Here’s a little test. Reboot your Win10 1903 or 1909 machine and click down in the Search box, in the lower left corner. When I did that early this mo
[See the full post at: Does the Win10 Search box still work for you?]
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Does the Win10 Search box still work for you?
Home » Forums » Newsletter and Homepage topics » Does the Win10 Search box still work for you?
- This topic has 84 replies, 36 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 1 month ago.
AuthorTopicViewing 52 reply threadsAuthorReplies-
HarryH3
AskWoody LoungerFebruary 5, 2020 at 8:00 am #2135127It works here, Win 10 Pro 1909, build 18363.592 vs. your reported 18362.592. (Tangent alert! Why the $&@#^% does Microsoft not have text-select and copy available on the About page? Ugh!)
My system just rebooted this morning to install the January KB4532938 Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8
1 user thanked author for this post.
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HarryH3
AskWoody LoungerFebruary 5, 2020 at 11:40 am #2135266Update: I just checked, after reading the comments below, and it looks like I long ago disabled the Bing and Cortana stuff in the search box. The registry at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search has both BingSearchEnabled=0 and CortanaConsent=0. Perhaps that is why my search box is working???
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HarryH3
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Glucose
AskWoody PlusFebruary 5, 2020 at 8:13 am #2135136Works for me. The black box has 5 tiles (“Tops apps”) for programs that I have recently used.
Most recent updates:
Feature update to Windows 10, version 1909
Successfully installed on 1/27/2020January 14, 2020-KB4532938 Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8 for Windows 10
Successfully installed on 1/27/20201 user thanked author for this post.
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pHROZEN gHOST
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anonymous
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csmits
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d.b_HVDB
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CADesertRat
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bbearren
AskWoody MVPFebruary 5, 2020 at 8:56 am #21351561909 628. I hid that Search Bar from the Taskbar quite some time ago, as I never use it. As for the registry edits, I checked my registry, both are already there, and I didn’t do it.
Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.We were all once "Average Users".-
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bbearren.
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anonymous
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howardagoldberg
AskWoody PlusFebruary 5, 2020 at 9:03 am #2135163Here is one thing I just realized:
On my system where search is still working ‘as expected,’ the build number was updated to 2020.02.04.6238073 shortly after booting up at around 5:30 a.m. (Eastern) this morning.
The system where the search box is blank, also booted up at the same time, was still at version 2020.02.04.6238049 when the search box stopped responding.
Note though, that BOTH systems seemed fine from about 5:30 a.m. until 5:55 a.m. or so.
(Cross posting this at https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/is-microsoft-messing-with-your-win10-search-box/)
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GreatAndPowerfulTech
AskWoody LoungerFebruary 5, 2020 at 9:07 am #2135168 -
anonymous
GuestFebruary 5, 2020 at 9:33 am #2135181The enterprise/volume licensing 10 customers get all the relevant settings offered to turn off all of that which is forced onto consumer versions of Windows 10. So no mucking about in the registry editor for a temporary fix is needed enterprise/volume licensing customers to disable all that annoys and perplexes consumer end users of windows 10.
There may come a time when disabling Bing in Windows 10 will do worse and folks really loosing more of their control as MS fully implements its end goals for consumer Windows 10’s monetization of services business model.
3 users thanked author for this post.
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krzemien
AskWoody LoungerFebruary 5, 2020 at 9:33 am #2135188Large corporation users – like myself – have merely been moved to 1809 in the recent weeks.
I’m on build 10.0.17763.864 myself.
2 users thanked author for this post.
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krdibble
AskWoody LoungerFebruary 5, 2020 at 9:10 am #2135169Win 10 Pro 1903 Build 18362.418
Computer is joined to a local AD domain. No Office 365; no MS account; I’m using a local domain user account. I’ve turned off everything related to Cortana that I could find. I’ve deferred all forms of updates and patching to as close to when-hell-freezes-over as I can. The machine is also governed by a ConnectWise/Labtech agent which is configured to block all patching that it knows about.
I have a blank Search screen and typing into the box does nothing.
This is NOT just a 1909 issue. And it doesn’t matter whether you have the latest CU applied either.
Poking around using the Search feature in the System app (which DOES work) I found that there was a setting to to enable/disable Cloud Search, which I didn’t know existed. If I did know, I would have turned it off long ago. I turned it off, rebooted, no effect.
