Windows interface repairs

Every card below runs the same way. The first two steps are the same for all of them; the other two are under each card, with what that card changes.

Each repair card writes back the Windows default unless its own description says otherwise. Most cards do not read a backup made by w0a, so they also help if some other tool was what changed your machine.

What to do

1. Open w0a
2. Go to the Fix page in the left menu

Windows Search

If Start-menu search lost web results, new files show up late in search, or indexing stopped, restores search policies and the indexing service to Windows defaults.

3. Type search into the search box
4. Press the button on the Windows Search card

Keyboard shortcuts

If Alt+Shift no longer switches keyboard language, or accessibility shortcuts like 5x Shift stopped working, restores keyboard shortcut settings to Windows defaults.

3. Type shift into the search box
4. Press the button on the Keyboard shortcuts card

Window focus and helper tools

If windows steal focus while you type, or macro/overlay tools randomly lose their hotkeys, restores focus and input-hook timeouts to Windows defaults.

3. Type focus into the search box
4. Press the button on the Window focus and helper tools card

Notifications

If toast notifications never appear (messages, calendar, reminders), or the notification/calendar flyout will not open at all, returns the notification settings and the policies that switch the notification centre off to the Windows default (enabled).

3. Type notification into the search box
4. Press the button on the Notifications card

Visual effects

If transparency and animations disappeared, dragging a window shows only an outline, Personalization > Themes errors out, or the accent colour is never applied, restores the Themes service that loads visual styles and the visual-effect settings to Windows defaults.

3. Type visual into the search box
4. Press the button on the Visual effects card

Widgets and Copilot

If the taskbar weather/Widgets board or Copilot/Recall disappeared, removes the blocking policies, restoring Windows defaults.

3. Type widgets into the search box
4. Press the button on the Widgets and Copilot card

Desktop and icons

If the desktop/taskbar froze, icons look broken, or pictures and videos never show a thumbnail, restores the thumbnail setting to the Windows default, rebuilds the icon cache and restarts Explorer. Thumbnails are regenerated folder by folder the first time you open one.

3. Type desktop into the search box
4. Press the button on the Desktop and icons card

Recommendations and suggested content

If Start's 'Recommended' section stays empty, or Personalization/Privacy toggles are greyed out with 'managed by your organization', removes the suggestion policies and restores the content settings to the Windows default (on). Where the Spotlight policy was applied, the lock-screen picture starts rotating again too.

3. Type recommended into the search box
4. Press the button on the Recommendations and suggested content card

Background apps

If Mail, Calendar and other Store apps stopped running in the background (no sync, late notifications), returns the global background-app permission to the Windows default (on).

3. Type background into the search box
4. Press the button on the Background apps card

Activity history

If Task View history stays empty or apps stop offering to pick up where you left off, removes the activity-history policies and restores the Windows default (recording on).

3. Type activity into the search box
4. Press the button on the Activity history card

Typing suggestions

If the touch keyboard stops predicting or handwriting recognition gets worse, turns Windows' typing and pen learning back on.

3. Type handwriting into the search box
4. Press the button on the Typing suggestions card

AutoPlay

If nothing happens when you plug in a USB stick or external drive, removes the AutoPlay policy and hands the decision back to Windows settings.

3. Type autoplay into the search box
4. Press the button on the AutoPlay card

Storage Sense

If the disk no longer clears itself or the Storage Sense setting appears greyed out, removes the policy that turned it off.

3. Type storage into the search box
4. Press the button on the Storage Sense card

Reopen apps after a restart

If your apps no longer come back after a restart and you want them to, removes the switch so Windows returns to reopening them at sign-in.

3. Type reopen into the search box
4. Press the button on the Reopen apps after a restart card

The setting itself

RestartApps under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon. The restart-apps box on w0a's Optimizations page writes 0; the toggle Settings › Accounts › Sign-in options › Automatically save my restartable apps and restart them when I sign back in writes the same value. Deleting it returns the Windows default, which reopens them. Nothing else on that key is touched.

Taskbar "End task"

If the taskbar's right-click "End task" entry should go away, removes the developer setting so the taskbar returns to the Windows default (no such entry).

3. Type taskbar into the search box
4. Press the button on the Taskbar "End task" card

The setting itself

TaskbarEndTask under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\TaskbarDeveloperSettings — the switch Settings › System › For developers › End Task (Windows 11 23H2 and later). The End-task box on w0a's Optimizations page writes 1; deleting the value returns the taskbar menu to the Windows default, without the entry. The taskbar picks the change up on its own; no restart is needed.

What the card's answer means

After you press it, the card writes a line underneath. Which line you get decides your next step.

• "Fixed — N setting(s) put back to the Windows default." — this was the broken thing and it has been put back. If the problem continues, see below.
• "Nothing to fix — this was already at the Windows default." — these settings were never changed. Whatever you are seeing has another cause, and pressing this card again will not help.
• "Nothing to fix — this component is not installed on this PC." — the thing this card repairs is not present on this Windows. Your edition may not include it, or it may have been removed earlier.
• "Fixed — N setting(s) restored. Restart the PC for full effect." — the setting is written, but Windows reads it at boot, so the difference shows after a restart. A card only prints this when what it changed genuinely needs one.
• "Fixed — N setting(s) restored. Sign out and back in for full effect." — the cheaper version of the same thing: what reads the setting is the session, so the machine does not have to go down.
• "Another repair is running." — only one card runs at a time, because several of them would undo each other's work. Wait for it to finish and press again.
• "Could not fix — see the error log." — the card did not finish. The reason is in %LocalAppData%\w0a\errors.log.

If it did not help

If the card said it fixed something and the problem is still there, these settings were not the cause. Write to us — tell us which card you ran and what it printed; the two together are what narrows it down.