My laptop can’t go through the settings and the search bar

[Clive0202]

My laptop can’t go through the settings and the windows option start and search bar

[Nal_NR]

Hi @Clive0202,

Welcome to the HP Support Community. 

I'd be glad to help you! 

If your HP Notebook - 15-ra011ni is having issues where the Settings app, Start menu, and search bar are unresponsive or not opening, this might be due to software corruption, a recent update, or other system issues. Here are some steps you can try to resolve this problem:

1. Restart Windows Explorer:

• Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
• Find Windows Explorer in the list, right-click it, and select Restart. This can refresh the Start menu and taskbar.

2. Run System File Checker (SFC) and DISM:

• Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager, then click on File > Run new task.
• Type cmd and check Create this task with administrative privileges. Click OK.

3. Use PowerShell to Re-register Start Menu:

• Open Task Manager as above, and run a new task.
• Type powershell and check Create this task with administrative privileges. Click OK.

4. Create a New User Account:

• If the above steps don’t work, try creating a new user account to see if the problem persists.
• Open Task Manager > File > Run new task, type netplwiz, and create a new user account with admin rights.
• Log in to the new account and check if the issue is resolved.

Please find the remaining steps in the next post. 

Please mark this post as “Accepted Solution” if the issue is resolved and if you feel this reply was helpful click “Yes”.

[Nal_NR]

Hi @Clive0202,

Please find the remaining steps below. 

5. Boot into Safe Mode:

• Restart your laptop, and press F8 (or Shift + Restart) during boot to enter the Advanced Startup Options.
• Choose Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart.
• After restarting, select Safe Mode with Networking.
• Check if the Start menu and Settings work in Safe Mode. If they do, the issue may be caused by third-party software or drivers.

6. Check for Windows Updates:

• Even though you can't access Settings, try to run updates from the Command Prompt.

7. System Restore:

• If the issue started recently, you can try to perform a System Restore to revert the system to a previous state where it was working fine.
• Open Task Manager, run a new task, and type rstrui.exe to open the System Restore wizard. Follow the instructions to restore to a previous restore point.

8. Perform a Repair Install:

• If none of the above solutions work, you might need to perform a repair install of Windows 10. You can do this by downloading the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool from another device, creating a bootable USB, and selecting the "Upgrade" option to repair Windows without losing your files.

If the issue persists after trying these steps, it might be necessary to consider a complete reset or clean installation of Windows to fully resolve the problem.

If you are not comfortable doing that, I recommend you contact phone support for further assistance. 

Hope this helps! Keep me posted for further assistance

Please mark this post as “Accepted Solution” if the issue is resolved and if you feel this reply was helpful click “Yes”.