This is a problem I've ran into on multiple machines now. The Windows 10 Start Menu and/or Search (Cortana) stops working even after restarting the computer.
asked Aug 9, 2017 at 16:08
-
1Please note that this question is old. The February 2020 problem you can find here: Windows 10 Search not loading, showing blank window– Daniel BCommented Feb 6, 2020 at 11:24
Add a comment
|
6 Answers
I've found that a good old system reboot will do the trick, however if that doesn't work, this fix has worked quite often.
If you can’t open or type anything in the Windows 10 search menu, please try one or both of these methods:
Method 1: Right click on the start menu or press Windows + X keys on the keyboard, select and open Command prompt (admin). Then enter the below commands and hit Enter key:
Command 1:
PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted
Now enter the below command and hit Enter key:
Command 2:
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers |Where-Object {$_.InstallLocation -like "*SystemApps*"} | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}
If the issue still persist, follow the second method:
Method 2: Open the Task Manager by pressing CTRL+Shift+ESC keys. Or you can open it by right clicking on the taskbar if it works. Then click File an then Run New Task. Make sure you have a check mark beside “Create this task with administrative privileges”. Now type Powershell. Type the following in the Powershell prompt:
Command:
$manifest = (Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.WindowsStore).InstallLocation + '\AppxManifest.xml' ; Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $manifest
Wait till the process completed and then close the Powershell window. Now, reboot the computer and check if that fixed the issue.
answered Aug 9, 2017 at 16:08
-
1
-
-
1After 3+ hours of trying everything else on the internet this fixed it, thank you.– SheaCommented Feb 5, 2020 at 21:22
-
1Can you add some commentary on what exactly each method is doing to solve the problem? Commented Apr 19, 2020 at 14:03
-
Without even minimal explanation what happens there, I have doubts before pasting this in admin mode...– hansCommented Jul 27, 2020 at 9:42
I had the same issue. After looking at many different solutions, what worked for me was as follows:
Click on the start menu and locate the Cortana app in the apps lookup. Right-click -> more -> app settings. Scroll down to Reset and hit the reset button. Worked instantly for me and could start searching through the Cortana search.
-
Wow, finally a working method. Instantly solved the issue. My problem was start menu search didn't find some apps.– SAMProCommented Jul 8, 2019 at 17:28
This solution seems not very clear, but still: Go to the Settings -> Default Apps, Scroll down and hit the "Reset" button.
Check search feature in the start menu. For me, it works instantly.
-
-
For sure. But still better than not working start menu search. Anyway, this answer might be also outdated after multiple OS updates. Commented Jul 27, 2020 at 21:09
If the app search remains blank... It's not just you - it's a bug in Windows 10.
Create a .reg file with the following contents (or download from here):
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search]
"BingSearchEnabled"=dword:00000000
"CortanaConsent"=dword:00000000
Import it into the registry, reboot.
Et voilà! You can again search for your apps in the start menu!
-
This almost worked for me. The search shows up when I start typing but it then auto-closes after a moment without processing the search. (on March 9th, 2020)– EbenCommented Mar 9, 2020 at 23:14
Nothing of proposed didn't work for me. Solution was to run wsreset from CMD as administrator
The solution is correct for Windows 10 Pro 1909
- Open Task Manager
- Go to Process Tab
- Under Background process section
- Find Search
- Right click Search End process
This is my current situation:
