Windows 10: Icons disappearing in Windows 10 Search Box results after a while

Can anyone please advise on this? It's a strange issue with the Search Box and don't get me started on how utterly hopeless I find Windows 10's search facility compared to WIndows 7.


Briefly, when I start up my PC, search box suggests things correctly with appropriate icons for file folders, mp3, PDF, rar archives etc. However, after a while anything from a couple of hours to a day or so, it seems to somehow lose the connection between search results and the corresponding icons, returning only blank gray squares see screenshot below. This means I can't tell what each file type is or, indeed, if it's a file or a folder unless I right click and investigate, and it's extremely frustrating and time-consuming. If I reboot, everything works again, then some time later, it reverts to being blank squares.


This is what it's like when I first boot up: Observe the search results - icons for folder, PDF, Word and mp3 all present and correct




Then it reverts to this after a few hours -




The icons for apps seem to be ok - it's just file and folder icons which seem to disappear.


I'm not sure if it's relevant, but there's also, I've just noticed, often a line of blue dots or dashes moving across the top of the open search box ie just above "All Apps Documents" etc , as if it's processing something - does this mean it's searching for something even when I haven't put a term in?


The icons seem a little slow to appear even when everything's working normally.


If anyone has any suggestions as to how to remedy this, I'd be grateful. I'm reasonably confident altering registry items I'm not sure if it's relevant, but you might be able to see that I've disabled Quick Searches in the search box by altering the DisableSearchBoxSuggestions. Is there any chance this could be responsible for causing this issue? I also notice that when you renable QUick Searches, the options to search "Photos" and "More" in the search box disappear - I find both of these extremely useful, so am unsure as to why are they removed when QuickSearch is enabled the default. I really don't get why Microsoft make it so difficult to customise things...


As I've said, any advice and solutions anyone might have would be welcome. Has anyone else experienced this issue? I see from a search that some folk have issues with their desktop icons disappearing, or the app icons disappearing from search, and that rebuilding the icon cache has helped, but that's not quite the issue I've having. I've tried both the setting the display to 125% thing suggested in one answer, and the "Save taskbar thumbnail previews" from another, and neither have helped. I don't want to mess with the icon cache if it's not likely to be that causing it.

:)

 

Disable Web Search Results in Windows 10 Start Menu

Hi Taira,

Disabling web results in the search box depends on the version and build of your Windows 10. We suggest checking the Windows 10 version and build installed on your computer. To check the version and build, follow the steps below:

• On Cortana search, type winver and press
  Enter.
• A pop-up box will appear containing the version and build of your operating system.

Meanwhile, you can try these steps on how to disable web results in the search box:

• Click the search box in the taskbar.
• Select the Notebook icon
  
  
  in the left pane.
• Click Settings from the list.
• In the Settings page, turn off the Cortana can give you suggestions, ideas, reminders, alerts and more option.
• Also, turn off the Search online and include web results option.

If you need further assistance, don't hesitate to reach out.

 

Retaining Search Box results


I love Windows 10 but its Search Box functionality is a step backwards from Windows 7. As in Windows 7, is there a way to retain Search Box results so I can return to the results if the first file or folder I open isn't the one I want? This was easy in Windows 7 but I can't find a way to do it in Windows 10. The search box results disappear now after I load a file or folder so I have to perform another search from scratch.

Let me try to explain differently:

1. Click the Start button

2. In the search box, type "Microsoft"

3. Click "My Stuff" to limit the search to your computer

4. In the "Show" drop-down box, click "Documents"

5. Click "See All" and select a document

You'll notice that document opens but the search results window is lost so it's impossible to return to it if the first document isn't the one you want, necessitating another search from the beginning which is very frustrating. In Windows 7, the search results window would remain open in a minimized state so it could be activated to open additional documents.

I'm asking if this functionality remains in Windows 10 because it's very annoying to go back to the very beginning to continue searching.

Thank you.

 

Windows 10 Search box

Which instructions are you suggesting I missed? There is no search icon. Right clicking the taskbar shows no search option. The "small characters" or icons trick did nothing. The regedit thing:
Follow these steps to turn on the hidden search box:

• Open regedit
• Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search
• Inside the search key, create the new DWORD value named EnableSearchBox and set it to 1
• Restart your computer or simply Explorer Shell

Did not give me a search option that I can find.

So in at least MY version of windows 10 there is no search box I can find that will allow me to search my own computer to find possible misplaced files.

So what are the instructions?