Usually, Windows search stops giving search results after installing a buggy Windows update, preventing you from using the Windows search utility. However, it can easily fix by clicking on the empty area on Windows search, but it is not a permanent solution. You need to follow the following methods to fix this issue permanently. If one of the solutions does not work for you, try other solutions, as they all have worked for the affected users in different scenarios.
1. Restart File Explorer
As a first solution, we recommend restarting Windows explorer before going through the other fixes. Windows Explorer handles the taskbar, start menu and others. Hence, if there is a temporary bug causing this issue, restarting Windows explorer will help. Here are the steps:
2. Disable Bing Search From Registry
It has been seen that the bing search prevents the Windows search utility from returning the results. There is a high possibility that your Windows search is not responding due to interference from the bing search. Therefore, try disabling the bing search from the registry editor to fix this issue.
3. Run Search And Indexing Troubleshooter
Another good solution to this issue is to run the search and indexing troubleshooter, which often fixes the Windows search as it restarts the Windows search component and fixes the problems related to the search indexing. If you don’t know about the index, it is a feature that is used to find text in a file or a particular file or folder in less than a second. Even though it makes the Windows search feature fast and responsive, it can also lead you to this issue if your Windows is not able to index properly. Therefore, try running the search and indexing troubleshooter by following the steps written below:
4. Uninstall Recent Windows Updates
The Windows search not working issue also occurs if you recently installed Windows updates. Windows automatically downloads or installs the updates in the background if they are available, which sometimes takes you to this issue. The easy fix for this issue is to uninstall the Windows updates and if the issue is fixed, then disable automatic Windows updates to get rid of this issue permanently. Below are the steps to uninstall a recent Windows update:
5. Restart Window Search From Task Manager
Windows search is an essential service as it handles content indexing, property caching, and search results. If this service is not running for any reason, you may run into this issue. Therefore, check the service status, as it might not be running, causing this issue. Follow the steps:
6. Rebuild Search Items
Rebuilding indexing means removing all indexing content from the database and rebuilding a new database by re-indexing all the items located in the drives. However, if this method does not fix the issue, resetting the search index using the registry editor might fix your issue.
7. Reset or Rebuild the Windows Search Index using Regedit
You can also reset the Windows search by using the registry editor, which also rebuilds a new database for indexing. You can follow the below steps to do that:
8. Use PowerShell Commands to Fix Windows Search
If the issue is still there, try reinstalling the Windows search with the help of powershell commands by following the steps below:
9. Repair Corrupted Files
The Windows search not working issue can also occur due to the corrupted system files. You can easily restore them from the cached by running the SFC command. SFC or System File Checker is a command line utility used to fix and restore corrupted files. Hence, give a try to this by running the command mentioned below:
10. Reset Your Computer
If all else fails to fix this issue, the last option which is left is to reset the Windows without losing the data. Remember that you won’t lose your data, such as images, documents and files, but you will lose all the installed apps and drivers. Therefore, if you are not in a position to reset the computer, restoring the computer to a state where Windows search was working might be a good option. However, to restore to the previous state, you need a restore point which should be created before encountering this issue. In this case, we recommend resetting your computer because it has worked for most affected users. Here are the steps:
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