But before we explain you how to solve this issue, it is important to know why this problem occurred? By user experience and Microsoft documentation problem can occurred by few reasons including problem with search processes and services, problem with Cortana, indexing problems, SYSTEM permission issue and user profile corruption.
Method 1: Restart your Windows 10
First step in troubleshooting IT problems is to restart devices. Regardin this, we are recommending you to restart your Windows 10. You need to right click on Start menu, choose Shut down or sign out and then choose Restart.
Method 2: Check Windows Search service
One of the reason why Windows Search is not working is problem with Windows Search services, which you can solve by resetting or starting service. NOTE: In case Windows Search services was running, you can restart him by following Step 4, instead of clicking Properties, you need to click Restart.
Method 3: Turn off Cortana and Search
There are two Windows processes which are responsible for searching files, applications or settings in Windows 10, Search and Cortana. Search provides searching files, application and settings in real time, you do not need to browse folders to find and run something. Cortana is virtual assistant integrated in Windows 8 and Windows 10, which you can activate using your voice, and which can help you to search files, applications and settings in your Windows 10. If you want to solve issues with search, you need to kill both processes using steps as following:
Method 4: Re-register Cortana
If killing process which is using Cortana didn’t solve problem with Windows Search, next step is to re-register Cortana, using next steps: Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”}
Method 5: Assign SYSTEM permissions to folders
You need to configure permissions for folder and content. Most folders already have this, but there are some cases where a folder might be missing the SYSTEM permission. The same solution can help you to solve problem with previous operating systems, too. Steps are described in text below. There are few steps you need to do:
Method 6: Rebuild index
If you have problem with slow search and search which is not working, Microsoft is recommending rebuild the Windows Search index. It will take a while to finish procedure, but it’s worth it. Please note that search will not work until process of rebulding index is complete. You can continue to use your computer, rebuilding of index file will not impact on that. There are few steps you need to do, as following:
Method 7: Re-create UsrClass.dat
Sometimes your user profile can be corrupted and you will need to create new user profile or preconfigure current user profile. User profiles are stored at system partition, in folder Users. By default Windows 10 is installed on a C:\ partition, which you can access by opening This PC. There is a file named UsrClass.dat which stores user profile information. Because of issue with this file, we will rename him from UsrClass.dat to UsrClass.dat.old. Next time, when computer boots Windows 10, Windows will create new UsrClass.dat file, which will not have any corruption with user profile. Before doing any changes to your user profile which has problem with Windows search, you need to log on to another user profile with Administrator privilege. In case you do not have user profile with Administrator privilege, you will need to create another user profile with Administrator privilege. That means that you can not do any changes with user profile you are currently using. We will explain you how to create new user account with Administrator privilege. In case you already have user account with Administrator privilege, please continue from Step 9.
