Microsoft is having trouble fixing a Windows 10 and 11 bug that are impacting users, providing a less-than-helpful workaround.

The latest two iterations of Microsoft’s Windows operating system have a bug that can prevent Start menu, Windows search, and Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps from opening. According to a company support document, Microsoft has a solution — although it’s not a solution anyone is going to like.

The Start menu, Windows search, and Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps might not work as expected or might have issues opening. Affected Windows devices might have damaged registry keys or data which might affect apps using Microsoft Office APIs to integrate with Windows, Microsoft Office, or Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Calendar. An example of an app affected by this issue is ClickShare. The underlying Issue is not caused by the installation of an update to Windows and might be exposed by an update to an affected app.

Workaround: To mitigate this issue, you can uninstall apps which integrate with Windows, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Calendar. Updates to affected apps or guidance from the developer of the app might also be available. If you are using ClickShare by Barco, please see Symptom: Start Menu and other shell components fail when Apps including Barco’s ClickShare access Office APIs and Unresponsive Windows taskbar or user shell folder permissions issues with ClickShare App Calendar integration.

Given that this issue was first reported several months ago, it’s hard to believe that this is the best Microsoft can come up with.