Windows 10: Windows 10 Home - Search in Settings (windows settings) not working

I had no issues with my Windows setting search till some weeks back. Since my computer had an issue with entering sleep and when it came out of sleep , all programs were closed (as if its a restart), I had to repair the system. Basically I did a system restore and then updated the latest Windows 10.

But since then my Window Settings search has stopped working. For ex I could enter "Power Options" on settings search box, expecting it to bring up the Power and Sleep setting as a result, but after a while of search it brings nothing. I have already followed the resolutions given in this forum for the same but nothing works.

:)

 

Search results not working in settings - windows 10 surface book

Well d@mmit, I had just reset my computer and installed all of my business software to fix a cumulative update issue, only to find I'm receiving this one with no apparent way to resolve it.... unless of course, I choose to reset my Surface Pro 4 again ....
***ugh***!

 

Search results not working in settings - windows 10 surface book

Hi,

Thank you for sharing the information with all of us. Appreciate your efforts.

Have a great experience with Windows 10 and keep posting in future for any assistance.

 

Welcome to TenForums @Levin

It might help if you said which 'resolutions' you have tried. If they were general 'indexing' fixes it may not be sufficient to fix your specific 'Setting app Search box' problem. This thread may be relevant as it specifies the exact folder that needs indexing...
Search in "Settings" does not work

...failing that, post #7 in that same thread fixed the issue with an in-place repair upgrade.
Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade

 

I tried the solution given in :
Search in does not work - Windows 10 Forums

This is for indexing and it didnt work.

I didnt try the repair install as it seems exhaustive and I didnt want to re install windows again. I have many programs installed and didnt want to lose them.
Do you advise a repair install would be required to solve a settings search issue ? I wish there was another solution

 

Check that 'allow files in this folder to have content indexed in addition to file properties' is ticked for...
%LocalAppData%\Packages\windows.immersivecontrolpanel_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState
...its subfolder 'Settings' and the folder(s) that it contains (there should be at least one, probably named en-us in your case). If indexing is already turned on, turn it off then back on for each folder. You will have to wait several minutes for the indexing to rebuild, a restart may help too.

Do you have any other accounts you could try? Try logging into another account (make yourself a new local account if necessary). Does the Settings search work for that account?

It should be seen as a last resort, but you would not loose any installed programs. Read the tutorial again...

What version of windows are you on? 1703 or 1607? For a repair install you'd need an ISO for the same version. The Media Creation Tool currently makes media for 1703. If you have 1607 but don't already have the media for 1607 then it get's a bit more complicated to get the appropriate ISO from Microsoft.

 

Just to emphasise the point for clarity:
An in-place upgrade repair install keeps all programs and data and most settings.

Think of it as exactly the same procedure as upgrading to the next major Windows build, except it takes your build number backwards and rewrites some registry entries.

Sometimes it's simply worth doing this, rather than wasting days finding a more targetted fix.

Note: if you routinely use disk imaging (as we strongly recommend) restoring a disk image to restore your PC to a previous working state is quicker than an in-place upgrade repair install and subsequent updates. However, all data on the relevant partition is also replaced by potentially older data (which is why I try to keep all personal data off C: )