How To Fix Windows Search Not Working (Blank White Blank) In Windows 10- Best In 2021

How To Fix Windows Search Not Working

The Windows search bar is one of the most useful features when using Windows 10. From there we can access files, enter certain settings, and open any application easily and quickly.

But after updating some time ago, it turned out that a bug appeared that caused Windows search to not work and it went blank when we typed in the keyword, it only displayed blank white nothing. Whereas usually by typing just a few keywords Cortana will display some of the suggestions we want.

It seems that there is a bug that causes Cortana to stop working so that when we use the Windows search bar no results are displayed. To outsmart the search feature so that it can function normally again, there are several ways that we can do.

1. Restart Cortana

The first way you can try to solve a Windows search that is not working is to stop Cortana through the task manager. The idea is for Cortana to restart. So when we kill the process via the task manager, Cortana will automatically restart.

I have tried this method and it works. But maybe the results can be different on your PC or laptop. Please try first.

The trick is to open the Task Manager> look for a process called Cortana> End task. Wait a minute then try using the Cortana search bar again, is it working properly?

2. Restart the Windows search service

If using the task manager doesn’t work, then we can try the second method by restarting the service.

All the features in Windows are very dependent on the service, when the service has a problem, the existing features will also have problems, including this search feature.

To restart the Windows search service, we must first enter the services center, by pressing the Windows key + R and then typing services.msc

In the services name, pull down until you find a service called Windows search. Click once > click Restart.

Try using Windows Search again if it’s still banking or it’s normal again. If there is still an error, then try the next step.

3. Restart Windows Explorer

Windows Explorer is the manager of all files and applications in our storage. All application files run by Windows are very dependent on Windows Explorer, if there is a problem then it can also cause the search feature in Windows 10 to go blank and not work.

To overcome this we can try to restart Windows Explorer. The easiest way is to use the Task Manager. Right-click on the Taskbar > Task Manager > look for a process named Windows Explorer > Restart.

Wait a moment for Windows Explorer to reload. After that try again using the search feature and see if the problem is solved.

4. Scan the file system

Windows search problems that only display a blank white screen when used can also be caused by deeper problems, such as errors in the file system.

To overcome this, we must scan our Windows file system thoroughly, in the hope that the source of the problem can be found and then we fix it.

Fortunately, we don’t need to do this manually because Windows already has a feature that can scan the file system and fix it automatically if there is a problem. This feature is called SFC Utility.

First open Command prompt > Run as administrator > then type sfc /scannow

Wait until the scanning process is complete. This tool will perform a thorough scanning so that the time required may be a bit longer. While the scanning process runs until it’s finished, there’s nothing we need to do because SFC Utility will try to make repairs automatically.

On the command prompt screen, you will see if there is a corrupt file or other problem and whether the status has been repaired or not. To get more detailed information, we can see it at C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log

If scanning the file system using SFC Utility is not successful, try again in safe mode. So you first enter safe mode then run the SFC Utility again as above.

5. Check if the Windows search bar is not working because it is connected to the internet

Internet connection could be the reason why the Windows search bar is not working. The only way to know this is to use it offline and online, see if the Windows search bar only has problems with one of them?

If it turns out that the internet connection is the cause of the Windows search bar not working, then the solution we can try is to block Cortana from the internet connection. In this way, we will still be able to use the Windows search feature when online.

Go to Settings> Network & Internet> Windows Firewall> Advanced settings

Select the Outbound Rules section > look for rules named Cortana> right click> Properties> check Block the connection> Ok

There are two outbound rules called Cortana, we have to block the internet connection on both of them.

After Cortana’s internet connection is blocked, the search error problem in Windows 10 may be resolved. But the drawback is that we can’t use Cortana to display search results from the internet.

6. Run Windows Troubleshooter

We can also use Windows Troubleshooter to solve search problems in Windows 10. Sometimes this feature is powerful enough to detect and fix problems that often arise when we use Windows.

Go to Control Panel > in the View by section, use Small icons > select Troubleshooting > System and Security > Search and Indexing > Next > follow the steps to completion.