June 14, 2019

Fix Taskbar Search Not Working in Windows 10

Fix Taskbar Search Not Working in Windows 10: If you’re facing the issue where you search for some particular program or file in Taskbar Search but the search results don’t return anything then don’t worry as you are also facing the issue where Taskbar search doesn’t work as many other users. The problem which is described by users is when they type anything in the Taskbar search, for example, say Settings in the search, it wouldn’t even auto-complete let alone search for the result.

In short, whenever you will type anything in the search box, you won’t get any search results and all you would see is the search animation. There would be three moving dots indicating that the search is working but it doesn’t seem to display any results even if you let it run for 15-30 minutes and all your efforts will go in vain.

Fix Taskbar Search Not Working in Windows 10

There are many reasons as to why this issue is caused a few of them are: Cortana process interfering with search, Windows Search doesn’t start automatically, search indexing issue, corrupt search index, corrupt User Account,  page file size issue, etc. So as you see there are many reasons as to why search doesn’t work properly, therefore, you need to try each & every listed fix in this guide. Anyway, without wasting any time let’s see how to actually Fix Taskbar Search doesn’t work in Windows 10 with the below-listed troubleshooting guide.

Fix Taskbar Search Not Working in Windows 10

Make sure to create a restore point just in case something goes wrong.

Before trying any advanced method listed below it’s advised to do a simple restart which might be able to solve this issue, but if it doesn’t help then continue.

Method 1 – Restart Your Computer

Most of the techies have reported that rebooting their system solves several issues with their device. Therefore, we cannot ignore the importance of restarting your system. The first method is to restart your device and check whether it fixes taskbar search not working in Windows 10 issue. 

Click on Restart and your computer will restart itself

Method 2 – End Cortana’s Process

Cortana process can interfere with Windows Search as they co-exist with each other. So you need to restart the Cortana process which has solved the Windows Search issue for many users.

1.Start Task Manager – right-click on the Taskbar and choose Taskbar Manager.

Right Click on the Taskbar and choose Taskbar option

2.Locate Cortana under the Processes tab.

End Cortana's Process | Fix Taskbar Search Not Working in Windows 10

3.Right-click on Cortana process and select End task from the context menu.

This would restart Cortana which should be able to fix the Taskbar search not working problem but if you’re still stuck then continue with the next method.

Method 3 – Restart Windows Explorer

1.Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys together to launch the Task Manager.

Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager

2.Find explorer.exe in the list then right-click on it and select End Task.

right click on Windows Explorer and select End Task | Fix Taskbar Search Not Working in Windows 10

3.Now, this will close the Explorer and in order to run it again, click File > Run new task.

click File then Run new task in Task Manager

4.Type explorer.exe and hit OK to restart the Explorer.

click file then Run new task and type explorer.exe click OK

5.Exit Task Manager and you should be able to Fix Taskbar Search Not Working in Windows 10 issue, if not then continue with the next method.

Method 4 – Restart Windows Search Service

1.Press Windows + R on your system to start run command and type services.msc and hit Enter.

Run window type Services.msc and press Enter

2.Right-click on the Windows Search.

Restart Windows Search service | Fix Taskbar Search Not Working in Windows 10

3.Here you need to choose the Restart option.

Once you will start tor system, you will most probably see that the problem is solved. Restarting Windows search service will surely bring taskbar search on your device.

Method 5 – Run Windows Search and Indexing troubleshooter

Sometimes issues with Windows Search can be simply solved by running the in-built Windows Troubleshooter. So let’s see how to solve this issue by running Search & Indexing Troubleshooter:

1.Press Windows Key + R then type control panel and hit Enter to open Control Panel.

Open Control Panel

2.Search Troubleshoot and click on Troubleshooting.

troubleshooting hardware and sound device

3.Next, click on View all in the left window pane.

From the left-hand window pane of Control Panel click on View All

4.Click and run the Troubleshooter for Search and Indexing.

Select Search and Indexing option from Troubleshooting options

5.Follow on-screen instructions to run the Troubleshooter.

Choose run as administrator

6.If any issues are found, click on the checkbox available next to any problems you are experiencing.

Select Files don't appear in search results and then click Next | Fix Taskbar Search Not Working

7.The Troubleshooter may be able to Fix Taskbar Search Not Working in Windows 10 issue.

Method 6 – Modify Windows Search Service

If Window is unable to start Windows Search service automatically then you would face problems with Windows Search. Therefore, you need to make sure the Startup type of Windows Search service is set to Automatic to fix Taskbar Search Not Working issue.

1.Press Windows key + R to open the Run dialog box.

2.Type services.msc and hit enter.

Press Windows + R and type services.msc and hit Enter

3.Once services.msc windows open, you need to locate Windows Search. 

Note: Press W on your keyboard to reach the Windows Search easily.

4.Right-click on Windows Search and choose Properties.

right click on Windows Search and select Properties

5.Now from the Startup type drop-down select Automatic and click Run if the service is not running.

From the Startup type drop-down select Automatic under Windows Search service

6.Click Apply followed by OK.

