Windows 10: Can't click on results of "Best match" in Windows search (Win10)

Hi all, I need help because this is driving me crazy.

Suddenly I can't click (or press enter) on most icons best match suggests as they seem to be dead.
It seems to be mostly app-related since I can't do it for matches like Chrome, Drive, Word... but it seems to be working for windows-related matches (Calculator, Settings..)

I've found a few fixes and tried them all, to no avail:

Fix Search not working in Windows 10 - gHacks Tech News
- Kill Cortana (which is not available in my country so I can't do that)
- Run the search troubleshooter (found no problems)
- Restarting windows search service (did no good)
- Re-registering Cortana (again, no help)

I've also tried:
- Rebuilding my windows search index
- Reinstalling language packs (Can't click on Start Menu Search - Windows 10 Forums) since I did install a new language right before this error started to show.
- scannow cmd, chdsk /r

Apart from using 3rd party solutions (which I don't want to) or reinstalling Windows (which I'd like to avoid), does anyone have any ideas?

Thank you in advance!

:)

 

"Administrator Your account has been disabled" Windows 10 Help

What if for some reason I can't get "Edit Group Policy" to open? When I search for it, it appears as a search result, but when I click on it, it opens a new window that says "no results match your search."

 

Search doesn't show results from my D:\ drive until I click "My stuff"

Yes, that is what I'm referring to. The fact remains: when I search names or contents of files stored in OneDrive on my desktop computer, the "Best Match" is a web search. When I search the same query on my laptop, I see actual results in "Best Match"
from OneDrive files that match my query. I would like to see immediate results from my files in "Best Match" when I search from my desktop just like I do on my laptop.

 

Hi, I understand that clicking on Cortana search results for installed 3rd party programs fails e.g.




1. Taking an example of a program which fails to launch like that, can you launch it from the Start Menu?
2. You say

- could you confirm you only mean icons as presented as shown above, or do you mean other shortcuts as well e.g. Start Menu, desktop...
3. Given that this happened suddenly, do you have a System Restore point you could use?
4. Search indexing doesn't appear to be the issue here, as you are getting the results you're looking for.
5. Please create a new user for test purposes, and compare what happens when logged in as the new user.
6. Do you have any idea what happened or what you did before this symptom occurred?
- e.g. a Windows update, installed or uninstalled a program etc.

 

Hi! Sorry for the late reply, I wasn't expecting such a quick answer.
1. I can launch every program from the start menu (when I scroll down to find them), but not if I search for them - like in the photo you used.
2. I have no problems in opening the start menu or desktop
3. Unfortunately, no :/
4. Right. I did it before reading this and it didn't help
5. Created and logged in, it works fine there. If nothing else, I might migrate there
6. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary apart from installing a language pack (Croatian) for Powerpoint. I'm not sure whether that's the cause, but the link I've pasted before says it might be that.

I've also found this thread - Settings: (UK - US ok) Solved - Windows 10 Forums
Since you were on it, do you think it applies?

 

Thanks for the precise answers.

I doubt anyone would logically expect a Croatian P Pt lang pack to affect Cortana... but who knows? Cortana is sensitive to Windows language pack changes, but not normally in the way you are experiencing.

Obviously you could try uninstalling the P Pt lang. pack...

Now since this works if you create a new user, this is user profile related, not general windows corruption (hence SFC /Scannow - system files - and DISM - and an in-place upgrade repair install are all irrelevant).

The last thread relates to sorting out issues related to installing Windows language packs, so is probably not applicable. The symptom is different too.

Changing to a new user would be the obvious option otherwise, lacking a restore point or a disk image.

However that isn't straightforward if you have a lot of programs installed, were some may be installed only for the current user. Further, transferring data in user folders has to be done indirectly (unless you perhaps do it having booted from a boot disk.

Note: The routine use of disk imaging lets you recover your PC and partitions even if your disk fails or is encrypted with ransomware, for example. All regular contributors here use it. E.g. Macrium Reflect (free) + its boot disk + external storage for disk image sets.

 

I'm pretty sure you're right. It shouldn't be Cortana since I don't even use it (her?) and can't kill the process in task manager as I can't even find it. I was just browsing around and trying every possible solution, however improbable.

In any case, uninstallling the lang pack didn't help either so it seems I'll just be switching to a new user and deleting this one. It should be far easier than reinstalling windows altogether, although I find it troubling not to be able to find a solution to the (core) problem.

I'll start making regular disk images, for all that is worth now.

Regardless, thank you very much for the help!

 

Sounds good. It's not always possible to find exact cause and effect. That can emerge if a problem is common and one person finds a solution, sometimes by analysis, sometimes by elimination, sometimes by chance. Windows is so complex, and the OS and registry can be readily overwritten- which is why forums like this are busy.

Further, there's the question as to how much time one spends on a problem if there is a way to move forward.

This is why System Restore, disk imaging, etc are there to let you go back to a point before the problem occurred.