Windows 10: File Explorer won't accept input in search field

Dear Community,


Over the last couple of weeks since last update I've been experiencing a number of issues which it has not been possible to fix. One of these is that I'm unable to enter any keywords into the file search field of the file explorer. When I try, it simply flashes in the input field but won't accept any text. I've tried to run the troubleshooter for search and indexing from the control panel. It discovered there was a fault with this so I ran the fix and it confirmed with a tick that the issue was fixed. This is not the case. The problem persists, even though I've restarted the laptop twice now and re-ran the fix again in between restarts.

Does anyone know the solution to this?

:)

 

Explorer Search Field/Folder Search Field is not working/unavailable

Hello,

I am experiencing a weird issue, my Explorer search field/Folder search field seems not working:

1. When I click on it nothing happens, no blinking cursor appears as it should, to input searching query, nothing.
2. When I use combination Ctrl+F, I can input only 1 letter in Search field.

It would be much appreciated if anyone could help me with my problem.

- - - Updated - - -

Taskbar search button (near Cortana button) stopped to work for me as well - nothing happens when I press on it.

- - - Updated - - -

That is weird, Start orb button stopped to work too... what is going on...

 

The search box on the Taskbar and in Windows Explorer will not accept any typing input

The search box on the taskbar will not accept any typing input.

Nor will the search box in Windows Explorer.

Normal behavior: Click in the white box where it says "Type here to search", and type.

New, incorrect behavior: Click in the white box where it says "Type here to search", but the box does not accept any input.

Same for the search box in Windows Explorer.



Workarounds: None found so far.

Research: Google - multiple documents, none of which were exact matches. Applied many of the "solutions" suggested, to no avail.

Restarting the computer does not help.

Input into other applications (Word, Excel, Chrome, etc) is usually absolutely fine. Sometimes (about once a week) text typed into the Chrome browser does not reflect the input, e.g. I type "target" and the screen displays "rfotlt". If I retype the input
into Word, I can copy and paste into the browser. So I have a workaround. Restarting fixes this. (I don't need a solution for this, it is just FYI.)

 

Explorer Search Field/Folder Search Field is not working/unavailable

Are you talking about "Search This PC" in the File Explorer Window? If so, it works perfectly for me.

While in the File Explorer Window, Ctrl+F puts my cursor into the "Search This PC" box and lets me search.

With things going haywire for you, I'd suspect possible malware or some such.

It would help a whole lot if you'd complete the My Computer section so we could see exactly what you're dealing with. All we have is that you're running Windows 10, but not which version/build. Neither do we have the specs for your computer.

If you haven't tried it, you might shut down and restart the computer. Sometimes something as simple as that will fix your issues.