What is StartMenuExperienceHost.exe process: safe or not?
Under various circumstances, many of us may notice the StartMenuExperienceHost process in our system. Usually it appears in the “Task Manager”, but it can also be found in error codes when the process does not start or starts with failures. There are also cases of increased load on the video card from the side of it. It’s time to deal with this file and determine its essence, benefit or harm, as well as examine potential problems.
You should be aware that StartMenuExperienceHost.exe is a Windows 10 operating system process that was introduced in version 1903 (May 2019 Update). In fact, it also existed before, but was part of ShellExperienceHost.exe. It has now been spun off into a separate, independent process that can be more easily interacted with. Usually it is launched with various changes to the Start menu, for which the file is responsible.
What does this process do?
The role of StartMenuExperienceHost.exe is to create a better environment for managing Start. This approach has many advantages over the old ShellExperienceHost process:
- allows you to implement a night mode;
- supports more visual settings;
- you can restart the process without restarting the entire desktop and explorer;
- greater stability of work and higher productivity;
- simplified menu design.
In short, we must conclude that StartMenuExperienceHost is the process that is responsible for the Start menu.
Is it a safe process or not?
In most cases, the process is triggered by the official Windows 10 software. However, knowing about the frequent attempts to tamper with the original processes by virus developers, this should be further checked. To do this, go to the “Task Manager”, right-click on the process and select “Open file location”. The original file is located at the path C: Windows SystemApps Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy. If your StartMenuExperienceHost.exe file is located here, do not worry, the process is original and does not pose a threat to your system.
Many users want to disable StartMenuExperienceHost to clean up unnecessary processes from the system. However, this process is not superfluous. It is necessary for the normal operation of Start, and it is used by 99.9% of all users. For this reason, you should not turn it off completely. If the reason is that you need to restart the process, then this really takes place, because after restarting it can work more stably.
How to disable (restart) StartMenuExperienceHost:
- In the “Task Manager” press RMB on the process and select the option “End task”.
- Enter the command in the command line taskkill / im StartMenuExperienceHost.exe / f…
After these procedures, the process will start again immediately or after a short time, and this is normal.
File problems
Unfortunately, there are problems with this file, although not so often. We are aware of at least 3 unpleasant situations in which the StartMenuExperienceHost.exe file is involved.
Wakes up the computer
Due to some internal problem, the StartMenuExperienceHost file may wake up the computer immediately or after a certain amount of time. You can find out what exactly he sets the wake-up timer using the command powercfg -lastwake… The program that brought the computer out of sleep mode will be listed here. Also, using the following command, you can find out all applications that can wake up the computer – powercfg -waketimers…
What to do:
- We prohibit awakening. Open the “Power supply” tab in the “Control Panel”, click on “Sleep mode settings” and click on “Change advanced power settings”. Next, expand the “Sleep” tab, select “Allow wake-up timers” and set the value to “Disabled”.
- We fix only the problem with the file. On the Microsoft forum, many users reported that the problem is with the automatically generated icons in Start. This is the weather, thumbnails of photos, programs, and more. They only need to be removed and the problem should be fixed.
Doesn’t start
If the message “The name of the failed application is StartMenuExperienceHost.exe” is displayed and Start does not start, its manual launch should help. You should navigate to the original file at the path C: Windows SystemApps Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy and try to start it manually. You can also try to restart the “Run” process (it should be removed, it will start again automatically). If it does not exist and the file does not start either, you will have to scan the system using sfc /scannow…
Uses a video card
If the StartMenuExperienceHost process uses a video card, option 2: it is overlaid or it is a virus. The restart procedure is described above, in fact, as well as the instructions for differentiating the virus and the real file.
That’s all there is to know about StartMenuExperienceHost.exe. The above information is enough to get an idea of the file, its tasks, possible problems, etc.