I tried the instructions to disable Bing integration from Mayank Parmar.
I had to create the BingSearchEnabled key. The CortanaConsent key already existed and was set to 0.
This also had no effect. So the registry hack is not dispositive.
4 users thanked author for this post.
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woody
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krdibble
AskWoody LoungerFebruary 5, 2020 at 10:01 am #2135204Yes, I rebooted after applying those steps. I normally run as standard domain user. As such, I can’t edit the registry from that account. I booted into the local admin account to make the changes. Then I did a cold boot and got back into my standard domain user account.
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Paul T
AskWoody MVP
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rc primak
AskWoody_MVPFebruary 13, 2020 at 6:57 am #2139822This is precisely the behavior of my Win 10 Pro 1903 machine ever since the upgrade in January of this year.
And I also have tried all the fixes, including a downloadable PowerShell Script. The Script unborks the Search for about ten minutes, then everything reverts to Woody’s screen shot at the head of this Post.
Timeline is disabled on my PC. I chose to do that.
One more clue: Both my User and Administrator Accounts upon upgrading showed issues with the MS Store. I had to create a new User Account and destroy the old one to resolve the issues with Search and the Store. Needless to say, I am reluctant to apply this Nuclear Option to my Administrator Account. But that action did fix the User Account. All works well in there now.
So I’m thinking the upgrade got munged somehow. And it was the stage in which the Account profiles are being set up and the MS Store is being configured where the error has occurred. At least that appears to be the nature of my system’s symptoms.
I am considering switching to a different local search agent. Any suggestions?
-- rc primak
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anonymous
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steeviebops
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Mr. Natural
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Mr. Natural
AskWoody LoungerFebruary 5, 2020 at 10:44 am #2135233I just now rebooted my pc and the search box is working again. I did not make any changes, just a reboot. I shut down my pc at work almost every night and that was the case last night. So when I booted up this morning, something changed, and then another reboot changed things again.
Red Ruffnsore
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anonymous
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LoneWolf
AskWoody LoungerFebruary 5, 2020 at 9:51 am #2135199So far, we are seeing the issue on Windows 10 1903 systems. I saw it with one client yesterday, and another client reported it today.
My Windows 10 1909 system is not having the issue. My colleague running Windows 10 1903 is having the issue. Another colleague also with 1909 is not seeing the issue, and coincidentally, his mother just messaged him to ask if he was seeing this search issue from clients.
EDIT: The colleague is having the issue in 1909 actually. I have found a link that purports to fix the issue.
https://mspoweruser.com/windows-search-not-working-for-windows-10-users-across-the-world/
Still investigating and if this fixes the issue, we’ll script it and push out to our clients.
We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.-
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LoneWolf.
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This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by
LoneWolf.
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LoneWolf
AskWoody LoungerFebruary 5, 2020 at 11:07 am #2135247I have scripted out the registry adds in the link I posted, and they work. A system restart is required. We are now pushing these fixes to clients.
Since nobody we manage gives a fig about Bing or Cortana, having them disabled is just fine. As @woody mentioned, this is concerning, because it’s an indicator of just how dependent (in default mode) the Taskbar search is on Microsoft’s cloud. I plan to implement these changes in our client onboarding scripts for additional privacy.
To say it not-so-politely: On this one, Microsoft can get bent.
We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.2 users thanked author for this post.
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anonymous
GuestFebruary 5, 2020 at 10:06 am #2135210One of the worst parts of the whole thing is:
If you disable Bing integration and kill Cortana, it fixes the issue, but….
If you then ENABLE Bing integration and kill Cortana again (because I wanted to show someone a screenshot) – IT STILL WORKS. Either it working after re-enabling is a fluke that will go away the next time I restart or they’ve just got a broken situation here where their “happy path” testing didn’t include a my-machine-got-updated-without-my-knowledge situation.
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Ken Sims
AskWoody PlusFebruary 5, 2020 at 10:14 am #2135214Windows 10 Pro x64 Version 1903 Build 18362.592 – Local account.
Mon, 2020-02-03 – Search build 2020.02.02.6237943 – “Type here to search”.
Tue, 2020-02-04 – Same as Monday.
Wed, 2020-02-05 before rebooting – Search build 2020.02.04.6238049 – “Type here to search” – Search is apparently working normally.
