Missing Power and Search Button On Start Screen

Missing Power and Search Button On Start Screen on Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1

Recently, after installing a Windows 2012 R2 Server VM, I noticed the Start screen was missing the Power and Search buttons.  All of my older Server 2012 R2 Server VM’s had the Power and Search button on the start screen, I used the same ISO to install, and Windows was 100% up to date.  After researching, this issue can affect Windows Server 2012 R2 as well as Windows 8.1.  Here is a screenshot of my Start screen missing both the Power and Search buttons:

The Solution

The short answer is KB2919355 needs installed.  HOWEVER, you need to make sure you install the following updates in this order:

1. Prerequisite: KB2919442
2. Install KB2919355 that has multiple downloads in it, which can be directly downloaded from the Microsoft Download Center
   1. Windows 8.1 x86
   2. Windows 8.1 x64
   3. Server 2012 R2 x64
   4. NOTE: Once downloaded, these updates need installed in the following order
      1. clearcompressionflag.exe
      2. KB2919355 (Reboot after installation, if fixed you can skip the rest)
      3. KB2932046
      4. KB2959977
      5. KB2937592
      6. KB2938439
      7. KB2934018

Once KB2919355 is installed and you reboot, you should now see the Power and Search buttons on the start screen as displayed below:

Final Notes

Once KB2919355 is installed, run Windows Updates and you’ll probably need to install a few hundred updates again