Windows 10: Reinstalled Windows and now my Start Menu search is broken

Edit: Ah for God's sake. It's still on 1809.


I didn't realise we need to manually approve feature updates. My previous installation just did it without asking, so I guess that's a Professional thing. I'll bring it up to 1909 and if the problem is still there I'll make a new thread.


I've tried rebuilding the index

I've searched the sub and the Web but didn't find any solutions outside of rebuilding the index. Most similar questions seemed to be about search working but the applications not opening when clicked on.

Edit: added screenshots


I've had the same installation of Windows 10 Home since the free upgrade from Windows 7. Last week, I installed Windows 10 Professional from scratch to solve some problems irrelevant to this topic (access violation errors in some applications) and now the Start Menu search is failing to find applications. On my previous installation this problem has never, to my recollection, occured.

Examples

For example, if I hit the Windows key and type "spot" the autocomplete suggests spotify, but the search results are for web searches for Spotify, not the application, which is installed and visible on the Start Menu. Completing the word does not change this. If I click on "Apps" at the top, I get a result for the Spotify app on the Windows Store, rather than the installed desktop (i.e. non-Store) application.

Searching for "Outlook" gives me results for outlook.com, but not the application. Searching for "Word" gives me the Wordpad application. Searching for "Excel" gives me a Bing search for Excel. Searching for "Sublime" gives me a Bing search for "Sublime Text". All of these applications are installed and openable from the Start Menu. In the case of Sublime and Spotify, it is weird that the autocomplete seems to know about the application, but the search results do not.

It seems to work fine for the following applications though: GIMP, Visual Studio Code, WinDirStat, PuTTY, Filezilla.

Any ideas what's going on?

Screenshots

Search for "spot" for Spotify

Apps tab for that search

Search for "Sublime" for "Sublime Text"

submitted by /u/BrotoriousNIG
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:)

 

Start Menu Search

Hi,

About your issue regarding the Start menu or Search, in order for us to assist you better. Please answer the question:

• Were there any recent changes made to your system prior to the issue?

In the meantime, we suggest you to check this link:
Troubleshoot problems opening the Start menu or Cortana. It contains troubleshooting steps prior to the issue.

We'll look forward to your response.

 

Start Menu is broken after installing Windows 10

After installing Windows 10, my Start Menu got totally broken.

Most of the programs and absent in it now. They can't be found neither by search, nor by step-by-step navigation.

Some of programs are substituted for another versions.

Simultaneously, the Start Menu folder is Ok in filesystem.

So my entire Start Menu is useless now.

To run any program, I am opening Far Manager (file manager), opening Start Menu folder in it and doing search for appropriate *.lnk file.

I.e. I am doing by hand what Windows should do with it's Start Menu feature.

*.lnk files are working fine.

Various aspects of the problem were discussed in questions:

Where are ALL locations of Start Menu folders in Windows 10?

How to fix / refresh start menu in Windows 10? How to add / remove / edit items in bulk?

Can't find applications anymore in Windows 10

So, please don't suggest primitive solutions, covered there?

 

Cortana Search & Start Menu Broken

Hi,

We appreciate the elaborate information provided.

I suggest that you refer to the article Troubleshoot problems opening the Start menu or Cortana
and check if the steps provided are of assistance.

Hope this helps

Regards