(I say “apparently” because I don’t use this search and I have content indexing turned off, but when I type something in I get a list of results.)
Wed, 2020-02-05 after rebooting – Exactly the same as before rebooting.
1 user thanked author for this post.
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cmar6
AskWoody PlusFebruary 5, 2020 at 10:28 am #2135222Windows 10 search has never worked at all on any of my machines. After first upgrading to Win 10, I tried to disable some Cortana capabilities following instructions on Ask Woody. Many versions ago, I may have succeeded in that but no more. In any case Windows 10 search does not function.
In some versions, e.g., 1903 and 1909, there is an icon in the taskbar that can be clicked “Type here to search”. I can type a word or two into that box but then nothing happens, whatever I click on. This behavior is at least an improvement from earlier verisions of Win 10 where I did not have a search icon to click.
1 user thanked author for this post.
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rc primak
AskWoody_MVPFebruary 13, 2020 at 7:08 am #2139827In my case, which looks similar to yours, I had to effectively remove and reinstall the entire Microsoft Store for each Account. (The easiest way to do this for a Standard User Account is to recreate the Account entirely. I would be very reluctant to try recreating the Administrator Account on a production PC.) Then everything started working again. At least in a Local, Standard User Account.
Why does local Search rely on the MS Store infrastructure?
-- rc primak
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rc primak.
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anonymous
GuestFebruary 5, 2020 at 10:28 am #2135218One of my co-workers had this issue today. We have the same Windows build but his update log showed it had installed some Store App updates this morning (Skype, People, and Windows Voice Recorder). When we went into the Store and looked at his available updates, those same 3 apps were again on the list. After running them again, he rebooted to a very long login “Welcome” (as if Windows was performing changes in the background) and now his search bar works again.
1 user thanked author for this post.
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geekdom
AskWoody_MVPFebruary 5, 2020 at 10:29 am #2135224On permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender
offline▸ Acer TravelMate P215-52 RAM8GB Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1265 x64 i5-10210U SSD Firefox106.0 MicrosoftDefender
online▸ Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1992 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox116.0b3 MicrosoftDefender1 user thanked author for this post.
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cdyno4
AskWoody LoungerFebruary 5, 2020 at 10:33 am #2135219 -
rc primak
AskWoody_MVP
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anonymous
GuestFebruary 5, 2020 at 10:46 am #2135230I too can confirm that the problem affects 1903. I don’t use the search bar (it’s disabled) but just type from the Start menu from time to time (needing to find a random application, usually).
It’s infuriating that I can’t search for something on my own computer because Microsoft is having server problems. I should be able to disconnect from them entirely if I don’t need or want those services. (For the record, I don’t.) Bad enough that I can’t access the tools I (or rather my company) is paying them for when systems go down, but they shouldn’t need to take everything else with it.
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Neil Gascoigne
AskWoody LoungerFebruary 5, 2020 at 10:54 am #2135237Hello everyone
As per my earlier Tweet with Woody, we saw this earlier today in the office with 1903 users. I’ve implemented a GPO to add
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search
DWORD BingSearchEnabled = 0Prior to applying the GPO on my own 1903 PC, search worked normally. I performed a gpupdate /force believing the new GPO to be applied and got the blank search fly-out. Killed SearchUI.exe, which was found to be in a suspended state and still the same. But the registry showed the GPO was not applied through a mistake of our making.
Odd then that the gpupdate instigated the fault even though the 365 back-end is the root cause.
Applying the registry entry above correctly and kicking SearchUI.exe resolved it for us.
Cheers
-Neil-
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rc primak
AskWoody_MVPFebruary 13, 2020 at 7:15 am #2139840The Office 365 back-end may not be the root cause.It may be the MS Store itself. If my observations and other people around here are correct (and they may not be) recreating the MS Store in the Account (or recreating the whole Account) seems to fix the issue, plus a few other glitches. Especially if the issue showed up after an upgrade. Still awaiting confirmation and other suggestions on this point.
-- rc primak
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howardagoldberg
AskWoody PlusFebruary 5, 2020 at 10:56 am #2135239I took screenshots of the registry, where one could add the ‘BingSearchEnabled’ to workaround the issue (for most people). I have not done this, at least yet. Since I have one system where search is working, and other is not, I am comparing and not the following:
- The ‘CortanaConsent’ string is present on both systems, with the DWORD already set to 0 (this is how I found it, I’ve made no changes)
- Note the ‘InstalledPackageAppsRevision’ and ‘InstalledWin32AppsRevision’ strings. They are different. I would think that for those strings, they should be the same assuming the ‘app’ is updated at about the same time.
