Windows 10: Broken search, possibly language related? Cortana incomplete results.

Little help required, because I feel like i've done my fair share of searching what I thought I could fix origianlly....

My search is broken, saying the results may be incomplete, cortana isnt particularly helpful! I've tried rebuilding the index, taking ownership of files and turning indexing on and off and restarting. After search I found this thread, which suggests it could be a local language setting mix up, i've combed through everything I can think of, and checked everything matches. But Cortana still isn't playing nice nor is the search on the w10 new settings page etc... *Sad
I've got screenshots of everything I can think of I should have changed and any more advice would be appreciated, I'd really not like to fresh install, but I fear i'm getting close....?






























:)

 

Windows 10 Build 10586.14 Search Problem

My Surface Pro 3 had been working fine on this build until I tried to set up Cortana. My Surface has an English UK setup with a US Type Cover. I found that I had to add the UK Language Pack to get Cortana to play.

However since installing this language pack I get no results when trying to search Settings - it just gives "Search results aren't quite ready yet..."

Also a normal Cortana search gives results but says "These results may be incomplete" at the top.

Not being able to search settings is a real pain!

Regards

Chris

 

Search not working in settings and on taskbar - explorer and control panel search is fine

OK it is fixed.

Solution for me was in this thread

Windows 10 Settings not indexed

and it was to

Run Lpksetup /u and uninstall any possible duplicate language you find there, restart Windows and wait a few minutes.

I had a duplicate English (no idea how - maybe trying to get Cortana working) - removed it and now setting search works fine and the taskbar search no longer shows 'these results may be incomplete.

Baffled but happier of London

 

Yes, typical of a not quite complete language change. MS ought to make this wizard-based, it is so confusing, as you need to make several changes. It's a weakness.

You seem to have changed the obvious things. I seem to recall 2 additional downloads besides changing the display language, one for speech, which you've done. Thank you for the thorough set of screenshots.

You should see helpful tips when you click Learn More in Cortana (2nd screenshot) and the tabs shown. Have you worked through these?

What is the original language of your OS?



That's what you need to see.. mine was US originally, changed to UK

 

I couldn't tell you since this isn't mine from new, its a business laptop originally. It has a german warranty through dell. So could have been setup in german, but the keyboard is native UK english, English US is also a possibility! =/ Is there a way to tell?

 

There is this tutorial: Language of Windows 10 - How to See, You will have three options, one for power shell, an elevated CMD prompt, and checking the registry.
There are links to show you how to open and use all three.

 

One thing that doesn't matter here is the keyboard/input language setting.

Have you tried setting up your microphone for speech recognition?

 

Sorry for the late reply, still have troubles, i've just had many other more important things to do recently!
So powershell shows this:





I've changed everything I can to Eng UK, and i'm fairly certain that the packs have been downloaded, but i'm not sure how to tell, or how to force a refresh/redownload?

This is pretty frustrating.... *Sad

 

Frustrating it may be, but it is an area that requires patience to resolve. I struggled with this the first time I changed from US to UK English.

Have you tried setting up your microphone for speech recognition?
Please post a screenshot of Control Panel, Indexing Options.

Now one thing I have learnt in working with someone in another thread is this:
They noted that if they searched immediately after logon (as fast as possible) they got a search result. But immediately afterwards, they found that a search failed with the same error you are getting.

I found I could emulate that by disabling the Windows search service. Simply starting it again isn't enough - same error message. To have search working properly again required rebuilding the index. (And I did try restarting before deciding to rebuild it - restarting didn't help).

N.B. I'm not suggesting rebuilding the index will necessarily help- if your screenshot of it shows it's complete.

I'm wondering if you're seeing something similar - cause unknown.

Suggest you also try a clean boot.

 

I've rebuilt for ****s and giggles a few times previously and just before anyway, and there have certainly been multiple restarts and the like to try and force changes etc... *Sad




Latest, I'm pretty sure the mic was set up anyway, but ran it again, seems fine, cortana responds to me and does what its meant to do anyway, searches etc... It just cant index/access everything. I cant search settings and the like which is rather annoying. I'm beginning to think i'll just learn to live with it, until baby unicorns release a microsoft tool which fixes everything automatically at a reg/lower level i guess.... It's that or format, and i really cant be bothered with the idea of that just yet...

 

Ok, the last thing to do is an in-place upgrade repair install. Functionally this keeps almost everything bar a few settings.

Here's my write-up:
Precede it with this in case sthg has happened to your file system:

From an admin command prompt
[Windows key + X, click command prompt (admin)]
chkdsk C: /F
Your PC will need to restart.
Make sure the result is clear or fixed- else do not proceed.
Post back the result, which you can get after a restart as follows:
How do I see the results of a CHKDSK that ran on boot? - Ask Leo!

An In-place upgrade repair install will fix many things, but not those where the settings are not changed by the procedure.

For this you need an installation medium with the same base build as you have installed, and x64 if you have a 64 bits OS, else x86 (32 bits).

Recommendation:
Before you perform the following major repair procedure, do create a disk image (see below).

Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade - Windows 10 Tutorials
- this includes a link from which you can obtain a Windows 10 iso file (" download a Windows 10 ISO"), or create a Win 10 bootable medium.

I would recommend creating the bootable medium, as this can be used
- for any future in-place upgrade repair install
- to boot from and use its recovery options should Windows become unbootable.
- to clean install Windows

This will refresh Windows, after the manner of a Windows installation.
- all/most associations will be unchanged
- all your programs will be left installed
- no personal data should be affected
- you will lose any custom fonts
- you will lose any customised system icons
- you may need to re-establish your Wi-Fi connection
- you will need to redo Windows updates subsequent to the build you have used for the repair install
- Windows.old will be created
- system restore will be turned off- you should turn it on again and I recommend you manually schedule a daily restore point.
- you will need to redo any language downloads including the display language if you changed that)
- inactive title bar colouring (if used) will be reset to default
- if Qttabbar is installed, you need to re-enable it in explorer (Options, check Qttabbar)
This is one of the better features of Win10: as each major build comes out, that's your updated reference build, and as updates are mostly cumulative, there will be few to do.


Please consider using disk imaging regularly. It's a brilliant way to
- preserve your system (and your sanity)
- back up your data
- restore your system to a previously working state in a relatively short time

Recommended: Macrium Reflect (free/commercial) + boot disk/device + large enough external storage medium.

 

I know this is old, and i've been quiet, but i was still fighting with this up until a windows update that pushed a few days ago, and it seems to have reset whatever wasnt previously. So we're all good now, thankfully, but i'd previously resigned myself to living with it until I did a fresh install... I think Microsoft seem to consolidate the sheer amount of language selections, even if by means of an app you can download to cover all bases...