This problem has been discussed here and in other forums before, but none of the suggested fixes I tried solved it.
The search box in the taskbar sometimes accepts 1 or 2 keystrokes if you’re quick enough. Usually, when you just click on it, it looks like it has the focus (marquee around the box), busy cursor for a few seconds, then seems to give up, i.e. the focus (and any text you may have been able to get in) disappears.
The other related feature that doesn’t work is the search in Settings. I can type text in the box, e.g. “Update”, it searches for about a minute and tells me “No results for Update”.
Not sure if this is relevant here, the touchpad cursor briefly hangs every few minutes or so, even though the CPU or Disk activity is not overly high.
Windows Explorer Search works fine!
The machine is an Acer Aspire E1-570.
Windows 10 Home, vs 20H2, 19042.1165, Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.3530.0
No 3rd party virus checker
I don’t know at what point this problem first occurred, what update etc. It came with problem to me.
What I have tried (throughout these steps the problems stayed exactly the same, rebooted between steps etc.):
The search box in the taskbar sometimes accepts 1 or 2 keystrokes if you’re quick enough. Usually, when you just click on it, it looks like it has the focus (marquee around the box), busy cursor for a few seconds, then seems to give up, i.e. the focus (and any text you may have been able to get in) disappears.
The other related feature that doesn’t work is the search in Settings. I can type text in the box, e.g. “Update”, it searches for about a minute and tells me “No results for Update”.
Not sure if this is relevant here, the touchpad cursor briefly hangs every few minutes or so, even though the CPU or Disk activity is not overly high.
Windows Explorer Search works fine!
The machine is an Acer Aspire E1-570.
Windows 10 Home, vs 20H2, 19042.1165, Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.3530.0
No 3rd party virus checker
I don’t know at what point this problem first occurred, what update etc. It came with problem to me.
What I have tried (throughout these steps the problems stayed exactly the same, rebooted between steps etc.):
- Applied the latest W10 updates. It was way behind, took about an hour and a few cycles to bring up to date.
- Ran the Search and Index Troubleshooter
- Toggled the Taskbar Settings for Search between: Hidden/Show Icon/Show box
- Effectively most Fixes in https://www.wintips.org/fix-cannot-type-in-windows-10-search-bar:
- Restarted Explorer and Search
- Ran ctfmon.exe
- Re-registered Modern Apps (Powershell Get-AppXPackage |…)
- Ran DISM .exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /Restorehealth & SFC /scannow
- But NOT: Repair Windows 10 with an in-place Upgrade (too onerous for now)
- Powershell: $manifest = (Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.WindowsStore).InstallLocation +… (possibly the same as Re-registered Modern Apps above)
- Increased the page file size (which someone suggested)
- I read about Cortana but am confused. Some say to disable it, others to restart it etc. Originally I found it running as a task. I did the Repair and Reset functions in Settings/Apps, no change. When I execute Cortana from the Start Menu, it hangs around for a while, then tells me it is not available in my region (New Zealand). So I terminated it and disabled it from running at start-up. When I click on “Type here to search” box (which still doesn’t accept text and loses focus), it does not start a Cortana task. (A second, fully functioning machine on my desk doesn’t run a Cortana task either.)
- Microsoft recommends to end SearchUI, and thereby force a restart upon use (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/tr...ell-experience/fix-problems-in-windows-search). However, there is no SearchUI process in the Taskmanager/Details list. The functioning machine also has no SearchUI process.