Windows 10 Start Menu and Search not working

Question

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.

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

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.

Answer 3

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.

Answer 4

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:

Answer 5

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!