Top 9 Ways to Fix Windows 10 Search Not Working

While Windows Updates bring new features, sometimes they mess up other things. One of the features that keep working, at least for my system, is Windows Search. And I’m sure many are experiencing the same issues as well. If Windows 10 Search isn’t working on your computer, you’ve come to the right place. You can find 9 solutions in this article to fix various search issues on Windows 10 computer.

For some users, the Windows Search button does not work. In other words, clicking on it does not open the search panel. Others can’t type in the search box. Likewise, while others may type in the search bar, the search results do not appear and the search box appears blank.

Whatever problem you are having with Windows Search, the following solutions should help. Let’s start.

1. Restart the computer

The first solution you should try is to restart your Windows 10 PC. Sometimes such a simple solution saves you from unnecessary tinkering with your otherwise perfect system. So save your work and restart your computer.

2. Activate the search service

The Windows Search service must be running for the search functionality to work properly. Here’s how to restart the service and make sure it’s running on startup.

Step 1: Open Task Manager by right-clicking the Start menu icon.

2nd step: Go to the Services tab. Click on Open Services.

Step 3: The Services window opens. Scroll down and find Windows Search. Right click on it and select Restart.

Step 4: Additionally, double-click Windows Search to open its properties. Make sure that the box next to Startup type is Automatic or Automatic (delayed start). If it shows Manual, click the drop-down list and choose Automatic. Click on Apply. Also click on the Start button to start the service. Then restart your computer.

3. Restart various tasks

You have to restart a few tasks from Task Manager for Windows Search to work. These include Windows Explorer, Cortana, and Search.

Here’s how to do it.

Step 1: Right click on the Start menu icon and choose Task Manager. You can also right click on the taskbar and select Task Manager.

If you are welcome to the extended version of Task Manager, click the Processes tab.

Step 3: Scroll down and find Windows Explorer. Click on it once. Then click on the Restart button.

Note: Your screen may go blank for a while. Do not worry. The screen will reappear automatically after a while.

Open Windows Search, and it should work fine now. Likewise, if the problem persists, restart the Cortana and Search processes by clicking the End task or Restart button.

Point: Learn the difference between a process and a service in Windows 10.

4. Run CTFMON.EXE

CTFMON.EXE monitors keyboard, speech recognition, handwriting recognition, and similar input services on Windows 10. You should enable it if you are unable to type in Windows Search.

To do this, open the Run window. To do this, use the keyboard shortcut Windows Key + R. Or right click on the Start menu icon and choose Run.

Copy paste it C: Windows System32 ctfmon.exe in the Run box and press Enter. Open Windows Search. Hope you can search your files and documents without any problem.

5. Rebuild the search index

Sometimes broken or old indexes can also cause problems with Windows search. To resolve this issue, you will need to rebuild the search index as shown below.

Step 1: Open the Control Panel by going to Start Menu> Windows System> Control Panel.

2nd step: When the control panel opens, make sure that View by mode is selected as small icons or large icons.

Step 3: Click Indexing Options.

Step 4: Click Advanced under Indexing Options.

Step 5: Click the Rebuild button. Wait for your computer to complete the indexing process. Then restart your computer.

6. Troubleshoot Windows Search

Another way to fix Windows Search not working problem is to use the built-in troubleshooter. To use it, open Windows settings and go to Update & Security.

Click Troubleshoot in the left sidebar. On the Troubleshoot screen, click Search and Index. If you don’t see the option, click Additional Troubleshooters followed by Search and Indexing.

Click the Run the troubleshooter button.

On the screen that opens, check the boxes next to the issues you are having and click Next. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the troubleshooting process.

7. Use a PowerShell command

The Microsoft User Support page recommends using PowerShell to run a command to troubleshoot problems with Windows Search. Here is what you need to do.

Step 1: Right click on the Start menu and choose Windows PowerShell (Admin).

2nd step: Copy and paste the following command into the PowerShell window and press the Enter button.

 
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers |Where-Object {$_.InstallLocation -like "*SystemApps*"} | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)AppXManifest.xml"}

Step 3: Close the PowerShell window and restart the computer. Then check Windows Search.

8. Check the search parameters

Open Settings> Search your computer. Check if a parameter generates an error. Also check if everything meets your needs. Toggle various settings on / off to see if anything fixes the search issue on your Windows 10 computer.

9. Check the keyboard language

If you cannot type Windows Search and other places on your computer, you need to check the keyboard language. Make sure a supported language is selected.

Open Settings> Time & language. Click the language in the left sidebar, then click Keyboard.

On the Keyboard Settings screen, select Use Language List from the “Override Default Input Method” drop-down list.

More solutions

We hope that one of the above solutions should have fixed the Windows 10 search not working issue. If the above solutions did not help check the Microsoft support page which also has some solutions to the issues. of Windows Search.