Windows Search (Cortana) Not Working Properly With Start Menu
Aug 20, 2015
I've upgraded from Windows 7 Ultimate to Windows 10 Pro. Everything is fine and Windows are working very smooth and nice. But there is one thing that really bothers me: Windows Search (including Cortana) does not find links to programs inside the Start Menu.
Now before you ask, I have re-built the Windows Indexer. Several times. I've also checked to see that .lnk files are being indexed. The Start Menu Folders (inside the c:Program Data and c:users[username]App Data) are both being selected as index locations. Actually, the search is able to find folders inside the Start Menu files, but not the files themselves.
I've got a system here which is acting up and I'm looking for ideas of how to resolve. Specs are:
Windows 10 Home (upgraded from W8.1) i7-3632 8GB RAM 64bit Inspiron 17R5720 laptop
Here's the problem: Everything works fine upon boot, but then, something happens over time, and things stop working.
Start left-click not working/Start right-click works Notification left-click not working/Notification right-click menu shows, but open action center doesn't work Quick Launch opens and works All icons pinned to the taskbar work including File Explorer Cortana and search not working - can't type in box Speaker icon left-click does not work, right-click does
This is all intermittent, and resolved with a reboot.
Something sets it off to stop working - perhaps the screensaver/lockscreen?
I believe that is what is causing the 'critical error'. I uninstalled the software and upon reboot my start button and cortana were working perfectly again. Now I'm sure you all know how to uninstall software on your PCs but it may not work in normal mode with the critical error as it didn't with me. Therefore I uninstalled in safe mode. Incase you arent familiar with how to access safe mode on windows 10, heres how: You press ctrl+alt+delete, and in the bottom right hand corner you click the power button. Before you click 'restart', hold down the shift key until the next screen is displayed (blue). Then click troubleshoot, advanced options, start-up settings, restart. Once it restarts, press the F4 key, and when it restarts you will be in safe mode. Now just do the normal thing to uninstall avast and then reboot following the installation and it should be fixed!
I upgraded to Win 10 a week ago and after a long updating session was well pleased with the OS - everything seemed to work normally and much faster than before.
However, a day after the last updates were installed (KB3081449 and KB3081448) my normal screen appeared with a boxed message ; 'Cortana and Start Menu aren't working. We'll try to fix it the next time you sign in. Sign out now'.
Signing back in does not fix the problem. I cannot access the Start Menu or Search box. I still have my normal (Win 7 style) screen that luckily still has my shortcuts and I still have WiFi access. I have to shut down using the power button.
I don't know how to access the installed updates (There appears to be no access via Control Panel) and restore options only allow a 'revert to Win 7' - is there a Restore option available that takes you back a few days?
This issue just popped up after restarting my computer today. Earlier, all the task bar icons were showing and I could see the time/date, but clicking on them would do nothing. Also whenever I tried to open pictures with "Photos" I would get an error message about something timing out and I would have to use windows explorer.
So I restarted, and when I booted my computer up again, the task bar icons never showed up and the time and date is gone. I can't click on cortana and clicking the windows icon will bring up nothing. I've restarted twice since then but nothing has worked so far.
CRITICAL ERROR - Start Menu and CORTANA aren't working. W'll try to fix it the next time you sign in. SIGN OUT NOW.
I upgraded from WIN 7 SP1 to build 10240 on FAST Track. I did a RECOVERY DRIVE, and after trying to restore from it, I am getting this message - in a loop, can not exit from it. I also find my backup and system image do not work.
Start Menu, Cortana and Taskbar is not working in Windows 10, I don't want to format or reset my Microsoft Windows 10 32bit Pro.I tried google my problem and open this page: [URL] I didn't attempt the last step Refresh your PC i.e (Reset). Start Menu is not opening when clicking on Start Button and Cortana not opening and not giving any response.
Now, for some odd reason, on my computer, the sound, start menu and cortana stopped working and I can't even get past the sign in menu without it telling me to sign out so they can "fix" this problem which I've done 3 times now so I have no clue if I screwed up this computer or what.
It started with the sound first, then the start menu so I decided to restart my computer manually (which was a bad idea, apparently) and I guess Cortana just died on me when I got back on.
Also, my computer is on Windows 10 Pro Preview still.
Since I upgraded my computer to Win 10, I'm trying to deal with this problem. When my computer starts it shows the message: "Critical error start menu and Cortana aren't working. We'll try to fix it the next time you sign in".
I found an instruction which said to run the command "chkdsk /f /r".
So, I did it; my computer restarted and it was solved. But, when I turned the machine on in the next day the message was there again! I ran the command another time, the computer rebooted and it was solved. But, every time I turn on my computer the message pops up for me and I have to run the command in cmd to my machine work.
I upgraded to Windows 10 on my laptop last night from 8.1 and it had been working fine this morning. However in the afternoon I got a notification that there had been a driver failure and I should restart to repair it. Ever since I have though I've been having difficulties. After I log in I'm stuck on a black screen with only the cursor visible. If you leave it for about 10 minutes eventually the desktop appears, however I'm prompted with the error message in the title and the task bar hasn't loaded. If you try and click on the task bar you eventually get the pop up "Microsoft Windows: the application is not responding" and it gives me the option to end process which does nothing. I'm unable to access control panel, I can use ctrl + alt + delete, however I can't launch task manager.
