I've been experiencing a frustrating issue in a VDI environment with Windows 11 (version 25H2) where users cannot open the settings menu. When they click the settings icon, the window appears momentarily but disappears right away. This also happens when searching for settings options directly. Interestingly, if I log in as a different user, I'm able to access settings just fine, and once that user logs back in, the issue seems to resolve itself. However, logging out or rebooting does not solve the problem. I've tried the usual troubleshooting method with 'sfc /scannow', but it hasn't worked in this scenario. I'm curious if anyone else has encountered this problem, particularly in an enterprise setup, and if there are alternative solutions that don't require switching users. This has become quite a nuisance as it's affecting multiple users.
4 Answers
Have you checked the Event Viewer? It could give you some clues as to what's going wrong.
Just out of interest, have you thought about rolling back to a previous version like 24H2? Might help in resolving the issue if this is a bug with 25H2.
We're currently on 25H2, so not sure if going backward is a good idea.
I've faced a similar issue in our VDI setup—it seems like a case of user profile corruption. The settings app only gets reset when another user opens it. You might want to try running this command in PowerShell: `Get-AppxPackage *windows.immersivecontrolpanel* | Reset-AppxPackage`. It worked for about half the cases I had.
Thanks for the tip! I'll definitely give that a try.
What you're experiencing is related to a known issue with AppX Manifest corruption. When you log in with a different account, it forces a reload of the necessary UI components that seem to be stuck. Here are a few solutions without needing to switch accounts:
1. Run this PowerShell command to re-register the Settings app: `Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers -Name windows.immersivecontrolpanel | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)AppXManifest.xml" -Verbose}`.
2. Restart the 'Shell Experience Host' via Task Manager.
3. Clear the settings cache by locating the cache folder in `%LOCALAPPDATA%Packages` and renaming it.
Lastly, look into your Group Policy settings as they might block essential apps which could also lead to issues like this!
Not yet, but I'll take a look after this!