I'm not sure if you have abandoned this question per no replies featured above but here should be a solution to your issue.
Go to Run, Type in: services.msc
From there you can manage the services on your local machine - if you are an admin.
Scroll down to Windows Search. If the service is off, Start it. Then right click on that Windows Search and click properties. In the general tab, view where it says startup type. Change it to either Automatic or Automatic (Delayed Start).
Hit Apply, Then Okay.
Close Services and restart the machine.
If this does not resolve your issue, you might be under a different classification than Administrator - which usually is managed by your Admin. You may be under specific policies he/she put in place. (To view your rights, within the start menu - Right click on My computer, and go to Manage. Then click on Local Users and Groups on the left side. Here you will be able to view the total users who can login under Users. Find your login, right click on it, and go to properties. Then click on the 'Member Of' tab to view what you are classified as)
Hope this helps.
What happens when you type in the search bar? Do you receive any errors or just a blank result? – leinad13 – 2012-01-12T15:20:54.733
Does doing this article in reverse help ?
– harrymc – 2012-01-12T16:45:45.843Have you tried indexing the %windir%\CSC (c:\windows\csc) folder? This is where Windows stores the offline info. Start > Indexing Options > Modify. – opsin – 2012-01-13T20:17:43.637
1Please clarify what you mean by "I can no longer use the search box in explorer". Is it still displayed on the screen? Can you type text into it? If you can type text into it what happens when you type something and click search. – Shane Wealti – 2012-01-17T13:50:31.857
@Graeme: Have you checked in the "Indexing Options" that the offline files are included in the search index? – Robert – 2012-01-17T14:10:07.897
@All Sorry for late reply. No, I don't receive any errors, simply no results. Yes, Search Option is set to index offline folders, though not specifically c:\windows\csc. This works fine from a desktop where My Documents is not set as an offline folder, just not on the laptop where it is set as an offline folder - there it doesn't work whether on or offline. – Graeme – 2012-01-19T08:07:10.800