Solution: Windows Search Not Working

How do we fix if windows search bar is not working or search results are not showing? Here is the solution.

There can be multiple reasons why the search bar is not working. A problem with search processes and services, problems caused by Cortana, indexing and SYSTEM permission problems, or user profile corruption can cause this problem. Whatever the cause, here are the steps you can take to fix this problem:

After each operation, come to the search section and check if it works.

1. Restart Cortana

Windows 10 search is integrated with Cortana . If anything goes wrong with the Cortana process, the search results won’t work properly either. So first restart the Cortana process (if it’s open) and then Windows Explorer as follows.

Right click on the Taskbar and select Task Manager, you can also use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + Shift + ESC.
If Task Manager is not in full view, click the “More details” button to switch to full view.
End Cortana’s Task from the Processes tab.

Then find and right-click ‘Windows Explorer’ then say ‘Restart’.

2. Check the Services tab

One of the most common causes of this problem can be the search service. If the Windows search service is stopped at startup or fails to start due to any problem, it may cause Windows search to not work.

You can access the Services tab from the Task Manager, or if you wish, you can also access it by typing Services.msc in the box that comes up after opening ‘Run’ with the Windows + R key.
Find the ‘Windows Search’ service from this section.
If this service is running, right click and select restart.
If it’s not working, right click and go to ‘Properties’.
Here change the startup type to ‘Auto’ and press the ‘Start’ button.
Click Apply to save the changes and press OK to exit.

Solution: Windows Search bar Not Working

3. Use the troubleshooting tool

Running the search and indexing troubleshooter is another effective method to check and fix the problem.

Open settings with Windows + I key.
Go to Update and Security settings.
Go to the Troubleshoot tab on the left and click on ‘Additional troubleshooters’ on the right.
In the window that opens, go to the ‘Search and Indexing’ tab under the ‘Find and fix other problems’ heading and press the ‘Run the troubleshooter’ button.

Solution: Windows Search bar is Not Working

“What kind of problems are you having?” window, select the boxes for the problem you are experiencing and run the troubleshooter with the ‘Next’ button.

4. Rebuild the search engine index

Rebuilding the index greatly improves the performance of the start menu search engine and can eliminate search problems.

Open the control panel and click on ‘Indexing Options’.
Click the ‘Advanced’ button in the window that opens.

In the newly opened window, there is a ‘Rebuild’ button under the ‘Troubleshooting’ heading.
This button will delete and recreate the directory.

After pressing the button, a confirmation window will appear.
Say OK and confirm.

This process usually takes less than 5-10 minutes, but in some cases it can take several hours.

5. Re-register Cortana

If none of the above solutions worked, you may be able to resolve the search issues by re-registering Cortana.

Press Windows + X, start right click menu will open.
Select ‘ Windows PowerShell (Admin) ‘ from the opened tabs .
Then enter the following command and press Enter.

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”}

After the process is complete, close PowerShell and restart Windows.