute the command. This will reset the Start menu layout and remove any customizations, including the image you set as the app tile background.

Method 2: Disabling the “Show app background” option

  1. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run dialog box.
  2. Type ms-settings:personalization and press Enter to open the Personalization settings.
  3. In the Personalization window, click on “Start” from the left menu.
  4. Toggle the switch under “Show app background” to the Off position.

Method 3: System File Checker (SFC) scan

  1. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run dialog box.
  2. Type sfc /scannow and press Enter to run the System File Checker tool.
  3. This tool will scan and repair any corrupted system files that might be causing the issue.

Try these methods in order, and see if any of them resolve the issue for you. If you’re still having trouble, feel free to provide more details, and I’ll do my best to help you out