9 solutions for when Windows 10 search doesn’t work

3. Restart various activities

If the search function in the Windows 10 Start menu no longer works, you need to restart a couple of tasks from the Task Manager for Windows Search to work. These include Windows Explorer, Cortana, and Search.

Here’s how to proceed.

1. Right-click the Start Menu icon and choose Task Manager. You can also right-click on the taskbar and select Task Manager.
2. Click More Details if a minimized version of the Task Manager is displayed. If the expanded version of Task Manager greets you, click the Processes tab.
3. Scroll down and search for Windows Explorer. Click on it once. Then click the Restart button. The screen may go blank for a while. Do not worry. The screen will automatically reappear after some time.

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

7. Use a PowerShell command

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

1. Right-click the Start menu and choose Windows PowerShell (Administrator).
2. Copy and paste the following command into the PowerShell window and hit the Enter button: Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers |Where-Object {$_.InstallLocation -like “*SystemApps*”} | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)AppXManifest.xml”}
3. Close the PowerShell window and restart your computer. Then check out Windows Search.

8. Check your search settings

Open Settings> Search your computer. Check if any setting results in an error. Also, check if everything fits your needs. Enable / disable various settings to see if anything fixes the search problem on your Windows 10 computer.