7.Again right-click on Windows Search and select Restart.

8.Reboot your PC to save changes.

Method 7 – Change the Page file Size

Another potential method to fix taskbar search not working in Windows 10 is increasing the size of the paging files:

Windows is having the Virtual Memory concept where the Pagefile is a hidden system file having a .SYS extension which usually resides on your system drive (generally C: drive). This Pagefile permits the system with additional memory for dealing with workloads smoothly in conjunction with RAM. You can learn more about page file and how to Manage Virtual Memory (Pagefile) In Windows 10 here.

1.Start Run by pressing Windows key + R.

2.Type sysdm.cpl in the Run Dialog box and hit Enter.

system properties sysdm

3.Click on the Advanced Tab.

4.Under the Performance Tab, you need to Click on Settings.

Click on Settings Under the Performance tab

5.Now under Performance Options window click on the Advanced tab.

Switch to Advanced tab under the Performance Options dialog box

6.Click on the Change button under Virtual memory section.

Click on the Change button | Fix Taskbar Search Not Working in Windows 10

7.Uncheck the box “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives” after which it will highlight the other custom options.

8.Checkmark “Custom size” option and make a note of the Minimum allowed & Recommended under Total paging file size for all drives.

Click on Customize Size option | Fix Taskbar Search Not Working in Windows 10

Based on your Hard drive size, you can start increasing Initial Size (MB) and Maximum size (MB) under Custom size from 16 MB and maximum up to 2000 MB. Most probably it will solve this problem and get the Taskbar search again working in Windows 10.

Method 8 – Rebuild Windows Search Index

1.Press Windows Key + R then type control and hit Enter to open Control Panel.

Press Windows Key + R then type control

2.Type index in the Control Panel search and click on Indexing Options.

click on Indexing options in Control Panel search

3.If you can’t search for it then open Control Panel then select Small icons from the View by drop-down.

4.Now you will see the Indexing Option, just click on it.

Indexing Options in Control Panel

5.Click the Advanced button in the bottom of the Indexing Options window.

Click Advanced button in the bottom of Indexing Options window | Fix Taskbar Search Not Working in Windows 10

6.Switch to File Types tab and check mark “Index Properties and File Contents” under How should this file be indexed.

Check mark option Index Properties and File Contents under How should this file be indexed

7.Then click OK and again open the Advanced Options window.

8.Then in the Index Settings tab and click on the Rebuild button under Troubleshooting.

Click Rebuild under Troubleshooting in order delete and rebuild the index database

9.Indexing will take some time, but once it’s complete you shouldn’t have any further problems with Taskbar Search results in Windows 10.

Method 9  Re-register Cortana

1.Search Powershell and then right-click on it and select Run as Administrator. 

powershell right click run as administrator

2.If the search is not working then press Windows Key + R then type the following and hit Enter:

C:WindowsSystem32WindowsPowerShellv1.0

3.Right-click on powershell.exe and select Run as Administrator.

right click on powershell.exe and select Run as administrator

4.Type the following command in PowerShell and hit Enter:

Get-AppXPackage -Name Microsoft.Windows.Cortana | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)AppXManifest.xml"}

Re-register Cortana in Windows 10 using PowerShell | Fix Taskbar Search Not Working in Windows 10

5.Wait for the above command to finish and reboot your PC to save changes.

6.See if re-registering Cortana will Fix Taskbar Search Not Working in Windows 10 issue.

Method 10 – Create a New Administrator User Account

1.Press Windows Key + I to open Settings and then click Accounts.

From Windows Settings select Account

2.Click on Family & other people tab in the left-hand menu and click Add someone else to this PC under Other people.

Family & other people then click Add someone else to this PC

3.Click I don’t have this person’s sign-in information in the bottom.

Click I don’t have this person’s sign-in information

4.Select Add a user without a Microsoft account in the bottom.

Select Add a user without a Microsoft account

5.Now type the username and password for the new account and click Next.

Now type the username and password for the new account and click Next

6.Once the account is created you will be taken back to Accounts screen, from there click on Change account type.

Change account type

7.When the pop-up window appears, change the Account type to Administrator and click OK.

change the Account type to Administrator and click OK.

8.Now sign in to the above-created administrator account and navigate to the following path:

C:UsersYour_Old_User_AccountAppDataLocalPackagesMicrosoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy

Note: Make sure show hidden file and folder’s is enabled before you can navigate to the above folder.

9.Delete or rename the folder Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy.

Delete or rename the folder Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy

10.Reboot your PC and sign-in to the old user account which was facing the problem.

11.Open PowerShell and type the following command and hit Enter:

Add-AppxPackage -Path “C:WindowsSystemAppsMicrosoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewyAppxmanifest.xml” -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register

Re-register cortana | Fix Taskbar Search Not Working in Windows 10

12.Now restart your PC and this will definitely fix the search results issue, once and for all.

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I hope this article was helpful and you can now easily Fix Taskbar Search Not Working in Windows 10 issue, but if you still have any questions regarding this tutorial then feel free to ask them in the comment’s section.