What to Do When Windows 10 Action Center Won't Open

Get your Action Center back up and running

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by Luis E. Chavez Saenz
Luis Chavez is a former freelance contributor to Lifewire and a System Administrator with 5+ years' experience writing about technology for end users.
Updated May 14, 2019

Windows 10 is the latest version of the Windows operating system. However, despite being out for a few years, there have been several occasions where users have reported the Action Center won't open. These are some of the steps you can take to try to address this issue.

How to Fix It When Windows 10 Action Center Won't Open

  1. Scan Hard Disk Drive. Launch Command Prompt as an administrator and run the Check Disk, as well as the System File Checker and the Deployment Image Servicing and Management command to scan your hard disk for errors.

    Each command will take some time to run, depending on the size of your hard drive and the resources from your computer. Wait for each command to finish before running the next command.

  2. Safe mode. Starting your computer in Safe Mode seems to have solved this issue for some users. To access Safe Mode, access the Startup Settings menu, which can be accessed through the Advanced Startup Options.

  3. Restart Windows Explorer. Launch Task Manager, right-click the Windows Explorer process, then select Restart.

  4. Perform a Disk Cleanup. This will not only free up space on your hard drive, it can also remove a temporary file that might be causing the problem.

    The window will close automatically once the system clean up is done, but the files won't be completely removed from your device until the next restart.

  5. Disable and re-enable Action Center. Go to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Turn system icons on or off, then select the Action Center toggle to turn it off and on.

  6. Rename the Usrclass file.

    1. Launch File Explorer and navigate to either of the following paths: %localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows or C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows
    2. Locate the Usrclass.dat file and rename it to UsrClass.old.dat.
    3. Restart your PC.

    If you are unable to locate this file, please ensure you have the show hidden files option enabled. Additionally, this solution will remove all tiles from the Start Menu and change your theme to the High Contrast theme, so you’ll have to revert it back to the original.

  7. Re-register the Action Center. Press Windows key+S and search for "Windows PowerShell." Launch PowerShell as an administrator and execute the following command:

    Get-AppxPackage | % { Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppxManifest.xml" -verbose }

  8. Try a system restore. If none of the previous steps work you can perform a System Restore. Before you proceed, ensure you have a Restore Point.

    Make sure you have a backup of your data prior to doing a system restore. Additionally, the restore point must be created prior to when Action Center stopped working. Otherwise, this will not address the issue.

  9. Lastly, you can reset your PC. You'll be wiping the whole device. Windows 10 gives you the option to keep your files, remove everything, or do a Factory Reset. Regardless, ensure you have a backup of all your data.