Windows 10: I disabled Cortana with gpedit, but now I can't type in the search bar

I am using the latest version of Windows 10 PRO - I disabled Cortana in Group Policy Editor, which according to Microsoft, only disables Cortana, not the entire search feature. Unfortunately, on this laptop, if Cortana is disabled, then I can no longer type in the search bar. I can click on the search bar and it highlights it when you click on it, but it will not insert the blinking cursor which allows you to type text into it! I have searched the internet high and low and have followed all instructions to the letter, but though it does get rid of Cortana, it also make my search bar useless! Is this normal, or does anyone know of a way to kill Cortana and still have the ability to use the search bar? Any help would be greatly appreciated, this is driving me insane, as everyone I have spoken to, says that it shouldn't be happening! Please help me out if you know the answer to this problem! Thank you!

:)

 

When I type in the Cortana bar, the search just goes on endlessly with no results

Great thanks will try reinstalling Cortana, may not have time until tomorrow. Thanks again both of you.

 

When I type in the Cortana bar, the search just goes on endlessly with no results

Did step 1, didn't help. Step 2 running DISM tool kept saying it didn't understand the Cleanup-image wording.

Step 3 - already tried this, didn't work. Step 4 - PowerShell (admin) is not an option when I push Win+X - could you please assist in helping find PowerShell command? Thanks!

 

Cortana is Search. But there are tons of replacements, depending on what you want to search for, like:

10 Best Free Search Tools for Windows 10

 

Hello @voodoo917, and welcome to Ten Forums. *Smile

Which policy did you enabled?

The method in the tutorial below disables Cortana without disabling Search.

Enable or Disable Cortana in Windows 10 Windows 10 Apps Features Tutorials

 

I actually disabled "Allow Cortana" which is what was said to be the easiest route, if you were using Enterprise, or Pro. But, they also said that the search bar would still work, which it doesn't on this laptop, unless you go back and unset the Allow Cortana setting in GPE.... I wouldn't care personally, I would just hide the icon, use Search Everything, and be done with it. But, I'm reloading it for a friend who wants it there, just without Cortana's input! Thanks!

 

Odd, it disables Cortana for me without disabling Search in build 16199.

Just to verify, do you have it set to show the "Search icon" on your taskbar?

Hide or Show Search Box or Cortana Icon on Taskbar in Windows 10 Windows 10 Customization Tutorials

What build do you currently have installed?

Do you have any other polices enabled that could have disabled Search?

 

Yes, but it doesn't matter if it's the bar or just the icon, it won't let you type in it either way. It just updated itself to the latest version, which may be the problem. I'm not at the PC at the moment, so I don't know the exact build number, but it is the newest build available....

 

Does Search not work while signed in to any other account on the PC, or is it a global issue?

 

There's only one account on it, I'm just loading it for a friend. I guess I will just leave it running. Cortana is not turned on, but it still wants you to enable it, every time you use it. Microsoft is fixin to make a Linux user outta me!

 

This is not the normal behavior when disabling Cortana unless you used some other method to disable Cortana. There are some methods out there that will also disable Search.

 

I used Group Policy Editor and disabled the "Allow Cortana" setting... That's it. I didn't bother with adding a registry entry to do it, but Microsoft making everybody jump through hoops is gonna be their undoing! Thank you for trying to help me, though!

 

As a test, run a SFC /SCANNOW command to see if that may help if may have some issue with a system file causing search to not work.

 

Nope! It wasn't doing it until Microsoft updated it, without me asking it to. They won't do it again, I've got all things Microsoft blocked in the host file now. They won't "Improve" anything else for me!

 

Actually, that was one of the first things I tried, but according to the Gods of intrusion , all is well.