My windows search bar on windows 11 isn't working

Oliver Turk 85

It randomly stopped working and won't open at all, I can't find SearchHost.exe to check if it's enabled and I am seriously stressed because I can't open certain files or my driver installer without searching

Sonu Singh 10 Reputation points

2023-08-17T11:49:26.89+00:00

my windows 10 upgrade to windows 11 but search bar not working search feature not working
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Michael Caire 0 Reputation points

2023-10-11T16:14:30.1166667+00:00

doesn't work
Oliver Randle 30 Reputation points

2023-10-17T15:34:08.3033333+00:00

Worse than useless advice as you abandoned the 'Troubleshooting' function for this app on the last Windows update.

0/10 Microsoft and F for effort.
Qatar HD 110 Reputation points

2023-11-02T08:15:22.3333333+00:00
Natalie Kirk 0 Reputation points

2023-11-08T03:04:51.3366667+00:00

I just bought a brand new Surface Pro 9 today and I've already experienced an issue with the search. It was not even accepting input and the app list wasn't loading correctly. Why would a brand new computer be buggy already? Is it just a Windows 11 problem? If so, I want Windows 10 back.
Rod Rebello 0 Reputation points

2023-11-17T22:35:37.99+00:00

When clicking the search icon, it changes to acknowledge the click but does bring up the search menu.
CHRLAG 5 Reputation points

2023-11-24T03:55:37.4933333+00:00

I have found that flicking the switch to off for the copilot (preview) in the personalization of the taskbar has fixed the problem for me.
Griffins Bakhuya 0 Reputation points

2023-12-01T05:52:23.7533333+00:00

This really helped , didn't know it was that simple,Thank you
Christopher Allen 0 Reputation points

2024-02-07T19:57:59.67+00:00

This is a new HP OMEN laptop which worked great until 15 minutes ago when the Start Bar Search function stopped working, it flashes on screen when you try to access it then disappears. Your recommendation is not helpful as there is no "Update and Security" tab. There is a "Privacy and Security" tab which does not have a "Troubleshoot" in the menu. The "Update" tab is also missing any "Troubleshoot" in the menu. Perhaps I am missing something??
Sterling Davis 0 Reputation points

2024-02-13T01:21:07.43+00:00

Its the little icons that Microsoft is putting in the search bar.
Follow these instructions: https://www.makeuseof.com/windows-search-remove-pictures/ or change the search box to "search icon and label" in the taskbar settings
Aditya Suherman 5 Reputation points

2024-02-25T14:54:25.4933333+00:00

Go to Settings > Personalization > Now change the Search to something other than Search Box
Matt Anderson 0 Reputation points

2024-03-12T13:43:42.0833333+00:00

I was able to restore Search bar function by going to Taskbar settings - personalization and toggling off the Copilot (preview) then restarting the computer. The search bar is now working. Hope this helps!
Phasit Ammatakatanyu 0 Reputation points

2024-04-19T12:16:41.1466667+00:00

i updated my bios and the search bar is usable again. im on a hp laptop so i dont know if it would work for you but try updating your bios or roll back to the previous version maybe it will work
Phasit Ammatakatanyu 0 Reputation points

2024-04-25T07:48:02.44+00:00

try restarting ur file explorer in task manager. mine works after restarting file explorer

16 answers

Greg Scher 120 Reputation points

2023-11-11T22:10:53.3333333+00:00

I just did a scan of the internet and found over 1,000 inquiries about this exact same problem. My Windows search bar is not working on my Windows 11 Pro machine. When it first started doing this, I could undo it with Windows Restore. It was a Windows update that was causing the problem. But now it doesn't help no matter what I do. It appears that Microsoft is turning us all a deaf ear and the so-called community helpers are telling us to do ridiculous things that they already know will not help. I guess they are trying to make us all feel good that they are trying to do something, when in fact they are just wasting all of our time!

MICROSOFT, STOP WITH THE BS AND FIX THE BROKEN SEACH BAR ISSUES!!!
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22 people found this answer helpful.
Gail Wiesner 15 Reputation points

2024-02-19T16:54:37.18+00:00

I refused the update to 11 numerous times, but MS did it anyway. My search box does not work, many of the programs and documents I use for work are unusbale and the document programs are unwieldy, have features that are overly difficult to use and force you to use the cloud or other that you do not want to use. I have tried the ridiculous "trouble shooter" numerous times for numerous problems. IT HAS NEVER WORKED! MS need to fire you all!

