Post Bare Metal Restore (BMR) operation, windows Start Menu and Search not functioning
Post Bare Metal Restore (BMR) operation, windows Start Menu and Search not functioning.
This behavior has been observed on the Windows Server 2019 (2K19) EFI client.
The most probable cause is that the AppX State Repository database was not properly updated during the recovery process.
While application files were successfully restored, the system's internal registration database was not synchronized, leading to failures in initializing built-in Windows components.
Follow the Microsoft's documentation and recommendations for registering the Appx Package.
Apart from official documentation, the following procedure may assist in resolving registration-related inconsistencies.
Recovery Procedure
- Open PowerShell as an administrator.
- Run the following command:
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach { Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml" }This command re-registers all installed AppX packages by reading their respective
AppXManifest.xmlfiles and rebuilding the associated registration data
Executing this command performs the following actions:
Enumerates all installed AppX packages across all user profiles
Parses each
AppXManifest.xmlRebuilds package activation and identity mappings
Re-indexes packages in the Windows State Repository
Re-applies required security identifiers (including ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES)
Reconstructs AppX deployment metadata
This process helps resolve AppX package registration mismatches and related shell initialization issues.
After completing the re-registration:
Restart the Windows Shell by restarting the
explorer.exeprocess to ensure the updated registrations are applied.
Before performing AppX package re-registration, verify the following:
AppLocker Configuration
Ensure no AppLocker Deny rules are blocking packaged applications.
Open secpol.msc and navigate to: Application Control Policies → AppLocker
Confirm that no rules deny execution of Packaged Apps.
Required Directories
Ensure the following directories exist:
C:\Windows\System32\AppLocker
C:\Windows\AUInstallAgent
If missing, create them.
Do not delete these directories if they already exist.
AppReadiness Directory
Verify that
C:\Windows\AppReadinessexists.If missing, create the directory.
This location is required for AppX staging operations.
Registry Validation
Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Appx
Confirm that the PackageRoot registry value points to:C:\Program Files\WindowsApps
Optional Service Restart
If required, restart the AppX deployment service before or after package re-registration:
Restart-Service AppXSVC -Force
0x80073CF9 (Install Failed): Officially defined as "The package deployment failed because the staging operation could not be completed.".
In a BMR Scenario:
This typically indicates that:
The Staging Operation is the process where Windows prepares the application before committing it to the State Repository.
The AppReadiness directory is missing
The AUInstallAgent staging directory is missing
Directory permissions are incorrect
0x80070003 (Path Not Found): Officially refers to a "Deployment Target Access failure."
In a BMR Scenario:
This confirms that: may be missing or inaccessible due to stripped or incorrect SIDs.
This indicates that the database contains registration references, but the physical directory structure is either missing or inaccessible.
The AppX database cannot locate the required directory structure
C:\Windows\SystemApps or
C:\Program Files\WindowsApps