ArcGIS 10.3 Add Data blanking out

[OlyPowers]

So the issue I'm having was covered in a previous forum discussion here.

When I try to add Data using the button in the tool bar, the window comes up blank, with no way of making anything appear in the drop down menu, or in the window itself.

I'm using 10.3 not 9.2 and this issue keeps happening. I've had it occur three times in a 6 month period. What is causing this issue? I greatly dislike having to delete my roaming data, as it deletes not only my database connections, but also any saved symbologies/custom symbolizations and user interface set ups that I have created. Having to redo them all the time is becoming a major bother. I've even been in the a pickle where I was trying to geocode, and this happened as I was trying to choose which geocoder to use, which meant, I couldn't!

Does anyone know why this bug keeps happening?

[KurtMenking]

I too have that issue but for 10.5

[OlyPowers]

I eventually found a work around for this. In your Users\AppData\Roaming folder, rename the ESRI file to ESRI_old. When you next restart ArcGIS it will rebuild this folder and fix the problem. Unfortunately when you do this you lose all of your customization (styles, DB connections, etc.), so make sure you have those backed up and connections written down.