That seems to build on the possibility that those who were ‘lucky’ enough to get later build numbers (see post #2135163 above) were spared this issue. However, I think it also means for those who did not get the later builds, there might be an issue with Mircrosoft just pushing out a new build to fix this, as the updating mechinaism could be broken also.
@Woody … what is your take, risk-wise, on adding the ‘BingSearchEnabled’ string?1 user thanked author for this post.
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anonymous
GuestFebruary 5, 2020 at 10:59 am #2135238BingSearchEnabled fix worked for us.
- Windows Key + R, regedit
2.Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search
3. Right-click the right pane, New > D-WORD (32-bit) Value – BingSearchEnabled : 0
4. check that CortanaConsent = 0 (5th entry from top), File – Exit
5. Reboot
1 user thanked author for this post.
- Windows Key + R, regedit
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Alex5723
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woody
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Mr. Natural
AskWoody LoungerFebruary 5, 2020 at 11:11 am #2135250A reboot fixed mine.
I just looked at my logs and when my pc booted this morning there were around 6 entries from Windows Installer that is was attempting to modify google update and google update helper. The second entry showed that the update failed but then after sever other entries there was another entry confirming update applied.
Not sure if it’s related but perhaps.
Red Ruffnsore
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cdyno4
AskWoody Lounger -
howardagoldberg
AskWoody PlusFebruary 5, 2020 at 11:21 am #2135254A reboot fixed mine.
I just looked at my logs and when my pc booted this morning there were around 6 entries from Windows Installer that is was attempting to modify google update and google update helper. The second entry showed that the update failed but then after sever other entries there was another entry confirming update applied.
Not sure if it’s related but perhaps.
For giggles, I actually just rebooted my system (like literally two minutes ago before I saw your post!). I had already rebooted numerous times between 6:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. and the issued did not resolve.
BUT, this time, indeed it did! Search is back … build number 2020.02.04.6238073. That’s the same build on my system where search continued to work this morning.
So, I’m guessing that in the background, the search ‘app’ updated at somepoint between 9;30 a.m. and now (Eastern), but in order for everything to refresh, the system needs to be rebooted (or perhaps ending the searchui.exe task might have done it also).
But, also seems like some type of user intervention may be necessary for search to come back …
I’m glad it’s back – but boy, is this a ding in my trust toward Microsoft …
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Mr. Natural
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WCHS
AskWoody PlusFebruary 5, 2020 at 11:26 am #2135256Clicking in the taskbar search box produces a filled flyout on one 1909 machine (Machine A-18363.592) and typing in the search box provides results, but clicking there on the other 1909 machine (Machine B-18363.592, too) produces a blank flyout and nothing happens when typing in the search box. The former got 1909 yesterday, Feb 4. The latter got 1909 on January 24.
I rebooted Machine B twice.
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WCHS
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WCHS
AskWoody PlusFebruary 5, 2020 at 1:28 pm #2135358FYI, just saw the screenshots at #213522 and Win10 Search is working again for information on how to find a FE version. Machine A had 2020.02.04.6238073 (evidently arrived, when 1903 updated to 1909 on yesterday February 4). After rebooting for the 3rd time at 12:51 EST, machine B has it, too.
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woody
ManagerFebruary 5, 2020 at 11:30 am #2135259@woody … what is your take, risk-wise, on adding the ‘BingSearchEnabled’ string?
If you absolutely must use Windows Search, you don’t have much choice – although it isn’t clear to me that disabling Bing Search works on all machines.
If you can’t stand the thought of sending all of your Windows searches to Microsoft, disable Bing Search. No doubt we’ll see more bugs introduced by the change, but at least we have some experience with that now.
Otherwise, if you can find any way to work around Windows Search, do that. Manually changing the Registry for any reason has, historically, led to untold problems.
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anonymous
GuestFebruary 5, 2020 at 11:35 am #2135257My primary working machine is still running 1809, but I’m looking at both a VM and an old laptop that was recently upgraded from Win 7. Both are running 1909 18363.592.
The VM is working as expected/advertised.
