[Fix] “Show Most Used Apps” Option Grayed Out in Windows 10 Start Settings

Recently after installing Windows 10 latest version in few of my machines, I faced a very strange problem. The RUN dialog box was not remembering recently executed commands. In other words, RUN dialog box was not storing any entry in MRU (Most Recently Used) list. It was always empty as shown in following screenshot:

Windows_10_RUN_MRU_List_Empty.png

I thought that the “Show most used apps” option in Start settings was accidentally turned off by me which generally causes this issue as mentioned in following article:

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[Bug Fix] RUN MRU / History List is Always Empty in Windows 10

So I opened Settings app by pressing WIN+I hotkey and navigated to Personalization -> Start page. For my wonder, I noticed that “Show most used apps” option was grayed out i.e. disabled as shown in following screenshot:

Show_Most_Used_Apps_Option_Grayed_Out_Windows_10_Start_Settings.png

PS: Alternatively, You can directly launch this page using “ms-settings:personalization-start” command in RUN dialog box as mentioned here.

Since the option was grayed out, I was not able to turn on/off the option. I was wondering why this option was grayed out and how to make it working again?

After a few minutes troubleshooting, finally I was able to fix this annoying issue. Actually Microsoft has added a new option in Privacy settings and if we turn off that new option, it automatically disables “Show most used apps” option in Start settings.

So if you are also facing this issue and want to fix the “Show most used apps” option in Start settings, following steps will help you:

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1. Open Settings app from Start Menu. Alternatively, you can press WIN+I keys together to open Settings directly.

2. Now click on Privacy icon in Settings app and in General tab, look for following option:

Let Windows track app launches to improve Start and search results

Make sure this option is turned ON. If its set to OFF in your computer, click on the toggle button and set it to ON.

Enable_Let_Windows_Track_App_Launches_To_Improve_Start_And_Search_Results_Option.png

That’s it. Now go to Personalization -> Start page and the “Show most used apps” option will become available. Now you can turn on/off this option without any problem. Also now the RUN dialog box will start remembering recently used commands in its history list.

Published in: Troubleshooting Guides, Windows 10

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

NOTE: Older comments have been removed to reduce database overhead.

  1. Hey brother, thank you very much for this fix! This bug is really stupid, and you have a very clear fix guide.

  2. why windows want to track us with such minor thing? Windows 10 is a huge spyware.

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