Booting in safe mode I don't get the critical error, however aside from that the situation is identical. I've tried resetting the PC, performing a system restore to before the update, and start-up repair,all to no avail.
After running Windows 10 for 6 weeks on my Dell Optiplex 790 desktop I got this critical error message. Tried several suggested fixes including unstalling a new application that proved to be imcompatible (Sling). The fix that worked for me was to do a safe boot with networking on, allow the computer to finish "working its magic" and then reboot. Then go back into normal boot mode and start again. This cleared up the problem.
When I start my computer, my Start Menu Search sometimes gets stuck in a start up or searching loop. The start menu itself works if I am just using my mouse to click icons. The issue is hitting the Windows button on my keyboard and typing.What is strange is that when this happens, if I log out then log in again, it starts up fine. While this is a workaround, I would like to solve the problem that is causing the problem.
I've tried re-indexing my entire computer based on a similar post I found here, but that did not work. Also - searching in a general Explorer window works fine showing the Windows Indexing does not appear to be the problem.
Downloaded Windows 10 over a month ago and it has been working fine since Today I installed the latest version of iTunes and since then I get the following:-
Critical Error - Start Menu and Cortana aren't working - We'll try to fix it the next time you sign in
There is then a box which says ''Sign out now''....
I do these and it goes back to the Critical error message. I seem to stuck in this loop...
That's what my husband's laptop says after signing in to Windows 10. He installed an upgrade to Windows 10 about a week ago, and no problems until yesterday - 8/9/2015. A window comes up saying "Critical Error - Start menu and Cortana aren't working. We'll try to fix it the next time you sign in." Then there is a button within that window that says, "Sign out now."
When he clicks on "Sign out now" his laptop restarts, shows the page with the date, he is able to clear that to the sign in page, he puts in his password, hits enter, and the same critical error shows again on his desktop. He is locked into this round robin. The toolbar doesn't load all the usual icons. He clicked on the google chrome icon on the desktop one of the times, and its homepage came up, but he was unable to use the page or to access the internet. At first he was able to click on something in the lower right corner and learned that he had internet access, but he still couldn't access the internet. Now that piece of information is unavailable to him.
When he right clicks on his desktop, the right-click window comes up as usual, but when he clicks on "display settings" for example, he gets another window that says, "This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Please install a program or, if one is already installed, create an association in the Default Programs control panel." However, the slide show of his photos he uses for his desktop display or background is working well. What can he do to fix his Start Menu?
I'm getting a critical error on my laptop saying start menu and cortana aren't working and advising me to logout and log back in. According to the error message they will attempt to fix the error the next time I sign in. The last thing I did before this error showed up was update my laptop with the latest security update for Windows Defender. I dont know what to do anymore. I can access any of the win 10 apps bc they arent showing up on the screen and when I follow the message's advise, when I log back in I get the same error. I've also tried a full reboot to no avail. It is worth noting I am running a low end laptop (Lenovo G40 w AMD E1 processor and 2 GB ram.
Sometime in December, 2015 my keyboard Windows button and my task bar Start menu and Search stopped working and without the ability to START I lost all the tiles. Windows has now become very cumbersome to use.
I have given up on Windows 10 and it's too late to recover Windows 7 (Windows 7 was great). Really wish this had not happened as I have been a Windows user since version 3.1. I guess I posted this here because I'm frustrated with the problem and need to air it out. Must buy a new PC.
So, this last update seems to have killed the start menu again. After reboot, it might work, it might not, but not too long there-after it just quits working all-together if it was working before. Same with search and Volume toggle. Dang! Mines an AMD machine which is perhaps a factor.
This may have been addressed already.The Start, Search, and Notification features stopped working today for the ADMIN User. They do nothing when I click on them.They are working for other users on the same PC.Haven't updated anything except Java. how to reset them for the ADMIN User. For whatever reason, only the admin user is affective.
just done a fresh install with the latest iso available. here it is the problem using search/cortana... (honestly i didn't care in the past, so i don't it's a normal beahaviour) -loggin in as administrator i can use the search and find settings like "system restore" or "personalize" -loggin in as limited user, no matter if local account or microsoft account, i can't search for settings and i get the message "incomplete" on top of the window... but all documents, images, start menu entries, etc. are showed perfectly. i googled around, but i couldn't find what happens to me. solutions are for completely broken search service. even create a new account or recreate the index didn't work.. is it normal for limited users?!? bug?!? i don't want reinstall again
My searchbar/cortana has suddenly stopped working, when I click I get a message telling me there is a problem, please sign out.
-So I created a new user account, this fixed the problem for that account -So I tried to sign in to the newly added local account with my Microsoft account and entered my username and password -I then got a screen asking for my old password (I assume its the microsoft password) -I got a message telling me its not correct for this device (I only have one password) -So I left it blank (as per the on screen instructions) -The I got an error screen 'oops something went wrong, its probably our fault' and that's it, cant get any further.
So I thought Id transfer all the files and settings from my old account to the new account, and Ive hit a brick wall, how can I do this ? the new account has no knowledge og my applications, documents, pictures, etc. I just cant install everything.
All of a sudden my start button will not respond to the left click. Right click works normally. This seems to be the only problem in the task bar. Is there a win 10 repair disk available? I have just discovered that there are no restore points! What to do?
