How do you disable SearchApp.exe from running so that you can enable SLI in the Nvidia Control Panel?

Hi and thanks for reaching out. My name is William. I'm a Windows technical expert. I'll be happy to help you out today.

Searchpp.exe is an extension of the UWP app-desktop (or the overall desktop shell). Normally, you can kill it but it will probably startup once you navigate to the Nvidia Control Panel. In order to keep it from restarting, you will need to end the other desktop shell processes as well. To do this:

Open the Nvidia Control Panel > create a text file and rename to KillDesktopShells.cmd > paste the following commands into it and save:

@ECHO OFF
TASKKILL /F /IM Explorer.exe
TASKKILL /F /IM Searchapp.exe
TASKKILL /F /IM ShellExperienceHost.exe
TASKKILL /F /IM StartMenuExperienceHost.exe
START taskMgr.exe

Run the file. This will end all of the shell desktop and UWP processes and then start the Task Manager. After you enable SLI, then use the Task Manager to restart the desktop shell by going to File > Run new task > type explorer.exe

The previous answer is unlikely to work because Cortana keeps searchapp.exe running all the time (causing cpus to get hot).

The following commands worked for me. You have to paste them into in Administrator-level Command Prompt again and again until the timing is right and the "move" works.

cd %windir%\SystemApps

taskkill /f /im SearchApp.exe

move Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy.old

Optional: to remove Cortana completely (in addition to stopping searchapp.exe), run the following command in Administrator-level Powershell:

Get-AppxPackage -allusers Microsoft.549981C3F5F10 | Remove-AppxPackage

David Spector

Springtime Software

This.

This helped me a lot. Thanks!!

The irritating Cortana thing is always running which is total nonsense because here it's not even supported (Dutch language).

I did not remove it though: I learned that while it seems that removing an Windows 10 app looks and works fine .... but with certain updates it can created (big) problems.

Edit: I reversed it again (just remove .old from the Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy.oldin the SystemApps directory.)

It caused Search to work no more in Windows Explorer. Search in Outlook, Start and so on does work but no more in Windows Explorer (which I use a lot). So here yet another MS thing that's forced down throats (like OneDrive in the Office package).

If none of the replies below works, go to the Searchapp.exe and simply kill the process then quickly rename it in the folder it is in to something random before it restarts, and it will not restart.

That's how I did it. 

If UAC tells you that you don't have permission, here is how to fix that:

"Winston M

Hi,

Let's analyze and identify the cause of the issue. Perform the steps provided.

To resolve the issue with permissions, I would suggest you to follow these steps:

a.     Press Windows key + Q to search Settings.

b.    Type “CMD”.

c.     From the results, right click Command Prompt and Click Run as Administrator.

d.    At the command prompt, type “takeown /f <foldername> /r /d y” without quotes and then press ENTER. (Replace <foldername> with the path of the folder).

e.    Then, type “icacls <foldername> /grant administrators:F /T” without quotes and hit enter. (Replace <foldername> with the path of the folder).

NOTE: You have to change the line 'administrator' to your language for 'administrator' if you have something else than English setup.

Using the above mentioned commands, we have taken the ownership of the folder and then assigned the Administrators group Full Control Permissions for the folder.

If the issue still persists, you may refer to the steps mentioned by 'New Win8 user replied on October 29, 2012' in the similar discussion.

Permission error - Failed to enumerate objects in the container. Access is denied.        

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-security/permission-error-failed-to-enumerate-objects-in/93ea883f-853f-4981-a697-928bfbc71642

The steps mentioned are also applicable to Windows 8.1

Hope this information helps.

@Bassthang  Please don't confuse Cortana's internal searching (the topic of this thread) with Windows Indexed Search, which is a default automatic Windows procedure to look through all files on your computer and build a master index that supports quick searches for files or content.