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This is a problem I've ran into on multiple machines now. The Windows 10 Start Menu and/or Search (Cortana) stops working even after restarting the computer.

nsandersen
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Easton James Harvey
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  • Please note that this question is old. The February 2020 problem you can find here: [Windows 10 Search not loading, showing blank window](https://superuser.com/q/1522905/219095) – Daniel B Feb 06 '20 at 11:24

6 Answers6

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I've found that a good old system reboot will do the trick, however if that doesn't work, this fix has worked quite often.

If you can’t open or type anything in the Windows 10 search menu, please try one or both of these methods:

Method 1: Right click on the start menu or press Windows + X keys on the keyboard, select and open Command prompt (admin). Then enter the below commands and hit Enter key:

Command 1: PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted Now enter the below command and hit Enter key: 

Command 2: 

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

If the issue still persist, follow the second method:

Method 2: Open the Task Manager by pressing CTRL+Shift+ESC keys. Or you can open it by right clicking on the taskbar if it works. Then click File an then Run New Task. Make sure you have a check mark beside “Create this task with administrative privileges”. Now type Powershell. Type the following in the Powershell prompt:

Command:

$manifest = (Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.WindowsStore).InstallLocation + '\AppxManifest.xml' ; Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $manifest

Wait till the process completed and then close the Powershell window. Now, reboot the computer and check if that fixed the issue.

hans
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Easton James Harvey
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    For me both commands end with errors ;( – Nickon Apr 22 '18 at 08:17
  • It seems not working anymore. – Vladimir Ishenko Aug 04 '19 at 19:36
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    After 3+ hours of trying everything else on the internet this fixed it, thank you. – Shea Feb 05 '20 at 21:22
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    Can you add some commentary on what exactly each method is doing to solve the problem? – patrickgamer Apr 19 '20 at 14:03
  • Without even minimal explanation what happens there, I have doubts before pasting this in admin mode... – hans Jul 27 '20 at 09:42
  • I believe the first method powershell script is to re-register system apps, and that actually worked, for me. With only a couple of system apps failed to register, but start menu works again! The second powershell script could be for re-register windows store apps. I could be wrong tho, just my two cents. anyways, it worked for me, thanks! – 0x5929 Jul 28 '21 at 18:02
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I had the same issue. After looking at many different solutions, what worked for me was as follows:

Click on the start menu and locate the Cortana app in the apps lookup. Right-click -> more -> app settings. Scroll down to Reset and hit the reset button. Worked instantly for me and could start searching through the Cortana search.

Orkem
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  • Wow, finally a working method. Instantly solved the issue. My problem was start menu search didn't find some apps. – SAMPro Jul 08 '19 at 17:28
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This solution seems not very clear, but still: Go to the Settings -> Default Apps, Scroll down and hit the "Reset" button.

Check search feature in the start menu. For me, it works instantly.

Settings -> Default Apps -> Reset

Vladimir Ishenko
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If the app search remains blank... It's not just you - it's a bug in Windows 10.

Create a .reg file with the following contents (or download from here):

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search]
"BingSearchEnabled"=dword:00000000
"CortanaConsent"=dword:00000000

Import it into the registry, reboot.

Et voilà! You can again search for your apps in the start menu!

rustyx
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  • This _almost_ worked for me. The search shows up when I start typing but it then auto-closes after a moment without processing the search. (on March 9th, 2020) – Eben Mar 09 '20 at 23:14
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Nothing of proposed didn't work for me. Solution was to run wsreset from CMD as administrator

overflowed
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The solution is correct for Windows 10 Pro 1909

  1. Open Task Manager
  2. Go to Process Tab
  3. Under Background process section
  4. Find Search
  5. Right click Search End process

This is my current situation:

Image

zx485
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smartanaliz
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