August 26, 2025 KB5063842 (OS Build 19045.6282) Taskbar feels clunky after update

Hi, I'm Bernard, a fellow Windows user. I'm happy to help!

Since the issue only happens with the Taskbar, it seems that there is a corrupted system file on the Taskbar. In this case, kindly follow the steps below:

Method 1. Repair Taskbar and Built-in apps:

Press the Windows key + X, then select Terminal (Admin) or Windows PowerShell (Admin)

Copy, paste, and enter the command below:

 Get-AppXPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

Then hit Enter. Once the process is done, restart the PC and check.

If the issue persists, I suggest doing an in-place upgrade, wherein it will update the device to the latest version and repair all issues without deleting any files.

Note: before doing this, make sure to create a restore point:  https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/system-protection-e9126e6e-fa64-4f5f-874d-9db90e57645a

1. Go to this link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
2. Select Download Now, and select Run. You need to be an administrator to run this tool.
3. On the License terms page, if you accept the license terms, select Accept.
4. On the What do you want to do? page, select Upgrade this PC now, and then select Next.
5. After downloading and installing, it should fix the issue.

Reference: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Let me know how it goes, and I hope that helps.

Already done it with command method and there's few errors 0x80073D02, should I do it in safe mode? Was trying it in normal mode with restart but no luck so far.

Also, what exactly does this command do?

Btw, before updating the system, I downloaded the “widgets platform runtime" update from Microsoft Store, and after downloading it and updating system it started happening. I uninstalled it yesterday (widgets platform) but the problem remained.

Are there any other ways to fix this issue besides an in-place upgrade?

Hi, I’ve been investigating this exact issue and here’s what I found:

• The delay when opening the Start Menu on Windows 10 22H2 matches very high spikes in dxgkrnl.sys and dxgmms2.sys (the DirectX graphics kernel components).
• I captured several traces with ETL/WPA, and the results are consistent: opening the Start Menu triggers extra DxgKrnl load, even without GPU drivers (just using the Basic Display Adapter).
• In Safe Mode, the problem does not happen at all, maybe because DWM Composition works in a different way, idk.

I believe the issue started after installing KB5063842 (August 2025, Cumulative Update Preview). Microsoft hasn’t listed this as a known issue yet, but everything points to that update changing how the Start Menu interacts with DWM/DxgKrnl.
So far I’ve seen 3 or 4 people with this problem, and all of them were using an NVIDIA GPU. I don’t know if that’s related, but in my case it does not happen when using an AMD GPU.