David Vielmetter

Windows 10 start menu search can’t find applications

So I got Windows 10 and right out of the box of a fresh Windows 10 install, Cortana would not display any applications in a start menu search. I am able to locate the applications by clicking Start > All apps, but clicking on the start menu and typing say, Calculator, Excel or Outlook yields files and web searches matching those terms, but not the installed applications themselves. Apparently, this is a common issue with Windows 10 since there are a lot of angry posts and suggestions on how to fix it. After trying a bunch, here’s what finally got the start menu search working for me in Windows 10.

[the problem]

Searching the Windows 10 Start menu for installed applications like Word, Outlook or even calculator yields no correct results.

Windows 10 cortana not searching applications like word on the start menu windows 10 start menu not searching applicaitons like microsoft Outlook 2013 windows 10 start menu not searching applications like outlook

[the solution]

  1. Open an elevated command prompt (press win + x, then press a, then at the UAC prompt select Yes).
  2. Type start powershell and press enter.
  3. Paste the following command into the powershell window and press enter:

Get-AppXPackage -Name Microsoft.Windows.Cortana | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

Now wait 30 seconds to 1 minute and try your search from the start menu again.

windows 10 cortana now finds outlook on the start menu

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David Vielmetter

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Comments

13 responses to “Windows 10 start menu search can’t find applications”

  1. FlashMan Avatar
    FlashMan

    thanks

    1. J.P. Avatar
      J.P.

      Yes! This did it!

      Thank you!

  2. Peter Avatar
    Peter

    hmm.. didn’t work for me. unfortunatelly. 🙁

    first it went through without error . i tried again and it gave me this.

    Add-AppxPackage : Deployment failed with HRESULT: 0x80073D02, The package could not be installed
    because resources it modifies are currently in use.
    error 0x80004004: Unable to install because the following apps need to be closed
    Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy!CortanaUI.
    NOTE: For additional information, look for [ActivityId] 9ca4e37f-259c-0030-a6e4-a49c9c25d101 in the
    Event Log or use the command line Get-AppxLog -ActivityID 9ca4e37f-259c-0030-a6e4-a49c9c25d101
    At line:1 char:60
    + … | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.I …
    + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (C:\Windows\Syst…ppXManifest.xml:String) [Add-AppxPac
    kage], Exception
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DeploymentError,Microsoft.Windows.Appx.PackageManager.Commands.AddApp
    xPackageCommand

    1. David Vielmetter Avatar
      David Vielmetter

      thanks for letting me know.

    2. DOUG SAGER Avatar
      DOUG SAGER

      i got this same error. if i type ‘word’ cortana just finds wordpad
      not a big deal, as you can pin office programs in the start menu
      but i would like to know why this happens

    3. Niels Avatar
      Niels

      I got more or less the same error:

      Add-AppxPackage : Deployment failed with HRESULT: 0x80073D02, The package could not be installed because resources it m
      odifies are currently in use.
      error 0x80004004: Unable to install because the following apps need to be closed Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyew
      y!CortanaUI.
      NOTE: For additional information, look for [ActivityId] 33547f15-e136-0002-c1a5-543336e1d101 in the Event Log or use th
      e command line Get-AppxLog -ActivityID 33547f15-e136-0002-c1a5-543336e1d101
      At line:1 char:60
      + … | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.I …
      + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (C:\Windows\Syst…ppXManifest.xml:String) [Add-AppxPackage], Exception
      + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DeploymentError,Microsoft.Windows.Appx.PackageManager.Commands.AddAppxPackageCommand

      Later I got start menu “type to find programs” to work by reenabling “Windows search”
      (in services.msc).

      1. Sigmund Avatar
        Sigmund

        Go to task manager, details, look for explorer.exe and stop it.
        You will see your task bar will disapear, but don’t worry.
        Now run the script.
        AFter that, go back to task manager, click file, run new task. Enter explorer.exe and click open. Now your taskbar will apear again.

  3. Tom Avatar
    Tom

    Worked for me.
    Thanx

  4. Bob Avatar
    Bob

    Worked for me, Thanks. Mine only took 3 seconds to complete, but now works great. Easy fix.

  5. Sundar Avatar
    Sundar

    Thank you so much. It worked.

  6. 42 Avatar
    42

    thank you David. Worked like a charm. Our Enterprise deployment of Win 10 somehow had this feature disabled.

  7. Paul Avatar
    Paul

    Fantastic, fixed my problem!

    Cheers.

  8. Ben Haase Avatar
    Ben Haase

    Thanks for that “script”. I’m facing this problem since I had to re-image my work laptop. After a restart it comes over and over again. 🙁

    Let’s run the script on logon.

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