This article discusses a method of eliminating phantom “ms-resource:AppName/Text” entries on the Windows 10 Start Menu. You may see these after upgrading Windows 10 to version 1903 in an “other” group at the bottom of the Start Menu.
What are “ms-resource:AppName/Text” entries?
A database is used to store information on user-available ModernApps and its contents merged with traditional apps (.lnk files) when the start menu is opened by a user.
The “ms-resource:AppName/Text” reveals a corrupt/orphaned entry in the database. As part of this, lookups are performed to C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Packages and/or C:\Windows\SystemApps to load the app’s manifest.xml file. The manifest file is used to query for the Icon, life tile instructions and the multilingual label used on the start menu.
If the database record exists, but the application itself no longer does – due to a crash during uninstall or the user being offline when an administrator removed the app. “ms-resource:AppName/Text” will appear until such time that Windows validates the contents of the database. This usually during the next update to the “Start Menu” app itself, or an OS upgrade.
Ensure App Uninstallation
A common reason for this occurring is:
- The user has never run the app to install it into their user profile
- The app is removed from
AppxProvisionedPackagesinC:\Windows\SystemAppsby an administrator. This prevents self-repair - The app is removed from ‘All Users’ on the system, however the database entry remains in one or more local user profiles
If there are remnants of the app in Get-AppxPackage or Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers, you must remove the entries first. This is because the entry will be re-written to the Start Menu database after it is reset.
Once the app has been removed from the local user account, ‘all users’ and the provisioned apps repository. You can reset the database.
Reset the Start Menu database
There are several ways to do this. This fix runs in the local user context and uses a “bludgeoning” approach to solving the problem.
Paste the following code into a PowerShell window. It will error, it will not be pretty but it will remove the phantom entry – provided that you have genuinely uninstalled the app.
Stop-process -Name 'explorer'; Remove-Item "$env:LocalAppData\Packages\$($(Get-AppxPackage | ?{$_.name -like '*startmenue*'}).PackageFamilyName)\TempState\" -Recurse -Force -Confirm:$false; Stop-process -Name 'explorer'; Remove-Item "$env:LocalAppData\Packages\$($(Get-AppxPackage | ?{$_.name -like '*startmenue*'}).PackageFamilyName)\TempState\" -Recurse -Force -Confirm:$false; Stop-process -Name 'explorer'; Remove-Item "$env:LocalAppData\Packages\$($(Get-AppxPackage | ?{$_.name -like '*startmenue*'}).PackageFamilyName)\TempState\" -Recurse -Force -Confirm:$false; Stop-process -Name 'explorer'; Remove-Item "$env:LocalAppData\Packages\$($(Get-AppxPackage | ?{$_.name -like '*startmenue*'}).PackageFamilyName)\TempState\" -Recurse -Force -Confirm:$false; Start-Process 'c:\windows\explorer.exe';
If you are paying attention, yes, the above is repeating itself several times. This is intentional.
What does it do?
Very simply the above PowerShell sample:
- Crashes the Windows Shell (Windows Explorer)
- Looks up the version number of the Windows 10 Start Menu app (“Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost”)
- Uses the version number to construct the path to the location of the Start Menu database
- Deletes the database
- Return to 1
- Repeat…
- Start Windows Explorer
The code repetition prevents explorer.exe from being auto-recovered by the WinLogon watchdog. If explorer.exe is running, it will fail to delete the database. By repeatedly running, it will eventually brute-force explorer.exe closed, perform the deletion and restart explorer.exe on its own.
Explorer.exe re-scans the local system/user to inventory apps when it starts and a new database created without the phantom app.