The laptop has the blank display that Woody shows. Because I had complications with the laptop in a Win 10 upgrade (video drivers), and I don’t make a lot of use of it, I haven’t explored in detail, but I had been working under the assumption that that was part of the detrius left over from the upgrade.
It’s useful to know that there’s a known issue in Windows, although I agree that it is puzzling that machines on the same build behave differently.
For both of these machines, both are running Win 10 Pro in a peer LAN (no Domain or AD), and neither has any versions of Office installed. I’m also using local user IDs and not a Microsoft account. I have also not tried the hack to disable Bing.
I’ve been considering making the move to upgrade the 1809 instance to 1903, but I make enough use of search in that way (even if just local searching) that this is reason to stay with 1809 until that gets fixed.
Knowing where Microsoft wants to go with search (including eventual elimination of the Control Panel), and where nearly all local navigation is done with search rather than menus and icons, I find the lack of urgency to be incomprehensible.
1 user thanked author for this post.
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anonymous
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geekdom
AskWoody_MVPFebruary 5, 2020 at 11:37 am #2135265Is there a race condition with different operating system functions glomming on to different versions of the same Microsoft software?
On permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender
offline▸ Acer TravelMate P215-52 RAM8GB Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1265 x64 i5-10210U SSD Firefox106.0 MicrosoftDefender
online▸ Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1992 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox116.0b3 MicrosoftDefender -
WCHS
AskWoody PlusFebruary 5, 2020 at 11:41 am #2135268 -
wavy
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rc primak
AskWoody_MVPFebruary 13, 2020 at 7:22 am #2139842Due to the depth of its menus (layers within layers, all alphabetical) I find GodMode much less useful than Local Search. There is simply nothing like being able to type a few letters and seeing a choice of settings or apps right there on in the display window, ready to click or right-click (run as administrator). That’s why I want this issue to get fixed. And without further tying us to 365 or the Store.
-- rc primak
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Paul Foreman
AskWoody PlusFebruary 5, 2020 at 11:42 am #2135269I am using Windows 10 – 1909 build 18363.592 Home version and not having problems.
I’ve shut down/blocked updates since the start of February (did update when the defcon setting hit three) and do not have any Microsoft (365, account, etc.) open or running. When I do a search it first looks at my disks on the machine. I can then pick ‘search the web’ and it then opens my default browser (Firefox) and uses the default search application (Smartpage) without issue.
My hunch is it is a Microsoft issue and by not using their connection preferences I’ve dodged this problem. Hopefully (for me at least) it’s really that easy.
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r1ma
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rc primak
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anonymous
GuestFebruary 5, 2020 at 11:45 am #2135232I was able to resolve it by:
1. Log in with secondary account (local or domain admin). This is important as you cannot rename a folder that’s being used.
2. Delete, rename or move the following folder:
C:\Users\[Your Username]\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy
3. Log back into your original account.
Cortana will not work immediately. (It is busy recreating the folder you just deleted.) But when it does, everything will be back to normal.
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rc primak
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rc primak
AskWoody_MVPFebruary 16, 2020 at 5:18 pm #2141710UPDATE: I just went into my Win 10 Pro and applied this fix. (OK, I run a Linux dual-boot, so I found the AppData subfolder and deleted it from Linux. Easier than running Powershell from within Windows.) Anyway, after a few seconds of the old Spinning Blue Circle, Local Search was back up and running just fine. This fix survived a complete system shutdown and restart.
So the issue at least for me seems to be corrupted data in the User App Data for the Cortana Store App. Deleting the munged folder and letting the Windows system recreate the folder (in my case not even connected to the Internet the whole time) restored Local Search to where it needed to be.
All the indexed data and search bookmarks and favorites were gone, but that’s a small price to pay. All of that stuff will no doubt be restored the next time I connect to the Internet or update my Windows Store Apps.
-- rc primak
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howardagoldberg
AskWoody PlusFebruary 5, 2020 at 11:46 am #2135275@woody … what is your take, risk-wise, on adding the ‘BingSearchEnabled’ string?
If you absolutely must use Windows Search, you don’t have much choice – although it isn’t clear to me that disabling Bing Search works on all machines.
If you can’t stand the thought of sending all of your Windows searches to Microsoft, disable Bing Search. No doubt we’ll see more bugs introduced by the change, but at least we have some experience with that now.
