Windows 10: Taskbar Search not working.

Just lately, my taskbar search hasn't been working. I've tried to research the problem on my own, but so far I've had no luck with solving it. Part of the problem is that it's hard to find my specific problem. A lot of entries deal with issues that are similar but not identical. They talk about search menus that are solid black with nothing in them, or searches that begin but never find anything. That's not the problem I have.

Here's what happens. When I click the little magnifying glass on my taskbar, I get the spinning circle next to the mouse cursor for about a second, and then nothing happens. No search menu opens up. I don't even get the big empty popup menu that some people describe. Nothing comes up at all. The spinning circle tells me that the system is thinking about doing something, but it never actually does it.

Alternatively, if I change my settings so that I have a search box in the taskbar, I can't type in it. I can click the text box, but when I type, nothing goes in. The feature is just plain broken. It's annoying, too, because the taskbar search is incredibly handy.

This isn't something that a simple reboot will fix. I tried that. It didn't help. I also followed the directions to have the system re-index everything. No luck. No good. Can anyone suggest anything to fix this?

Win 10 pro, version 1909.

:)

 

my taskbar search is working sporadically

My taskbar search bar is working some of the time. For example, if I type in "TaskMgr", it will list taskmgr, and when I click on it, it opens my Task Manager, as expected.

But if I type in a file name or an app, like WinMerge, it will list them properly in the Search list, but if I click on them, either nothing happens or it takes me to the root window of File Explorer, instead of to the file or the app.

I ran through all the steps on this page, to no avail: How to fix search problems in Windows 10 | Windows Central

Any ideas?

 

Taskbar search

Hi,

To assist you better, kindly send us a screenshot and provide more details by answering the following questions:

• When you say "taskbar search function", do you mean the Start menu search field?
  
• Are you getting any error messages upon accessing the taskbar search?

Meanwhile, to help resolve your concern, we suggest that you run the System file checker and DISM tool to fix issues with corrupted system files that may be causing the issue. To do this, follow these steps:

• Press Windows Key + X on your keyboard.
  
• Choose Command Prompt (Admin).
  
• Type or copy these commands followed by hitting Enter:
  
  sfc /scannow
  
  dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

Do let us know how it goes.

 

Taskbar search

Did not do anything to help. The search in File Explorer works fine. The first and last screen shot shows a search leading to no results but the file explorer finds them just fine. The last one shows my indexing options.

Thank you

PS: can't get the screenshots to upload....