Windows 10: Windows 10 Pro v1803 Cortana Text Visibility Issue on Suggestions Page

Does anyone know where the settings are for Cortana's suggestion page, specifically the text and background colours?

This issue is minor since it does not stop Cortana from functioning but it annoys me that the suggestions page is not displaying correctly in my main profile. Yet Cortana does display the suggestion page correctly in both the Administrator and second local account that I created so the issue is not with the Windows installation/upgrade but the settings related to Cortana.

Despite the new users having few files stored in the AppData folder, I cannot work out where the settings are stored. I thought it might be the C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Local\Packages folder but even renaming the Cortana folder inside there with an .old extension and copying the one from the working profiles does not work.

There is also a registry entry under HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search but deleting that key and restoring one from the working profile does not work either.

I don't want to copy everything to a new profile just to fix this issue, especially as it may cause some programs and games to not work due to the User folder having a different name, etc. I do not want to have to do an in-place upgrade either, something that can fix this kind of hiccup (but also cause other issues) as everything else is working perfectly, including all the games, apps and programs I've tested so far.

What astounds me is that Microsoft have no troubleshooter app for Cortana or the Start Menu yet you would think that might an important part of Windows that there would be some easy means to reset or repair it!

 

I have been using Windows 10 Pro across several builds on an i7-4770K PC that was built in 2013 but has been upgraded since, mainly graphics cards of which the current one is the GTX 1080 Ti using the latest v391.35 drivers from NVIDIA. All Windows 10 upgrades have been in-place ones rather than clean installs due to the numerous of games I have installed. I've had very few issues doing it this way and any issues that have cropped up have usually been driver-related or program/game issues that eventually got fixed.

Anyway, as an Insider I upgraded to v1803 build 17128.1 a couple of weeks ago then again to build 17133.1 a few days later when it was stated to be the release build going out to everyone from 10th April. The upgrade when smoothly and all my settings, games and apps were retained as I expected having done this before with previous Windows updates.

Games are working fine, in fact better than before since the stutter issue with G-SYNC seems to be resolved in many games and the only issue I have noticed is an odd one with Cortana. The issue is that when I click on the Cortana search bar without typing anything in then this appears:





At first glance it appears OK as you can read some text but what is odd is that the three options at the bottom are very dark, almost unreadable, and there is text missing that is only visible when I mouse over it as can be seen here:





Apart from that, Cortana works fine once I start typing in text as that black background becomes white (as defined by my Windows default app colour selection choice of White) as can be seen here:





Has anyone else ever come across this issue? It may be a glitch with the new build of Windows v1803 or it may be a 'hiccup' as a result of the upgrade itself. It isn't a big issue as Cortana works fine for searches but it just bugs me (no pun intended!) that it doesn't look right. The text should be visible but only part of it is, the bits specific to Cortana; the filenames themselves, etc, aren't unless I mouse over.

Thanks in advance.

:)

 

Application pop up on start up

And for my friend it is the same applications as well: Outlook, File [Windows] Explorer and Internet Explorer.

Was also told that she knows someone who also has the same issue.

At this point with v1803 to be out in maybe 6 week to live with it and hope v1803 reverses the issue.

Ed

 

Cortana-Anniversary Edition No Longer Forwarding Texts

After upgrading to the Windows 10 Anniversary Edition, I set up Cortana to sync my texts with my Windows 10 Dell desktop and my Windows 10 Surface Pro 4.

It worked great, with texts popping up on my desktop and Surface Pro.

Then I had to exchange my malfunctioning Droid Turbo 2 phone with a replacement from Verizon.

That's when the text syncing stopped. The new phone is set up in the Cortana desktop settings. Ditto, Cortana is set up on the replacement phone to sync.

But nothing.

Any ideas how to reset?

 

I don't have 1803 yet, but in the past oddities like yours are down to the video driver, not a bug as such in the build. Check to see if the upgrade changed your installed video driver.

 

Thanks for the reply but v391.35 (the latest official WHQL one) is still showing as installed. In fact, it was still there post-Windows 10 v1803 build 17133.1 upgrade but I did a clean install of it using DDU regardless as I know from past experience that Windows doesn't always reinstall graphics drivers correctly.

 

Could someone do me a small favour please and post a screenshot of what Cortana should look like on Windows 10 v18p3 build 17133.1 when you just click in the search bar without typing anything in?

Thanks.

 

An update on this issue...

I tried disabling then re-enabling Sync Settings but that made no difference.

However, creating a new user account, either local or Microsoft account, does fix the issue and Cortana's Suggestion page (that is what it is called, I believe) appears correctly so whatever that cause of the issue on my PC, it seems it is a bug with either Cortana's settings or the user account settings rather than with Windows.

The annoying thing is that Microsoft don't offer any kind of troubleshooter to reset or repair Cortana yet it is one of the most integral parts of Windows! Unless someone knows how to copy the Cortana settings from one user account to another then I am at a loss as to how to repair it as copying the Registry key located at HKCU_Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Search (or thereabouts) does not work. I even tried reinstalling the app from an elevated PowerShell window for both the current and all users but that didn't work either. I can't see anywhere were the Cortana settings might be saved in the AppData (for each user) or ProgramData folders either.

I've submitted this issue to Microsoft via the Feedback tool with a suggestion that they need to create some kind of troubleshooter so Cortana can be reset easily back to its default.

 

Another thing I neglected to mention is that the suggestions text is readable and centred, though missing the coloured backgrounds unless I mouse over, when I use the High Contrast mode suggesting that the issue might be related to the Windows colour settings.

However, I have no idea where these are saved or how to check them.

 

I am running Build 17133.73 and I don't have the problem as you do, it is the same as Build 1709.371. Perhaps your Windows background is too dark and you did not have:
TaskBar Settings->Color->"Automatically pick an accent color from my Background" unchecked.

Try update it to: 17133.73 also.

 

MS never stated 17133 was the release build. People ASSUMED that was the case. Remember, never ASSUME anything. If you get it wrong, it can make an ASS of U and ME.