Document search not working Windows 10 Anniversary Update

[carmen617]

BTW have I mentioned how much I enjoy being able to toss these questions at a bunch of people who do what I do? Because i sit in my lonely computer dungeon all day asking Mr. Google for answers, and it's nice to have a few more heads to bounce these things off of.

OK, here's the scenario. Computer is a Dell XPS I've been supporting for maybe 4 years. Last year I upgraded to an SSD and clean installed Windows 10. Client's been happy until today, when she called me because her printer no longer worked after Anniversary Update. Get there and reinstall the printer, she says also having a problem now with search. She wants to type a document name in the Cortana box and have it come up, but it won't. I try, she's right. So I try a bunch of fixes including running a system file check (no corruption), DCIM (no problems), rebuilding the Index (yes I know I should have done that first but wanted to check for corrupt system first), making sure index includes her user files, etc. Can't get search to pull out documents. No error message, just nothing there.

She just did the Anniversary Update so I figure I'll try rolling it back and see if that solves the problem. It does, search works just fine. Well, we all know she's gonna get that Anniversary Update back eventually so that's not the final solution. Where to next?

 

[Slaters Kustum Machines]

Did you try rebuilding the search index?

 

[carmen617]

Did you try rebuilding the search index?

Yup, not once but twice actually.

 

[Porthos]

Probably shouldn't be an issue but has any one disabled Cortana in any way? Local or MS account?

 

[cypress]

I would give Tweaking Windows Repair All in One a shot and see what comes up.

 

[carmen617]

I would give Tweaking Windows Repair All in One a shot and see what comes up.

Ah, good idea. Currently imaging the drive before upgrading it again. Will see if it happens after a second upgrade and then try Windows Repair.

And in answer to Porthos's question, Cortana was disabled for web searches on the pre-update system. System has a local account. Oh, and I tried creating a new local user account prior to rolling back, and it had the same issue.

 

[Porthos]

Cortana was disabled for web searches on the pre-update system

I think I read some where when Cortana is disabled on the AU searches don't work. Could be mistaken though. I also need to test tomorrow on a local account at the shop.

 

[carmen617]

I think I read some where when Cortana is disabled on the AU searches don't work. Could be mistaken though. I also need to test tomorrow on a local account at the shop.

That can't be, as I had it set up the exact same way on my own system and document searches are working post AU.

 

[carmen617]

Ok guys, I've spent far too much time on this and no solution as of yet. Here's what I've tried (that I can remember):
Rolled back to pre AU - worked for a while, then stopped working!
Re-updated
Run Windows Repair All-in-One
Uninstalled Samsung Magician
Rebuilt Search Index, not once, not twice, but several times, adding more to the index each time
Ran SFC and DCIM (neither found any problems)
Reinstalled Cortana from PowerShell as shown in this link https://koohiidaisuki.wordpress.com/2015/08/22/instructions-to-reinstall-cortana/comment-page-1/
In-place upgrade of Windows 10

None of these have helped, and actually I cannot find the exact problem on the web when I look for it. To reiterate, search seems to work just fine, except it doesn't search for personal files and documents. If I click on the document icon during the search, first it says no results can be found, then it says the results might be incomplete. Finds apps and settings with no problem. If it search from within Explorer the documents show up just fine. Search also seems to come and go in Outlook, although rebuilding the search index seems to fix that problem.

And no, I don't want to do a clean install if I can't find a solution. I shouldn't have to nuke and pave to get search to work properly after an update, should I? At this point I'd rather tell the client to live with it and hope an update will fix it.

 

[glennd]

I shouldn't have to nuke and pave to get search to work properly after an update, should I? At this point I'd rather tell the client to live with it and hope an update will fix it.

That's a choice I'd give the customer. Give them all the information and let them decide.

 

[GTP]

Ok guys, I've spent far too much time on this and no solution as of yet. Here's what I've tried (that I can remember):
Rolled back to pre AU - worked for a while, then stopped working!
Re-updated
Run Windows Repair All-in-One
Uninstalled Samsung Magician
Rebuilt Search Index, not once, not twice, but several times, adding more to the index each time
Ran SFC and DCIM (neither found any problems)
Reinstalled Cortana from PowerShell as shown in this link https://koohiidaisuki.wordpress.com/2015/08/22/instructions-to-reinstall-cortana/comment-page-1/
In-place upgrade of Windows 10

None of these have helped, and actually I cannot find the exact problem on the web when I look for it. To reiterate, search seems to work just fine, except it doesn't search for personal files and documents. If I click on the document icon during the search, first it says no results can be found, then it says the results might be incomplete. Finds apps and settings with no problem. If it search from within Explorer the documents show up just fine. Search also seems to come and go in Outlook, although rebuilding the search index seems to fix that problem.

And no, I don't want to do a clean install if I can't find a solution. I shouldn't have to nuke and pave to get search to work properly after an update, should I? At this point I'd rather tell the client to live with it and hope an update will fix it.

Have you tried this PowerShell script?

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

If that doesn't work try this.

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Don't forget to reboot afterwards. Hope it helps.

 

[cypress]

That's a choice I'd give the customer. Give them all the information and let them decide.

This. At least you have given them an option.

 

[carmen617]

This. At least you have given them an option.

Yup, that's really all that's left except installing a third party search utility. Have a call into the client now, will see what she has to say. Bah, hate it when "simple" fixes take all my time.

 

[cypress]

PM sent about something else lol @carmen617