Welcome back, in today’s video I’ll be showing you methods to fix a search bar not working or
a search bar crashing on a Windows 11 PC or laptop. We have plenty of methods to
try. Remember to leave a like and feel free to subscribe if the video helps, let’s get into them.
The first method will be to restart the Windows search service. To do this,
hold the Windows button on your keyboard and the R key at the same time to bring up the run
box. When this opens type in services.msc and click on OK. When the new window opens, scroll
down towards the bottom and look for the option called Windows Search. It’s in alphabetical order.
Once you’ve found it, right click on it and choose stop.
Wait a few moments, and then right click on it and choose start. Again, wait a few seconds and then
test the search bar to see if that helped. If not, we’ll move on to some more possible solutions.
We’ll try a similar solution next, open the task manager by using the keyboard shortcut of Control,
Shift and Escape and then in the task manager, go to the details tab. Scroll down in here and look
for the process called SearchHost.exe. Right click on it and choose end process and then confirm
this. It will appear again automatically, and you can test the search bar again.
Next, we’re going to try running the search and indexing troubleshooter. To do this,
hold the Windows key but this time with the I key. This should open the settings page. In here,
go to system on the left and then scroll down and choose troubleshoot. Within here, select
other troubleshooters and then click on run next to the troubleshooter called search and indexing.
See what it says as it might recommend some changes to fix it.
The next method is to clear the Windows search history. This can be done by loading
the settings back up with the Windows and I key combo and this time you need to click
on privacy and security from the options on the left. Now select the option called
search permissions on this page and then look down for the option called history. Click on
clear search history and check the search bar. Next, its probably worth restarting your PC
if you haven’t done so already. You can use Control, Alt and Delete to get to the power
options if you can’t even access the start menu. A restart could help refresh a lot of
the settings on your PC and it could help fix the problem. It’s up to you if you want to try
this now or at the end of the video but if you do restart now, when you return to the video,
we’ll have a few more solutions to try. The next method is to try updating Windows.
This can be done by opening the settings with the Windows key and I key and then by choosing
Windows update from the left. You can check for and install any available updates on this page.
The next method requires us to head back to the task manager. You can use Control,
Shift and Escape to get there. This time open the processes tab and see if there is a task
called Cortana on the list. If there is, right click on it and choose end task. It’s unlikely
this will help but worth a try. Stay in the task manager for the next method as well.
We’ll now move on to what was a very successful fix in Windows 10. It is to enter some specific
code into the PowerShell window to restart Windows Search. In the task manager,
click on where it says run new task at the top and type in PowerShell and make sure you
click on the check box underneath to open it with admin privileges and then click on OK.
The PowerShell terminal should open. The code to enter is quite complex, but I’ll include it in
the description to copy and paste. You might want to save any open work and close any open programs
before running the code. With the code inputted, hit the enter key on your keyboard. Allow this to
complete it could take a few minutes and at the time of recording this should not affect anything
on your PC even if it looks a little daunting it just might close certain apps or programs.
The final method I have to try is to rebuild the search index. To do this,
open the settings up with the Windows key and I key and choose privacy and security from the
left and then choose Searching Windows from the list. In here, scroll down and select advanced
indexing options and then in the new window, click on the advanced button and then rebuild
next to where it says delete and rebuild index. This will take a while depending on your PC,
so you may want to leave it and come back. Unfortunately, those are all of the methods
I have. As always, I will keep the description updated with any new solutions I find and if any
of you find a fix in the future then it would be great if you could return to the video and post it
in the comments to help others. Click the card on screen now to watch a video of mine showing
you ten easy ways to speed up your Windows PC. If you have any questions, then let me know in the
comments below and if you did find today’s video helpful remember to leave a like and feel free to
subscribe for more tips in the future. Be sure to stick around to see some of my other videos
that you might be interested in. Thanks so much for watching and I will see you in another video!