Fix Windows 10 search not working [February 2020]

Many Windows 10 users, myself included, have discovered that the Windows 10 search function has stopped working and is only showing a blank box when opening the Start menu and typing the name of an application to launch, or a file to find.

Luckily, I came across this solution over at windowscentral.com. It solved the problem on my computers for this Bing related problem.
  1. Hit the Windows Key + R shortcut on your keyboard.
  2. Type regedit and hit Enter on your keyboard.
  3. Double-click HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
  4. Double-click SOFTWARE.
  5. Double-click Microsoft.
  6. Double-click Windows.
  7. Double-click CurrentVersion.
  8. Double-click Search.
  9. Right-click the right pane of the RegEdit window to bring up the menu.
  10. Click New.
  11. Click D-WORD (32-bit) Value.
  12. Type BingSearchEnabled and hit Enter on your keyboard.
  13. Double-click the BingSearchEnabled entry you just created.
  14. Type 0 in the Value data field. (It should already be 0 but make sure).
  15. Click OK.
  16. Double-click CortanaConsent.
  17. Type 0 in the data field. (It should also already be 0 but make sure).
  18. Click OK.
  19. Restart your PC.

 Like I said, this solved the search problem on my Windows 10 computers.

There are many different reasons for Search to fail in Windows 10, and even more guides on how to solve it. But this time, the old guides did not help. I'm thankful for the above solution, as it saved me a lot of time.

The next time the search function in Windows 10 fails, I recommend that you check out the guide at windowscentral.com, where they list several of the fixes that have worked before. It wouldn't be the first time that one of those methods gets search working again.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Set up CrashPlan on QNAP NAS using QPKG, the easy way

Image
Introduction to CrashPlan Description Here's how Wikipedia describes CrashPlan backup software: CrashPlan is backup software that allows Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris users to back up their data to an offsite data center, computers belonging to friends and family, as well as to attached drives / shared folders. There is a free version (for non-datacenter backups) and CrashPlan+ which is for backing up to CrashPlan's servers. Both versions allow users to back up data automatically. How it can be used on your NAS If you are the owner of a NAS from QNAP, you can install CrashPlan and use it to backup the contents of your NAS to the CrashPlan data center, to other computers and/or external harddisks. You can also allow incoming backups, so that you and your friends and family can back up valuable documents and files to your NAS. Installation instructions I will not go into any more detail about what CrashPlan is. It's time to get it installed and set up on a
Read more

Samsung Account "processing failed" after firmware upgrade

How to resolve the "Processing failed" error logging in to Samsung Account after upgrade A Samsung Account can be used to remotely control your phone. From your web browser you can locate your phone on a map, trigger an alarm so that you can find it in your home, wipe the contents of the phone if it's been stolen, and more. Simply put; it may prove to be very useful when something bad has happened. After upgrading my Samsung Galaxy S2 phone to Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), I got the error message "Processing failed" when trying to log in to my Samsung Account. Searching the web I found that I'm definitely not the only one. The solution is very easy, once you know about it.
Read more

How to remove Vlingo/Voice Command from your Android phone without rooting

Here's an easy way to remove/uninstall "Voice Command" from Vlingo, the annoying app that starts every time the home button is double-tapped on Samsung Galaxy S2. And sometimes when it's just pressed once... Since "Voice Command" is a system application, it's not easily uninstalled and used to require the phone to be rooted and thus warranty voided. Unlike the other ways of removing the app, this method works on Android phones that have been upgraded to "Ice-Cream Sandwich" (ICS) and does not require the phone to be "rooted" . Please note that there may not be a way to install it again, should you change your mind later. Maybe a factory reset brings it back, maybe it doesn't. I don't know, and have not tried to get it back. Follow these steps to remove "Voice Command" from your Galaxy S2 with ICS without root
Read more