SD 0 Reputation points

2024-04-03T01:53:32.9066667+00:00

Very sad state of affairs from Microsoft .. have been using MS Windows over ~3 decades .. as the complexity icreases, its getting worst in terms of stability.

Why on earth the new Windows 11 behaving like this? every few months there is a major update and every time, we see the issues on stability.

cyborg shams 0 Reputation points

2024-05-05T22:16:17.0866667+00:00

I got annoyed by the constant push for the update to windows 11 so I made this batch script to block any version updates from Microsoft. all you need to do is reinstall windows 10 and then run this as a .bat file

@echo off setlocal enabledelayedexpansion :: Define the registry key path set "key=HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate" :: Check if the registry key exists reg query "%key%" >nul 2>&1 if %errorlevel% neq 0 ( echo Creating registry key path... reg add "%key%" /f echo. echo Registry key path created successfully. ) :: Check if the "TargetReleaseVersion" registry entry exists reg query "%key%" /v "TargetReleaseVersion" >nul 2>&1 if %errorlevel% neq 0 ( echo Creating missing registry entry: TargetReleaseVersion... reg add "%key%" /v "TargetReleaseVersion" /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f ) else ( echo Windows Update registry entries already exist. ) :: Check if the "TargetReleaseVersionInfo" registry entry exists reg query "%key%" /v "TargetReleaseVersionInfo" >nul 2>&1 if %errorlevel% neq 0 ( echo Creating missing registry entry: TargetReleaseVersionInfo... reg add "%key%" /v "TargetReleaseVersionInfo" /t REG_SZ /d 22H2 /f :: Change out 22H2 for your version ) else ( echo Windows Update registry entries already exist. ) echo. echo Press any key to exit. pause >nul :: End the script :: How to check Release Version on your Windows pc just run winver.exe and check beside Version: {#}
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Nilo River 65 Reputation points

2023-11-02T18:50:46.2133333+00:00

Thousand of posts about this issue and all I see is genereic troubleshooting that has nothing to do with the origin of the problem.

This seems like a recurrent issue and even Microsoft can't explain.
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9 people found this answer helpful.
Beth Price-Almeida 0 Reputation points

2024-05-14T17:12:40.77+00:00

It would be because these people don't give a flip about the people who pay their bills by buying these machines. They don't care to listen and I believe they intentionally make it so that you can't figure out how to undo the BS they redo when they are "updating" the system. I think people need to seriously look over the consumer laws we have and think about how Microsoft tampers with the system in places they shouldn't be (like your personal settings when they want to swap it over to Spotlight so that you HAVE to see their freaking ads because they KNOW that everyone just LOVES having ads shoved in their faces buy pushy companies.
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S.Sengupta 15,601 Reputation points MVP

2023-02-23T00:18:07.5566667+00:00
Select Start > Settings.

In Windows Settings, select Update & Security > Troubleshoot. Under Find and fix other problems, select Search and Indexing.

Run the troubleshooter and select any problems that apply. Windows will try to detect and solve them.
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6 people found this answer helpful.
Oliver Turk 85 Reputation points

2023-02-23T19:16:41.9666667+00:00

It doesn't detect anything at all! but it still won't open. When I press the windows key and go to type in the search bar it just crashes

Linda Voris 20 Reputation points

2023-07-31T15:10:22.5166667+00:00

same here, when i get to Troubleshoot>Find and fix other problems, there is no "Search and Indexing" listed

Tony Pink 5 Reputation points

2023-08-06T16:42:49.8266667+00:00

This option no longer exists as of Aug 2023.

Sonu Singh 10 Reputation points

2023-08-17T11:50:51.37+00:00

windows 10 upgrade to windows 11 but search options not working please tell me how can resolve this issue

Linda Voris 20 Reputation points

2023-08-17T13:02:52.5966667+00:00

Search and Indexing is not listed there

Deidre Ann Johnson 5 Reputation points

2023-09-29T19:53:24.9066667+00:00

I don't see "update and security" I see "privacy and security" and separately I see "windows update"

Linda Voris 20 Reputation points

2023-10-02T13:12:31.91+00:00

I was able to recover my search bar by restoring the computer to the last time it actually worked before updates.

