In Windows 10 the Start menu has made a comeback with the new design that is kind of familiar with improved Search capabilities.and also Microsoft Windows includes powerful system-wide search functionality that lets users quickly find files and other data via a Start Menu or Start Screen search. By default, Windows Search will index certain common locations on your drive, such as the User folder, Outlook Messages, and Internet Explorer browsing history.
But some times Windows Search would suddenly stop working and return no result at all.
Several Windows 10 users face the unexpected behavior of Windows 10 which is that when searching in the Start Menu or in the Settings app, the search returns no results.
The search feature usually stops responding in Windows 10 especially for ultra books and even if you press the F3 button or the task bar search button it will not make your search feature operational. You might get this issue from a third party application you previously installed on your Windows 10 device or you might have some registry keys damaged

A restart fixed the issue usually but the solution is not really practicable, especially since the search bug could reappear at any time after the reboot of the PC.

Lets fix Cortana and Taskbar Search not working in Windows 10

To fix search in the Settings app, Taskbar Search and Start Menu in Windows 10, you need to do the following:

 Restart all Running services:

Press and hold the “Windows” button and the “R” button. Now you should have the “Run” window in front of you. In the run box write the following: “msconfig”. Press the “Enter” button on the keyboard or left click on the “OK” button.

The “System Configuration” window should pop up on the screen. Left click or tap on the “Services” tab situated in the upper side of the window.

Now check the box next to the “Hide all Microsoft services” situated in the lower left side of this window.


After you checked the box from the step above left click or tap on the “Disable All” button situated in the lower right side of this window.

Now Left click or tap on the “General” tab situated in the upper side of the window.
tick the radio button  “Selective Startup” feature. and Uncheck the box next to “Load Startup items”.


Close the “System Configuration” window. Reboot your Windows 10 operating system.
When the system starts you will have to check if the Instant Search feature works in the metro apps from Windows 10.

If the feature is not working then proceed with the next method below.

If the Search feature works then you will have to disable each application at a time from the start-up menu by following the steps above but disabling them separately by unchecking the mark next to each one and see what app is causing your system to malfunction in such a way that your search feature stops responding. If you find the application then you will have to uninstall it or just update it to the latest version available for Windows 10 systems.

Check Windows Search Service

The other reason why your start menu search may not be working is because the Windows Search service is not running. Windows Search service is a system service and runs automatically on the system startup.

Check whether the service is running or not. If it is not running, you have to start it manually. To do that, press “Win + R,” type services.msc and press the Enter button to open the Services window.
If the service is not running, right-click on it and then select the “Properties” option


In the properties window, click on the “Start” button to start the service. Also, make sure that the Startup type is set to “Automatic;” this ensures that the service will automatically start at every system startup. Once you are done with the changes, click on the “Ok” button to save the changes.
Once the service has been started, this is what it looks like in your Services window. For me, this method worked perfectly.

Rebuild the Windows Search Indexer in Windows 10

Rebuilding the Search Indexer may help in repairing the built-in search tool in Windows 10. To rebuild the Windows search index head to Control Panel > Indexing options. Click on Advanced and ensure that you are on the Index Settings tab in the Advanced Options window.


The rebuilding will take some time and once it is done you can start searching for the files you need and the Search should work properly. If you need more details, you will get them at this post titled Windows Search Indexer tips. See this post if you need to troubleshoot and fix Windows Search or if Search Indexer is not working.

Use Inbuild Troubleshooter Fix the Problem.

 windows have a inbuilt troubleshooting tool to fix problems automatically. lets use this to fix windows search related Errors.

Tap on the Windows-key, type Control Panel and hit enter. Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut Windows-Pause to open the Control Panel if the above does not work. Click on "Control Panel Home" when the window opens.
Select large or small icons under "view by".
Click on Indexing options, and when the menu opens on the Advanced button.
There you need to click on "troubleshoot search and indexing", and follow the instructions on screen to resolve the issue.



Click the checkbox next to any problems you're encountering. In this case we click Files don't appear in search results.



Click Next. Troubleshooter will detect any problems. Troubleshooter may or may not detect any problems. If it does detect a problem, it will attempt to fix it.

End Cortana's process

Sometimes Cortana is also responsible for the malfunction of the start menu search. If that is the case, restarting the Cortana process will solve the problem. Ending Cortana's process in Task Manager might just do the trick. After ending the process, it will automatically restart almost immediately.

To do that, right-click on the taskbar, and then select the “Task Manager” option.
Once the task manager has been opened, find the Cortana process under the Processes tab, and click on the “End task” button.


The above action will restart the Cortana process, and you might as well solve the start menu search problem.

Did restarting Cortana do the trick? If not, keep reading.

Re-register Cortana

As i said Cortana might also be a reason why the search is not working. If restarting the process is not working, then you could try re-registering the Cortana app.

To start, open the Windows File Explorer, and navigate to the following location: “C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\”

Right-click on the “powershell.exe” application, and then select the “Run as administrator” option.
After opening the PowerShell, copy the below code snippet and execute it.

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



Once you are done executing the command, close the PowerShell, restart your system and you should have the start menu search working.

Make change on Indexed folder.

Press Win + R shortcut keys together on the keyboard to open the Run dialog.
Paste the following text into the Run box and press Enter:
%LocalAppData%\Packages\windows.immersivecontrolpanel_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState
A new Explorer window will be opened. You will see the Indexed folder. Right click it and open its Properties.

In Properties, click the Advanced button on the General tab. The following dialog will appear
There, tick the option named "Allow files in this folder to have contents indexed in addition to file properties" as shown below:


If it is already checked, uncheck it, click Apply and check it again and click Apply again. Finally, click OK and close all dialog windows.

Perform system file scan :

System File Checker or SFC is a utility in Windows 10 which allows users to scan for and restore corruptions in Windows system files. The System File Checker or sfc.exe is a utility in Microsoft Windows located in C:\Windows\System32 folder. This utility allows users to scan for and restore corrupt Windows system files. Try this to fix the corrupt file and fix the issue.

Right click on taskbar and select Task manager click file and run new task here type CMD and  check the box create this task with administrative privileges . click ok .



Left click or tap on the “Yes” button if you are prompt by a user account control message. Now you have the command prompt window in front of you.
Write in the command prompt window the following: “sfc /scannow” without the quotes.
Press the “Enter” button on the keyboard. Let the System file checker finish the process.


After the process has finished close the command prompt window. Reboot your Windows 10 operating system.

Check to see if you Instant search feature works in your Windows 10 operating system.

 Hope this tips will help to fix your problem. have any query comment bellow.


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