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Windows search not working, both in Start Menu and File explorer. SearchUI.exe process is missing in Task Manager.

Anonymous
2020-06-09T15:06:29+00:00

I´m a Windows Insider user, OS is:

  • Edition: Windows 10 Home
  • Version: 2004
  • OS Build: 19041.264
  • Installed on: 4/16/2020
  • Experience: Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2202.130.0

Everything was working fine till yesterday, when search suddenly stopped working. Can´t type when opening Start Menu, when clicking the Taskbar Search Icon, can´t search in File Explorer.

I´ve never signed in to Cortana.

What i've tried so far to solve the problem:

  • Running the Search and Indexing troubleshooter: During the first run a warning or error was fixed, but search was not restored. On subsequent tries, no problem was found
  • Rebuilding the Search Index -> no effect
  • Tried restarting 'SearchUI.exe' in TaskManager as suggested here, but it´s no where to be found. Tried searching for the file with NTFS Search, but only deleted files appear. 
  • Tried reinstalling Cortana with the following command, as suggested by several articles:

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

Did not work. Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers *Cortana* did´t return any results.

  • Tried sfc /scannow -> no issues found, no effect
  • Tried: DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth and DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth, no effect
  • Also tried fixing with: "ResetWindowsSearchBox.ps1" as suggested here, but no effect.

I search the Event Viewer for the first ocurring of the problem and also the error for the recurring error.

First error: 

Recurring error:

Please help, would really want to avoid doing a restore or reset of the OS.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Cortana and search

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2020-06-09T15:17:09+00:00

Hi captahydro,

I'm Paul, a fellow customer like you & an Independent Advisor. Kindly try these steps below & see if fixes your issue.

  1. Let's repair any corrupt system files. Press the CTRL+SHIFT+ESC keys together >click File menu > click "Run new task" > type cmd & tick the checkbox "Create this task with administrative privileges" > click OK > copy/paste below command one line at a time. Once done, reboot your PC to Normal Mode.

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

SFC /scannow

  1. Then, kindly re-register the Windows by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESC keys together >click File menu > click "Run new task" > type Powershell & tick the checkbox "Create this task with administrative privileges" > click OK > copy/paste below command.

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

  1. Once done, open File Explorer & navigate to "C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\AppData\Local" were "YOUR_USER" is your computer username, and delete the "TileDataLayer" folder. Reboot your PC & check the issue.

(Note: If you can't see the "TileDataLayer" folder, you may skip this step.)

I hope this helps. Let me know how you go. Thank you!

Sincerely,

Paul A.

Independent Advisor

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