Empty Control Panel Menu in Windows 7 Start Menu

If you go to run and type %SystemRoot%\system32\control.exe  are the icons there?

Thanks.

mug

You can try this:
http://www.geekgirls.com/windowsxp_controlpanel.htm

It's for windows xp, but i think will also work for Windows 7

wwarby--That is a Jump List arrow.  http://www.7tutorials.com/complete-guide-windows-7-start-menu
I do not know why it tells you empty when you say the Control Panel window, when opened, contains all the .cpl icons.  But you can get rid of the arrow
http://superuser.com/questions/51454/disable-recent-items-in-jump-lists-for-certain-programs

All, thanks for the replies - I can't test anything until the morning when I return to the office, but I'll just add a little detail here. First, I'm an expert user (professional developer/analyst) - I should have perhaps been more clear. I'm not asking how to perform basic customisation of my start menu - my control panel jump menu has inexplicably emptied of all icons contrary to expected behaviour and I want to know why, and fix it. I realise I can turn off the menu - that isn't what I want to do because I use it exclusively as my preferred means of accessing control panel applets. I will try the control.exe command line tomorrow but suffice to say that accessing the control panel by any other means results in a normal view of the control panel.

wwarby--Are all the other Jump List side windows "Empty"?
My understanding of Jump Lists is that they show only items recently accessed from the particular program, so if you have not used the Control Panel itself recently you will not have any items in its Jump List.  If you right click the Taskbar|Properties|Start Menu|Customize you will see at the bottom the option to store no items in the Jump Lists.  You may want to check that.

muganthony: Yes, when I run %SystemRoot%\system32\control.exe, all the icons are there.

jcimarron: No, all the other jump lists are full of the normal items. The control panel jump list was full one day and empty the next - I don't believe I changed anything in between. I don't think the control panel works in the same way as MRU jump lists - it always usually shows all control panel applets.

As far as I can see, this is a fault with my Win 7 environment which I've never come across before and by the look of things, most other people haven't come across before either (Google turned up nothing) - hence why I came here for help ;)

Right click on the Start menu button >> click Properties >> Customize start menu >> Click to display as a link instead of display a menu.

That should at least get it usable again.  You may toggle between the two and see if it resolves the issue.

Thanks!

mug

wwarby--

 If you right click the Taskbar|Properties|Start Menu|Customize you will see at the bottom the option to store no items in the Jump Lists.  

.
Did you check that out?

wwarby--
I also meant to ask if you have tried using the Control Panel, itself, lately to see if use of some of the .cpl files will add them to the Jump List.  Of course you would do this after making sure the setting at the bottom of Taskbar|Properties|Start Menu|Customize  is set to something besides 0

muganthony: Yeah, I tried that already (mentioned in my first post but perhaps not very obviously) and it didn't help. It's not that I have a problem finding a route into the Control Panel, it's that I find the jump list particularly useful and want it back.

jcimarron: Apologies, I thought I had answered that point before but I see that I didn't. The number of jump list items to display is set to 18, which is what it has been since I installed Windows. I use control panel applets regularly - several times a day typically, including today.

Not solved