Windows 10 Taskbar/Start button not working due to Spotify - multiple users affected

[florio]

Since a few weeks I have a problem with Windows10: The taskbar and the start button stopped working and after research and debugging the issue I found out that Spoitfy is the issue of that.

As soon as you uninstall or deactivate Spoitfy autostart and reboot, the problem is gone.

Other users have that issue as well: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/forum/insider_wintp-insider_desktop/windows-10-taskbar-a...

"Scots Don replied on 20 March 2016:
 
My Start Button gradually ceased to work about 20 minutes after each boot.  This started to happen immediately after a Windows Update (on about 15 March 2016), so there must have been something in that update that messed things up.    I found the problem to be Spotify.  It had a Start-up program "SpotifyWebHelper".  When I disabled it, the problem disappeared.  I uninstalled Spotify (I don't use it) and this solved it.

Incidentally, to find this, I went into the Task Manager App / Start-up tab, and disabled all Start-up programs, tested it, found the problem had disappeared, then re-enabled half, until I eliminated all but SpotifyWebHelper.

This may help someone out there!

Can I provide any debug logs for this issue to the developers in order to fix this issue?

[MiniToolPeter]

Hi florio. Do you have a personal email? I have some request for you, thank you!

[florio · Accepted solution]

I found the solution to this issue, which also helped a lot of people in the microsoft forum.

The solution is very strange, but it helped:

1. Boot Windows into safe mode
(win+r -> msconfig -> boot -> check safe boot)

2. Boot Windows regularly again

(win+r -> msconfig -> boot -> uncheck safe boot)

I don't know why/how this solved my issue, but it solved it permanently. This also was helpful for a lot of other people: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/forum/insider_wintp-insider_desktop/windows-10-taskbar-a...