Over the past day, Windows 11 has started behaving strangely after startup. The desktop appears normally, but Windows interface elements close as soon as I try to use them. Right-clicking the desktop or taskbar makes the context menu appear for only a moment before it disappears. The Search box and hidden-icons menu behave similarly, and the Start menu opens but closes as soon as I click an item or try to search. Because of this, I can't launch programs from Start or shut down or restart the computer normally. A restart attempt even appeared to begin shutting down before immediately returning to the desktop, so I had to use the physical power button.
Applications outside the Windows shell, including my browser, Discord, and games, work normally and accept right-clicks without closing. I'm wondering whether a recent Windows update caused this or whether there is another likely cause.
System: Windows 11, Intel i9-10700K, GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super, and 32 GB DDR4-2400 RAM.
1 Answer
This could be caused by corrupted Windows system components, possibly after a recent cumulative update. Open an elevated PowerShell or Terminal window and run these commands one at a time:
SFC /SCANNOW
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
SFC /SCANNOW
Running System File Checker again after DISM gives it another chance to replace anything that was repaired or restored.
The first SFC scan found corrupted files and reported that it repaired them. The component cleanup and restore-health commands both completed successfully, and I ran SFC again afterward. I’m going to restart and check whether the Windows menus work normally now.