Otherwise, if you can find any way to work around Windows Search, do that. Manually changing the Registry for any reason has, historically, led to untold problems.
Thanks, Woody! As per my post just above … it looks like the ‘app’ updated in the background at some point in the past three hours or so. For kick, I just rebooted about a half-an-hour ago, and search is back, with the same build number as my system where search was not broken.
But, it took a reboot (user interaction) to complete the install/refresh. I am not sure this can be ‘fixed’ without some type of user interaction. Curious to know if that is indeed the case and how MS would handle that. Hopefully, I’m wrong …
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woody
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TechTango
AskWoody PlusFebruary 5, 2020 at 11:53 am #2135277Just tested and Windows search is working fine for me on 3 machines, all running 1909.
Desktop Asus TUF X299 Mark 1, CPU: Intel Core i7-7820X Skylake-X 8-Core 3.6 GHz, RAM: 32GB, GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti 4GB. Display: Four 27" 1080p screens 2 over 2 quad.
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anonymous
GuestFebruary 5, 2020 at 12:29 pm #2135310Is it possible an update to Security Intelligence Update for Windows Defender Antivirus (KB2267602), specifically v1.309.345.0, triggered the issue? Windows System Event logs reported this version installed just before the issue appeared. Restarting alone didn’t resolve it, but on multiple Win 10 1903 computers updating manually to a more recent version and then restarting resolved the issue: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wdsi/defenderupdates.
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rc primak
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krdibble
AskWoody LoungerFebruary 5, 2020 at 12:30 pm #2135315This is now working for me after a cold boot at about 1:05 pm EST (yes, I have “fast startup” turned off).
Win 10 Pro 1903 build 18362.418. That’s not the most recent CU; I think it’s the November 2019 one. Machine is joined to a local AD domain. No Microsoft account, no Office 365, Cortana is turned off in every way I can find. All updates are blocked every way I can find in Windows, and patching is blocked via a ConnectWise/Labtech agent.
Search build is now: 2020.02.04.6238073
So that’s changed from the last time I checked it yesterday.
Some notes:
I had tried the Bing registry hack and it did not work. Since I ordinarily run as a standard domain user I logged into a local admin account to edit the registry and did a cold boot to get back to my domain user account. A few minutes ago just for grins I ran Run in that domain user account and went to look at the registry hive. My newly-created BingSearchEnabled key was not there! So I shut down and logged back in as local admin. First thing I did was try the Search bar. Still blank. I looked at the registry again. The key was there. Hm…
There are opportunities to create the same key in the LOCAL_MACHINE and USERS hives. I didn’t try it but maybe there’s something about CURRENT_USER.
So by this time I had been poking around the registry for about ten minutes. I tried the Search bar again. This time it worked.
So I cold-booted and went back to my domain user account. I tried the Search bar again. After about a minute of blankness, I got what I expected, and I could type in the blank and get results.
Checked the registry again from the domain user account; the BingSearchEnabled key is still not visible. (I don’t expect to be able to edit the registry from a standard domain user account, but I do expect to see everything in the registry that applies to all accounts.)
So this is “fixed”. I do see the news reports on alleged Microsoft server outages related to this. Might be the cause–but that does not make it right that my ability to search for something solely on my computer must be made dependent on _anything_ on the internet. That’s just not acceptable, IMO.
1 user thanked author for this post.
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rc primak
AskWoody_MVPFebruary 13, 2020 at 7:29 am #2139846This is a good point. A restart isn’t a cold reboot in Windows 10 unless Fast Startup is disabled. Unfortunately for some of us, we already had Fast Startup disabled before the issue showed up.
-- rc primak
1 user thanked author for this post.
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agoldhammer
AskWoody PlusFebruary 5, 2020 at 2:20 pm #2135413It works here, Win 10 Pro 1909, build 18363.592 vs. your reported 18362.592. (Tangent alert! Why the $&@#^% does Microsoft not have text-select and copy available on the About page? Ugh!)
My system just rebooted this morning to install the January KB4532938 Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8
I’m on the same build and search works for me even though I hardly ever use it. I’ve not done anything special with respect to Bing and Cortona which I never use. Patch updates are delayed for 15 days on my PC.
