Can no longer find Cortana?

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New Computer 6 mos old, Win 10 Pro ver 1709.

When originally set up, Cortana was there in Settings, via Taskbar, on Search window etc.

During original set up, I turned everything OFF that I could and never looked at it again.

At some point Cortana went missing from what appears to be everything though Cortana shows in Task Manager>Processes tab>Background processes.

No Cortana Settings entry, no Cortana icon on the taskbar search box.

Pls help.

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Right click on the Taskbar. Under Search, turh on the Searchbar.

Under Settings\Privacy\Speech, inking & typing turn on the service.

Right click on the Taskbar again. There may be a check box for Cortana.

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Just ran SFC /verifyonly

It shows Windows Resource Protection found integrity violations. Details are included in the CBS.Log    C:\windows\logs\CBS\CBS.log

However that log is big and hard to decifer.  Should I try SFC /scannow to see if they can be fixed?  Does hiding/ignoring updates, etc have anything to do with this or Cortana missing?

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PK

On taskbar>Search  selected Show search box (box shows but no icon at all)

Performed other steps, still no sign of Cortana.

If I type Cortana in the search box it shows “Cortana & Search settings” but when I click on it it simply opens the Windows Settings panel.

See my comments regarding SCF scan above – never used before so not sure what this does.

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You can run sfc /scannow and see if it corrects any problems.

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PK, I am out of my league with this but saw this on the internet in an MS article:

Run the System File Checker tool (SFC.exe)

To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open an elevated command prompt. To do this, do the following as your appropriate:
2. If you are running Windows 10, Windows 8.1 or Windows 8, first run the inbox Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool prior to running the System File Checker.  (If you are running Windows 7 or Windows Vista, skip to Step 3.)

Type the following command, and then press Enter.  It may take several minutes for the command operation to be completed.

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

Important: When you run this command, DISM uses Windows Update to provide the files that are required to fix corruptions.
The sfc /scannow command will scan all protected system files, and replace corrupted files with a cached copy that is located in a compressed folder at %WinDir%\System32\dllcache.
The %WinDir% placeholder represents the Windows operating system folder. For example, C:\Windows.

I also know nothing about DISM.  The main reason I bring this up is this seems to indicate that the repair files are in a folder at C:\Windows\System32\dllcache.  I checked my Windows 10 folder and there is no such dllcache (but then I also do not have this folder on my Window 7 system either).  So this is either old info or the DISM procedure brings down the necessary repair file?  Do you know if this DISM must be run on Windows 10?

Pls provide any info/expertise you have on this as I have none.

Edit to remove HTML Please use the “text” tab in the entry box when you copy/paste.

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Menu\Windows PowerShell right click, choose More\Run as Administrator
In the box that pops up type “DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealt” (without the quotes)

Then run “sfc /scannow” (without the quotes) the same way.

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PK, thanks again but this is getting scary, can you pls explain what running the DISM does? Could this make matters worse?  Not even sure any of this has anything to do with Cortana missing.

I am on ver 1709,  if I allowed feature update to ver 1803, does all of 1709 including any of these potential issues get overwritten and taken away?

Or would unresolved items carry over?

I am currently having no obvious problems with my system. If it wasnt for noticing Cortana missing and now the SFC finding, I didnt have a clue.

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You should fix the problems before you upgrade to the next version.
If you do not, there is a possibility the upgrade may fail.

1 user thanked author for this post.

geekdom

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