Joy Jacques 0 Reputation points

2023-10-04T01:05:23.98+00:00

Solved my issue of search bar not responding. The path to the tool is just a bit different than described.

Settings>Update&Security>Troubleshoot>Additional Troubleshooters>Find&Fix other problems>Search&Indexing

Linda Voris 20 Reputation points

2023-10-04T12:53:12.8666667+00:00

Search and Indexing is not there as an option

Zuki Dude 0 Reputation points

2023-10-31T17:18:47.69+00:00

Why suggesting fixing windows is going to fix this if you havent had the issue yourself? I hate seeing MS response to fixes by doing a repair which NEVER works.

John R 5 Reputation points

2024-01-10T00:14:19.61+00:00

The menu steps do not work for the current Windows 11 build 22H2. There is no Update & Security in Windows settings. Also have to use Windows key + I to open Settings. What is the latest path to fix this problem please?

Bia West 0 Reputation points

2024-01-30T01:13:05.5533333+00:00

It worked like a charm, thank you so much!

Bia West 0 Reputation points

2024-01-30T01:14:59.2666667+00:00

It worked, thank you so much!!

Paul Edmonds 0 Reputation points

2024-02-03T09:54:43.9233333+00:00

If you open (win11) Personalisation>Taskbar>Task Bar Items>Search - and then deselect Search Box, and select any of the other option, that will fix this. Because, the option 'Search Box' does not work - the only options that do work are 'Hide', 'Search Icon Only', 'Search Icon and Label'.

pax riddle 0 Reputation points

2024-02-21T23:17:46.62+00:00

There are no Windows Settings or Update & Security options in my Settings! Also, changing Search Box to Search Icon and Label did not help anything.

GarWarner 0 Reputation points

2024-03-08T21:59:30.8033333+00:00

Apparently the way you get to be MVP is that you answer 10,000 questions with "run the troubleshooter."

Beth Price-Almeida 0 Reputation points

2024-05-14T17:14:07.8766667+00:00

THIS does NOT work! It says "troubleshooter couldn't identify the problem". What else is there to do or is there another way to get the search?
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Liam O'Hagan 25 Reputation points

2023-11-06T08:02:30.14+00:00

My search also stopped working a few days ago.

The first time it stopped working I restarted the PC which restored my search.

This morning, when I started my PC, search ad again stopped working. I looked through the process list in Task Manager and noticed that the process SearchIndexer.exe was in the "Suspended" state. I killed that process and it was very quickly restarted automatically. At that point my search functionality returned.

I can't say if this will work every time. However, it seemed to work this morning.

Hope it helps
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5 people found this answer helpful.
Marcelo Marques 0 Reputation points

2023-11-09T00:53:00.1733333+00:00

This was exactly my problem as well and your workaround fixed the issue. Thanks!

Rod Rebello 0 Reputation points

2023-11-17T22:40:10.42+00:00

Sounds like my problem, but the task manager shows SearchIndexer.exe running, and killing it does not do anything to help.

Andrew Hart 0 Reputation points

2024-01-31T08:03:27.4433333+00:00

Thank you very much that fixed my problem with the search bar hanging and me not being able to edit text I had initially entered in there

Paul John McConnon 0 Reputation points

2024-04-19T06:54:37.36+00:00

I had the same issue and this worked for me. Thank you for sharing.

Patric Vladescu 0 Reputation points

2024-04-28T10:00:06.5333333+00:00

Finally found something that fixed it
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Martijn Slagman 16 Reputation points

2024-01-19T09:31:20.91+00:00

It is not a Windows Search problem, its an UI problem. Just kill the process explorer.exe and the start menu and search bar will start working again. And this issue IS related to a Windows Update, but MS is too retarded to fix it.
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3 people found this answer helpful.
Tony Pink 5 Reputation points

2024-01-22T21:19:02.33+00:00

come on man

ps 0 Reputation points

2024-03-27T23:34:07.13+00:00

That fixed it for me. Thank you!!

JackieBlue 0 Reputation points

2024-05-15T00:00:47.57+00:00

Thanks Martijn, You are 100% correct. I had tried everything they suggested and nothing worked. Killing Explorer and restarting it worked for me. Kudos! J.
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My windows search bar on windows 11 isn't working

16 answers

MICROSOFT, STOP WITH THE BS AND FIX THE BROKEN SEACH BAR ISSUES!!!