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anonymous
GuestFebruary 5, 2020 at 2:47 pm #2135418 -
IbnFred52
AskWoody Plus -
Ricard
AskWoody PlusFebruary 5, 2020 at 4:22 pm #2135449I’m still clinging to Windows 7 (got my ESU), so a perhaps silly question: does this mean that under Windows 10, you would NOT be able to search files on your local drives if Microsoft’s servers were having problems?
Win 7 Pro, 64-Bit, Group B ESU,Ivy Bridge i3-3110M, 2.4GHz, 4GB, XP Mode VM, WordPerfect -
OscarCP
MemberFebruary 5, 2020 at 8:36 pm #2135502Windows 7 here: this looks, at least on the surface, same as the very recently discovered Black Wallpaper Blight problem in the now out of support Grand OS.
I hope that MS releases patches for this and for 7, and it does not take too long before doing that. In fact, I imagine that this problem in Win 10 might make it more likely that the patch-to-a-broken-patch for 7 will be out as well and not too far into the future.
But the actual bug behind the black screens is probably a quite different one for each OS. Unlike the one for 7, this one seems to happen spontaneously, unrelated to anything the users have been doing, at least as far as anyone here seems to know.
Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).
MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV -
d.b_HVDB
AskWoody LoungerFebruary 5, 2020 at 10:31 pm #2135534I have managed to get it working try using the following powershell script:
$Path = “HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search\”
New-ItemProperty -Path $Path -Name “BingSearchEnabled” -Value 0 -PropertyType DWORD -Force | Out-Null
New-ItemProperty -Path $Path -Name “CortanaConsent” -Value 0 -PropertyType DWORD -Force | Out-Null
Get-Process searchui | Stop-Processthis should get it working again.
Regards,
Dion
1 user thanked author for this post.
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AmbularD
AskWoody PlusFebruary 7, 2020 at 11:26 am #2136455Eh. FileSearchEX works better for most local searches anyway.
i7-10700k - ASROCK Z590 Pro4 - 1TB 970 EVO Plus M.2 - DDR4 3200 x 32GB - GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FTW - Windows 10 Pro
2 users thanked author for this post.
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anonymous
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rc primak
AskWoody_MVPFebruary 13, 2020 at 7:32 am #2139848Relevance improves the more you use Search. It was lousy for me until I had used it for awhile.
-- rc primak
1 user thanked author for this post.
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Mr. Austin
AskWoody PlusFebruary 13, 2020 at 7:37 am #2139849Yes, but only with occassional fiddling when it breaks occassionally. It breaks inexplicably every few months. The most recent breakage wasn’t solved by the Registry hack that another site suggested. I don’t recall what solved it, but it was probably stopping, starting and resetting the Windows Search Indexer engine.
Human, who sports only naturally-occurring DNA ~ oneironaut ~ broadcaster
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rc primak
AskWoody_MVP
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Mr. Austin
AskWoody PlusFebruary 13, 2020 at 7:54 am #2139861I just downloaded FileSearchEX to try it, and thank you for mentioning it, AmbularD. Although I feel that US$100 for its license is too steep for a utility which should have already been functioning, and a native feature of Windows 10.
It was only in September 2018 that I finally abandoned my faithful Windows 7 box, seeing that the backflips I’d have to do to maintain it (because Microsoft wants to sell me things I neither want nor need) would start to exceed the occassional annoyance which using Windows 10 would bring me.
Because of the nature of my local and web Windows 10 search results it’s clear to me that my local search functions have been intentionally commoditized by Microsoft. Through its click-wrap licensing Microsoft will perform unauthorized, surreptitious surveillance of my local drive and web searches whenever they please — which is of course none of their business — and to which I never agreed and would never agree.
Othwerwise, for example, my third-party security software wouldn’t keep reporting that the Microsoft Store’s security certs, as accessed via Edge are woefully outdated or broken. Microsoft could hardly care less about its click-wrap “licensing” of my personal and business data. They’ll do whatever they think they can get away with.
In making these observations I’m uninterested in convincing anyone of anything. Qualified geeks can have a look at the machines in their own care, and compare their notes with sources like or including Shoshana Zuboff’s book, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. But just like with PG&E’s and SoCal Edison’s now legendary and studious indifference to causing heinous social damage, where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
Human, who sports only naturally-occurring DNA ~ oneironaut ~ broadcaster
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Mr. Austin.
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Mr. Austin.
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