There have been lots of improvements in Windows 10 as compared to previous versions.
Also, the company included many new features, improved user interface, and brought back the Start button.
Since Windows 10 has new features, It sometimes causes improper functioning of the operating system.
The users sometimes report that the Windows 10 search not working for them. We will discuss what causes this problem and how can we fix it.
There can be several reasons why Windows 10 search doesn’t work for them.
The users who have installed Windows 10 on a computer that doesn’t have better system configurations are more likely to encounter Windows 10 search bar not working problem because it is a heavy operating system and needs more resources to function properly.
The search bar often goes non-responsive due to not so good configuration. Although this is not always the case, many run Windows 10 on old computers and it works fine for them.
In this post, we will try different ways to resolve Windows 10 search bar not working problem and I hope any of these ways work for the people encountering this issue.
Let’s go ahead and try them:
Restart your PC to resolve Windows 10 search not working issue
Whenever you face any problem with your PC, let it be a hanging problem, or it is not opening a particular application or the browser becomes non-responsive, restarting the PC resolves the problem many times.
This is the basic fix to resolve any problem, you must give it a try at first irrespective of the nature of the problem!
Restarting Windows PC can help in this case too.
Restart your computer and check if Windows 10 search not working problem is resolved.
There is a lot of things going on in the background when you work on your computer.
Such large no. of the process that is running in the background slower down the PC or prevents search bar from functioning normally.
Take a look at the processes running at the time of writing this article on my PC.
If you aren’t able to open the start menu, you can long-press the power button that will shut down your computer. Press the start button to start the computer.
Check Windows 10 search Service
The other way of fixing Windows 10 search not working issue is through Windows 10 services.
We need to check if the Windows 10 search service is running properly and set “automatically“.
Here is how we can do that:
Step:1– Press Win + R
Step:2– Type “services.msc” in the Run command box.
Alternatively, you can press ALT + CTRL + DEL and choose Task Manager. Go to “Services” and then look for “WSearch“. Right-click on it and chose “Open Services“
Step:3– Windows 10 services will open. Look for “Windows Search” and check if it’s running or disabled or set as manual.
To solve the “Windows 10 search not working problem“, you need to get “Windows Search” running and set it as “automatic“.
Step:4– If the “Windows Search” is disabled, Automatic (Delayed Start), Manual AND if it’s running or stopped. In case it is not set Automatic, you need to do that. To do that, Right-click on Windows Search and go to properties.
Step:5– Select Automatic from the drop-down menu, click Start, Apply, and then OK.
Step:6– When the above settings are done, check if it’s running and set it to Automatic as below. Check Windows 10 search, It should fix the problem.
Force quit Cortana and Restart
In many cases, it is found that Cortana causes Windows 10 search to behave in a strange way.
You may try force-quitting Cortana search and Restart and see if the problem is fixed.
Here is the process.
Step:1– Press ALT + CTRL + DEL and you will see a blue screen with options as below:
Step:2– Click on “Task Manager” and it will open. Under the processes tab, you will see all the processes running at a particular time. Look for Cortana in the list.
Step:3– Click on Cortana and hit the “End task” button at the bottom right. Check, the problem should be resolved.
Microsoft Search Troubleshooter
Microsoft has a dedicated tool or you can call it a small application to detect Windows 10 Search not working problem and fix it automatically.
This dedicated tool can be downloaded from the Microsoft official website and run to fix the problem.
Whether the files Or e-mail don’t appear in search results OR the search makes your computer dead slow.
It fixes all the problems that you are facing with Windows 10 search. If your problem is something other than general ones, you can tell the troubleshooter about it and get it fixed.
Steps to run Microsoft Search Troubleshooter
Step:1– Go to Microsoft official website and search for “Microsoft Search Troubleshooter Or simply click here for direct download (its official)
Step:2– Run the troubleshooter and hit next at the bottom.
Step:3– It will look for the problem. The search may take some time. Do not disturb until the process is completed.
Next, it can ask more about the problem. For example, if the search doesn’t show the email or the files or your computer becomes slow when you search. Chose an appropriate option and hit next.
In case the problem is not listed, chose “My problem is not listed above” and explain it in the next step.
It will then detect the problem and fix it automatically. Once the problem is resolved, check if windows 10 search, not the working problem has been resolved.
Restart Windows Explorer
The other thing that could cause Windows 10 search to behave strangely is Windows Explorer.
As we discuss when you work on your computer there are lots of backend processes running simultaneously that sometimes slow down the PC or make some applications not work properly.
In some cases, restarting Windows Explorer helped in resolving the windows 10 search not working problem.
How to restart Windows Explorer
Step:1– Press ALT + CTRL + DEL and chose “Task Manager“
Step:2– The Task Manager will open.
Step:3– Look for “Windows Explorer” from the processes.
Step:4– Select it and hit “Restart“
See if the problem is resolved.
Try fixing problem from Control Panel
This is an alternative method of Microsoft Search Troubleshooter. It will start the troubleshooter right from your computer’s Control Panel.
Follow the below steps:
Step:1– Go to Control Panel. Check 7 ways to open Control Panel in Windows 10
Step:2– Click “Find and fix problems” from “System and Security“
Step:3– Then click “System and Security“
Step:4– Click on “Search and Indexing“
Step:5– A troubleshooter will open. Follow on-screen instructions (as we did with Microsoft Troubleshooter) and it will fix the problem automatically.
I hope the above solutions will help you resolve the problem. Please take a few minutes to share this article with your friends on Facebook and other social networks s that more people can be benefited.