I have been unable to come up with a rhyme or reason to this problem.

For some reason the Windows 8.1 start button will no longer respond to a right-click.  The context menu will not come up.  You can see that the active window is no longer active because the border color changes.  The start button works as expected when left-clicking it.

I first noticed this on a brand new Windows 8 machine that I upgraded to Windows 8.1.  The problem occurred while I was messing with trying to customize the default user profile.  The next time I logged in with a new user account the start button was broke.  The system I was using was stripped down.  It had NO additional software on it except the drivers and necessary associated applications, and all available Windows updates were installed.  I chaulked it up to something I messed up.

Next, I reformatted 20 lab computers with Windows 8.1 Pro and joined them to a Server 2003 domain.  Users have roaming profiles and folder redirection policies.  The folder redirection policies redirect AppData, Documents, and Desktop to a folder on the server and the contents of these folders are shared between Windows XP and Windows 8.1.  The roaming profiles are unique and new.  Thus far all users have only logged on to Windows XP so they have the version 1 profile and when they logon to the Windows 8.1 box a new .v2 profile folder is created.

Today, we logged about 12 users into these individual machines for the first time and about 3 or 4 of them could not right-click their start button.  Once the problem occurs, it never goes away regardless of what machine they log into.  The only way to solve the problem is to default the profile off the computer and delete the roaming profile folder off the server.  The problem has reoccurred after this but I'm not sure what triggers it.

In addition, I have tried renaming the user's redirected application data folder and letting Windows 8.1 create a new one in case there was a conflict with a Windows XP setting.  This did not resolve the issue.

For some reason the Windows 8.1 start button will no longer respond to a right-click.

 The only way to solve the problem is to default the profile off the computer and delete the roaming profile folder off the server.  The problem has reoccurred after this but I'm not sure what triggers it.

The symptom apparently can happen if there is no  WinX  folder for the right-click to find.   FWIW mine are all in  %LocalAppData%  I don't know what would happen if you tried to put it in  %AppData%.

Also, I was just reminded about how security can interfere.  I'm on my W7 partition ATM but was checking my W8 partion using  dir/ad/b/s winx  and noticed that the Guest account's WinX directory was not listed.  The explanation is that I was only using a cmd window started as a standard user (even though I am the administrator).   So, if your users' WinX are there you may want to use icacls.exe on them to find out if each has all the permissions that it needs.

HTH

For some reason the Windows 8.1 start button will no longer respond to a right-click.

 The only way to solve the problem is to default the profile off the computer and delete the roaming profile folder off the server.  The problem has reoccurred after this but I'm not sure what triggers it.

The symptom apparently can happen if there is no  WinX  folder for the right-click to find.   FWIW mine are all in  %LocalAppData%  I don't know what would happen if you tried to put it in  %AppData%.

Also, I was just reminded about how security can interfere.  I'm on my W7 partition ATM but was checking my W8 partion using  dir/ad/b/s winx  and noticed that the Guest account's WinX directory was not listed.  The explanation is that I was only using a cmd window started as a standard user (even though I am the administrator).   So, if your users' WinX are there you may want to use icacls.exe on them to find out if each has all the permissions that it needs.

 

HTH

I was able to get mine to work after I copied the local Administrator WinX directory to my profile and then restarted the computer (log out and then back in probably would have worked as well).  The WinX directory in the Admin profile is located here:  C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WinX

Though, I'm unsure of why this happened in the first place.  Though, in my organization we use a network Default User profile that was created in Win 7.  So, maybe logging into this Win 8.1 computer used that Default Profile and when it upgraded it to the Win 8.1 format it didn't configure the right click menu correctly.

• Marked as answer by Kate LiMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Wednesday, November 06, 2013 8:42 AM

Thanks, this worked for me:
 "The only way to solve the problem is to default the profile off the computer and delete the roaming profile folder off the server."

I was having the same issue with the Right Click Menu not working, as well as my pre-created Start Menu.  Once I removed the Network Profile, all worked as supposed to.

This problem also happens with a fully correct sysprep generated Default User.V2 profile from Windows 8.1. This must be a bug in Windows 8/8.1. Hopefully Microsoft gets it fixed soon.

Of course most people user classic shell start menu anyway but still, would be nice if MS fixed this issue.

In my environment we had a network "Default User.V2" profile that we used with Win7 clients.  Now, with Win8 and Win8.1 we've configured the clients to use V3 and V4 profiles (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2887239/en-us).  That link is for the Win8 hotfix, which changes the roaming profile of users to .V3, but there's also one for 8.1 and it changes the profile folder to .V4.

Anyway, we have since deleted the Default User.V2 from our network.  In testing the creation of .V4 roaming profiles with Win8.1, I've figured out a little more about the WinX folder.  If I have a roaming profile and log into a Win8.1 computer for the first time, the WinX folder is created as part of my profile during the "Hi, we're setting things up, many bright colors" spiel before you get to the Metro screen.  However, when I log out, because the WinX folder is in the Local AppData, it doesn't get uploaded to my roaming profile location.  If I then log back into the same computer, everything is fine because that computer still has a local copy of my profile with WinX in the Local AppData.  However, if I log into any other computer, the WinX folder doesn't get created and I can no longer right click on the Start menu (until I copy it to my Local AppData on that computer).

So, it seems that when I first log in to a Win8.1 computer and go through the "Hi....etc etc....many different colors" startup, the WinX folder is created and will work on that computer, but if I log into another computer, it isn't downloaded as part of my roaming profile or re-created.  Also, if you have the GPO set to delete copies of roaming profiles off of the computer when a user logs out, I would guess that the WinX folder would then get deleted and when you log back in you'd have the same issue.

Thanks, this worked for me:
 "The only way to solve the problem is to default the profile off the computer and delete the roaming profile folder off the server."

I was having the same issue with the Right Click Menu not working, as well as my pre-created Start Menu.  Once I removed the Network Profile, all worked as supposed to.

Hi,

I encountered the same problem - if you go to another pc, log on with a roaming profile, a right click on the new 8.1 startmenu won't open any context.

Are there any news/fixes for that problem? Roaming makes no sense at this time.

Hi,

I'm also having the same problem.

I have Server 2012 R2 Windows 8.1 clients. All folders possible are redirected to the server, roaming profiles are activated to a different share and working correctly. The Registry Tweak to change roaming user profile folder names has been done so roaming profile folders are username.V4. Copying the winx folder from a local user account is only a temporary fix for as long as you are logged on. Each new logon doesn't automatically get this folder.

I am going to create a logon script to copy the file but I really shouldn't have to.

Adam

I have experienced the same problem with Windows 8.1 in a W2K12R2 domain. I have found that two identical users that log on to a Windows 8.1 computer for the first time are configured differently depending on the user uses roaming profiles or not. My test setup:

User1 - domain user - uses roaming profiles (that is already created on an earlier state in a Win 8.1 machine).

User2 - domain user - does not use roaming profiles.

When User1 logs in the right-click on Start button does not work. I have checked the users %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows directory. There are no WinX subdirectories.

When User2 logs in the right-click on Start button works and shows a menu. I have checked the users %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows directory. There are WinX subdirectories.

If I copy the WinX subdirs from User2 to User1 and reboots, User1 starts working with the right-click function. So my conclusion is that roaming profiles prevent the creation of these local WinX directories on the desktop machine. They are not part of the roaming profile subdirectory (%AppData%).

My test machine is freshly installed with no Windows updates or anything else besides VMware Tools (I use a VM on an ESXi host. Roaming profile is configured for User1 by placing a path into the Profile tab in AD for the user account.

Microsoft, this must be some kind of bug?

Regards,
Roland Lyngvig

Exactly the same problem here - thought I was going mad! It sounds like a problem roaming profiles between Windows 8.1/Windows 2012 R2 and previous versions.

Manually copied WINX folder from an non-roaming account to the roaming profile account and it worked fine.

Why a roaming profile should interfere with a local AppData folder is perplexing. Yes, it sounds like a bug.

This issue is now fixed in November 2014 rollup. For more information see the following KB article:

Shortcut menu is not displayed when you right-click Start in Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3005344

• Proposed as answer by Kaushik Ainapure [MSFT]Microsoft employee 27 minutes ago

This issue is now fixed in November 2014 rollup. For more information see the following KB article:

Shortcut menu is not displayed when you right-click Start in Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3005344

• Proposed as answer by Kaushik Ainapure [MSFT]Microsoft employee Monday, February 09, 2015 11:17 AM