r/WindowsHelp • u/GobbleCrowGD • 23h ago
Windows 11 Windows Search disappeared over night, Windows + F doesn't work, and my Start -> Search-bar doesn't let me type anything?
I woke up this morning with my computer being extremely laggy for no reason, this was a bit concerning as this PC is about 2 or so months old, and I bought it from Costco. I decided the best action was to restart the computer and hope for the best. It was restarting, however it had some issues where it was basically frozen and doing nothing, so during the restart process (which maybe I shouldn't have done) I pressed the power button and turned it off. It opened Windows successfully after turning it back on, and feels responsive. However, I have now run into something I didn't ever expect to be dealing with, that being that effectively most native windows search bars either don't exist, do nothing, or don't even let me type in them. I originally thought that maybe it had to do with the fact that I used RevoUninstaller 2 months ago when I was setting up my PC, and maybe removed something I shouldn't, but I've been restarting my computer pretty normally over these last 2 months, and it hasn't done anything weird.
Here are some screenshots, I'd really love some help getting this working. Also, I know I said that my computer wasn't slow before, but there really is some weird stuff going on, like some Windows apps (Like Photos) don't work quite right, and are extremely slow to open.
Here are my device specifications. I also tried to repair my Windows version with some trouble shoot tests, and reset windows without removing files option (cannot remember the exact name).
Processor AMD Ryzen 9 9900X 12-Core Processor (4.40 GHz)
Installed RAM 32.0 GB (31.1 GB usable)
Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 (16 GB)
AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics (486 MB)
Storage 209 GB of 1.82 TB used
Product ID 00342-22935-85203-AAOEM
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Pen and touch Pen support
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u/Coookies4You 13h ago
I also don't have windows search on my taskbar, there is an option to turn it on and off in the personalisation settings. Whenever I want to run anything I just press the windows key and start typing immediately, no need to click the search box.
If even that doesn't work then maybe your OS might be corrupt. See if your windows update has anything, if there are newer bios updates available for the motherboard on the web. Or perhaps you might need to nuke the OS and reinstall windows from scratch.
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u/TheSpixxyQ 13h ago
If you've used 3rd party apps to remove some system components in the past, it's not unusual that weird stuff can happen after some time. Windows update comes and expects something somewhere but it's not there.
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u/TeaBagTroopers 5h ago
Have you tried restarting Explorer in Task Manager?
Windows + R then Type "Taskmgr" without the quotes.
Then find Windows Explorer and restart the process.
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u/Edubbs2008 21h ago
Have you tried updating the drivers?
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u/GobbleCrowGD 21h ago
What specific drivers? I even reinstalled Windows ISO (Though keeping user files and apps) and it is still like this.
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u/Edubbs2008 21h ago
Have you tried GPU drivers?
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u/GobbleCrowGD 21h ago
I can give it a shot. I will be back.
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u/Edubbs2008 21h ago
Ok, because drivers also play a huge role in Windows, that’s why sometimes you might get a performance drop, because drivers could cause it
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u/GobbleCrowGD 21h ago
I installed the latest Drivers, and it still is having these issues. I have no idea what is going on.
Edit: I don't know if this helps, but I've been talking to AI for assistance here, and apparently this is a important thing to it.
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Get-AppxPackage MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS | Select-Object Name, Status, Version, InstallLocation | Format-List Name : MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS Status : Servicing Version : 1000.26100.372.0 InstallLocation : C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy PS C:\WINDOWS\system32>
It says that the fact it says it is servicing means that it is updating, but maybe got paused mid update, so maybe this could be the issue, and updating it may fix it?
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u/Edubbs2008 21h ago
Try updating
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u/GobbleCrowGD 21h ago
Drivers or Windows?
I'm up to date on both either way.
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u/AutoModerator 23h ago
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