Solved No "shutdown or sign out >" option in winx menu on admin account on Windows 11 23H2

There has been few months since "shutdown or sign out >" option has dissapeared and some other options from winx menu on admin account on my Windows 11 23H2.

What is weird is that I have that option on user account.


I have googled my problem and followed tutorials but nothing helped so far,from trying to find windows corrupt files,restoring system health,disabling all startup apps,playing with registry and I even copied winx folder from user account and replaced it with admin one but nothing helped.

Hello @McLovinnn and welcome to ElevenForum.


Are you using any 3rd party tweaker tools, like OpenShell or StartAllBack?


This is what my Start Menu looks like. Yours doesn't even look like it's in the same order.

Ghot said:

Hello @McLovinnn and welcome to ElevenForum.


Are you using any 3rd party tweaker tools, like OpenShell or StartAllBack?


This is what my Start Menu looks like...

View attachment 84077

Click to expand...

Hello

First thank you for reply.

Regarding your question,I am not sure what it could be,I am not using any of those two and I havent used any third party software that changes windows gui.

In terms of 3rd party tweakers I am using Asus Armor Crate for controlling hardware like fans colour,speed,overclocking but I have been using it long before problem started to appear.

I have installed a lot of software since first installation of windows but none of them that I know directly affect windows user interface.

McLovinnn said:

Hello

First thank you for reply.

Regarding your question,I am not sure what it could be,I am not using any of those two and I havent used any third party software that changes windows gui.

In terms of 3rd party tweakers I am using Asus Armor Crate for controlling hardware like fans colour,speed,overclocking but I have been using it long before problem started to appear.

I have installed a lot of software since first installation of windows but none of them that I know directly affect windows user interface.

Click to expand...

The fact that the order in your menu differs from mine & that of @Ghot and probably everyone else seems to indicate that the desktop.ini files got modified/corrupted in one or more of each of the 3 subfolders in:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\WinX

Any idea how that could have happened?

OAT said:

The fact that the order in your menu differs from mine & that of @Ghot and probably everyone else seems to indicate that the desktop.ini files got modified/corrupted in one or more of each of the 3 subfolders in:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\WinX

Any idea how that could have happened?

Click to expand...

I suspect that it could be a virus or adware software that corrupted files,changed registry for who knows what reasons.What is certain is that I didnt do it myself.
I am type of user that downloads a lot of programs and games,here is the list of all of my installed software appearing in control panel:

McLovinnn said:

I suspect that it could be a virus or adware software that corrupted files,changed registry for who knows what reasons.What is certain is that I didnt do it myself.
I am type of user that downloads a lot of programs and games,here is the list of all of my installed software appearing in control panel

Click to expand...

The list won't tell us anything and it is unlikely a virus, or malware.

Create a new user, log on as that new user and see if the menu is correct.
If it is, your profile is damaged,
if it is like yours, incorrect, your system is damaged.
I am unsure that DISM or SFC would fix those, might be worth trying if you haven't.
Either way, a repair re-install is recommended.

OAT said:

The list won't tell us anything and it is unlikely a virus, or malware.

Create a new user, log on as that new user and see if the menu is correct.
If it is, your profile is damaged,
if it is like yours, incorrect, your system is damaged.
I am unsure that DISM or SFC would fix those, might be worth trying if you haven't.
Either way, a repair re-install is recommended.

Click to expand...

Already tried with sfc dism ,no errors,didnt help.
Created new user ,Winx menu is fine.The problem is only on my admin account.

OAT said:

The list won't tell us anything and it is unlikely a virus, or malware.

Create a new user, log on as that new user and see if the menu is correct.
If it is, your profile is damaged,
if it is like yours, incorrect, your system is damaged.
I am unsure that DISM or SFC would fix those, might be worth trying if you haven't.
Either way, a repair re-install is recommended.

Click to expand...

I have even tried disabling all services apart from microsoft and disabling all startup programs,winx folder in appdata looks like this:

McLovinnn said:

I have even tried disabling all services apart from microsoft and disabling all startup programs,winx folder in appdata looks like this:

Click to expand...

