A lot of problems after a clean install of Windows 11 post July update

I needed to do a fresh install of Windows 11 24H2 after purchasing a new SSD. I created new USB boot media from the Microsoft site and wiped the SSD and started fresh.

I ran through the OOBE and filled in everything as well as allowed it to download all of the latest updates. I named the computer the same name and disregarded OneDrive as I don't use it.

All Windows Updates and Microsoft Store apps are up to date. Here are the problems I am seeing after signing in with my normal Microsoft account:

1. The Microsoft Store app is no longer is pinned to the taskbar after the desktop screen first appears.
2. Windows Spotlight for the desktop refuses to change pictures. Upon looking in the folders and the registry things appear to be missing, and the pictures don't change beyond the four that are the default.
3. The mobile device pane does not show up next to the start menu and the option is missing in settings to toggle it on/off, despite turning it on in settings and making sure Phone Link is updated.

When I did a fresh, clean install back in May on another drive it worked like normal, but now after the June/July updates are included (I assume they install during the OOBE) it seems to be broken.

Is there a way to fix any of these problems, especially the Windows Desktop Spotlight images?

Please note that I re-installed about four times with the same results. SFC is OK as well as running DISM restore health.

Please help, if possible, I would really appreciate it.

I needed to do a fresh install of Windows 11 24H2 after purchasing a new SSD. I created new USB boot media from the Microsoft site and wiped the SSD and started fresh.

I ran through the OOBE and filled in everything as well as allowed it to download all of the latest updates. I named the computer the same name and disregarded OneDrive as I don't use it.

All Windows Updates and Microsoft Store apps are up to date. Here are the problems I am seeing after signing in with my normal Microsoft account:

1. The Microsoft Store app is no longer is pinned to the taskbar after the desktop screen first appears.
2. Windows Spotlight for the desktop refuses to change pictures. Upon looking in the folders and the registry things appear to be missing, and the pictures don't change beyond the four that are the default.
3. The mobile device pane does not show up next to the start menu and the option is missing in settings to toggle it on/off, despite turning it on in settings and making sure Phone Link is updated.

When I did a fresh, clean install back in May on another drive it worked like normal, but now after the June/July updates are included (I assume they install during the OOBE) it seems to be broken. I'm noticing that three cumulative updates are installing after the OOBE windows update installer runs.

Is there a way to fix any of these problems, especially the mobile device pane/flyout off of the start menu? It won't show up no matter what I do. Spotlight seems to be stuck on images now after only changing once.

Please note that I re-installed about four times with the same results. SFC is OK as well as running DISM restore health.

Please help, if possible, I would really appreciate it.

Windows 11 Pro, 24H2 latest build all updates applied.

Thank you!

1) Easy to fix - just pin it back to the taskbar. Open Start > All, right-click the Microsoft Store app, click More > Pin to taskbar.

2) Unfortunately, I cannot assist with Search. I always disable it on all my machines so I'm not familiar with it.

3) This is a feature that is a "gradual rollout". Some machines will get it, others won't until later. For me, it shows up on 2 machines, but not on others. When you reinstall from scratch, you are rolling the dice: Maybe you will get it, maybe you won't. However, I suspect that you can likely force enable this with Vivetool. Hopefully someone else here who has used it to enable this feature can comment on what code to use to enable it.

Everyone's recently complaining about Spotlight, I'd presume it's broken again.