Windows 11 Search bar not working

Anonymous
2025-05-28T21:01:15+00:00

Hello,

I've seen this question in the title come by multiple times. However, after searching hours of Microsoft and external forums, I've found no solution.

First some basic info:

Running Windows 11 Pro 24H2 26100.4061.

Currently I'm also trying to install KB5058411, which also fails endlessly (installing till 100%, then says update failed 0x800f081f).

The problem:

Recently my search bar stopped working. As far as I know, no change has been made to make this happen (updates etc).

Sometimes the problem consists of not being able to type in the search bar, sometimes it also say 'search indexing is turned off'.

I can click the search bar, but when I want to type, no letters come foreward and no search is being done.

Searching inside explorer and task manager does work. Searching inside system settings does not.

I did a fresh Windows reinstall (while only keeping personal data, and deleting all apps). This fixed the problem, for about 2 hours. After that, I was back at square one. All I did was install some standard programs that have run on my pc for years without problems (stuff like Adobe, Steam, Ubisoft, Malwarebytes etc.)

I've tried many things:

SC config trustedinstaller start=auto

net stop bits

net stop wuauserv

net stop msiserver

net stop cryptsvc

net stop appidsvc

Ren %Systemroot%\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old

Ren %Systemroot%\System32\catroot2 catroot2.old

regsvr32.exe /s atl.dll

regsvr32.exe /s urlmon.dll

regsvr32.exe /s mshtml.dll

netsh winsock reset

netsh winsock reset proxy

rundll32.exe pnpclean.dll,RunDLL_PnpClean /DRIVERS /MAXCLEAN

dism /Online /Cleanup-image /ScanHealth

dism /Online /Cleanup-image /CheckHealth

dism /Online /Cleanup-image /RestoreHealth

dism /Online /Cleanup-image /StartComponentCleanup

Sfc /ScanNow

net start bits

net start wuauserv

net start msiserver

net start cryptsvc

net start appidsvc

  • Full virus scans with Malwarebytes without any results
  • Way more but I don't even remember what.

Hope you can help, thanks!

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Input and language

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John DeV 170.1K Reputation points Independent Advisor
2025-05-29T09:28:03+00:00

Great, I am happy that worked. Your search bar might just be buggy. Reading your issue, I know that the ctfmon.exe method will resolve this.

Give back to the Community. Help the next person who has this issue by indicating if this reply solved your problem. Click Yes or No below.

You're most welcome and have a great day.

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-05-29T09:24:16+00:00

    Hey John,

    Thank you for your help.

    For some magical reason reason ctfmon.exe seemed to have solved the issue. I'm not a 100% sure, but I booted up my pc this morning and started reading your article. After running ctfmon.exe, everything works again. I'm not sure if it worked before running ctfmon because this was the first action I performed on the pc today, but it's likely it solved the issue. I restarted the pc and it still works.

    I am wondering: Google tells me ctfmon is used for inputmethodes. What caused this problem, and how do I prevent it from happening again? Is there a service that should be running but isn't? Why didn't it run at first, but after i started it once, and restarted the pc, it does run by itself?

    Thanks in advance!

    PS: I have tried the other steps you have given about repairing all Windows Apps via PowerShell before writing this article, but that did not work for me. Just leaving this here for other people that might stumble on this question.

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  2. John DeV 170.1K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-05-28T22:38:16+00:00

    Hi, good day! I'm John Dev a Windows user like you and I'll be happy to assist you today. I know this has been difficult for you, rest assured, I'm going to do my best to help you.

    Please let me know if you have tried the methods below.

    Press Windows key+R to open Run then type or copy and paste the path below. Hit Enter.

    C:\Windows\system32\ctfmon.exe

    **Please try to run SFC and DISM to check for any system errors and corrupted files.

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/usi...

    After that, restart your computer

    Note: You can open Command Prompt as administrator by doing this,

    Press Windows key+R to open Run then type: cmd

    Press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to run as administrator

    Proceed with the commands inside the support article

    **Repair all Windows apps via PowerShell

    Windows key+X then select Windows PowerShell (Admin)

    Copy and paste the command below one at a time then press Enter. Please ignore the red errors and let the process complete.

    Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost | foreach {Add-AppxPackage -register "$($_.InstallLocation)\appxmanifest.xml" -DisableDevelopmentMode}

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

    Restart your computer

    Please try creating a new local administrator account then see if the issue persists.

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/man...

    Kindly let me know if this helps or if you have any further concerns by clicking the "Reply" button at the end of my response. I will appreciate it.

    Kind regards,

    John DeV

    Independent Advisor

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