Services really have nothing to do with this as this is a static modification and not triggered at startup or log in.
In other words, the damage has been done and files & possibly registry have been altered.

You could try to copy & overwrite the content of all 3 folders (desktop.ini included-it is hidden) from the newly created user to a temp folder.
Log out and log back in to your damaged account and copy the folders from the temp to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\WinX
Please say yes to all when prompted to replace content.

Please note that this is an unproven method so there is no guarantee it will work, it is my belief that there must be some reg entries to go along with this. This would require some research if that is the case.

I even tried changing target of desktop shortcut in winx folder to %windir%\System32\shutdown.exe, no effect ! Desktop in winx menu still does the same,even after restarting file explorer and restarting pc,the target stays the same in folder but all shortcuts perform non related to what I modify.
Also all user accounts have normal shut down and sign out option and generaly normal context menu,however when I go into winx folder for each user its the exact copy of admin winx folder and it doesnt match what is displayed.
I tried even booting pc in safe mode,still the same.

OAT said:

Services really have nothing to do with this as this is a static modification and not triggered at startup or log in.
In other words, the damage has been done and files & possibly registry have been altered.

You could try to copy & overwrite the content of all 3 folders (desktop.ini included-it is hidden) from the newly created user to a temp folder.
Log out and log back in to your damaged account and copy the folders from the temp to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\WinX
Please say yes to all when prompted to replace content.

Please note that this is an unproven method so there is no guarantee it will work, it is my belief that there must be some reg entries to go along with this. This would require some research if that is the case.

Click to expand...

No it didnt affect anything at all copying files and replacing policies folder from healthy user didnt work.
I just deleted completly winx folder on damaged admin account and restarted pc and now everything is working fine,standard winx menu returned and when I checked folder the thing that was different was that polcies folders werent faded but looked normal.
Dont know what happened but its solved.
I am just curious what was going on.

McLovinnn said:

No it didnt affect anything at all copying files and replacing policies folder from healthy user didnt work.
I just deleted completly winx folder on damaged admin account and restarted pc and now everything is working fine,standard winx menu returned and when I checked folder the thing that was different was that polcies folders werent faded but looked normal.
Dont know what happened but its solved.
I am just curious what was going on.

Click to expand...

Maybe this can explain,I did installed some games from fitgirl repacks:

McLovinnn said:

No it didnt affect anything at all copying files and replacing policies folder from healthy user didnt work.
I just deleted completly winx folder on damaged admin account and restarted pc and now everything is working fine,standard winx menu returned and when I checked folder the thing that was different was that polcies folders werent faded but looked normal.
Dont know what happened but its solved.
I am just curious what was going on.

Click to expand...

McLovinnn said:

Maybe this can explain,I did installed some games from fitgirl repacks:

Click to expand...

This is guess work at this time and I don't do that.
Bottom line is that it is solved.
You should be looking into some backup mechanism however.

Just a confirmation, I get the same menu choices whether using WinKey + X or right-click of the Start button.

Berton said:

Just a confirmation, I get the same menu choices whether using WinKey + X or right-click of the Start button.

View attachment 84091

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Yes its the same,but I am not satisfied ,I want to understand why this happened.
Btw guys thank you for all support.
After all all of us here are pc enthusiasts and passionate eternal learners

McLovinnn said:

Yes its the same,but I am not satisfied ,I want to understand why this happened.

Click to expand...

I like the attitude but it's a wild goose chase.
Enjoy the fact that a solution was found.
Please mark your thread as 'solved'
Thx

OAT said:

I like the attitude but it's a wild goose chase.
Enjoy the fact that a solution was found.
Please mark your thread as 'solved'
Thx

Click to expand...

Ok,guys thanks for help and making me company
,it was a pleasure

I forgot to include this with my reply: my install is a default [with just a couple of customizations in file management] as I have to see what my clients are seeing when they have questions.