"We're getting search ready" error - Windows/Cortana Search

ianjoneill said:

I found that I had this problem because my Windows Display Language was set to English (United Kingdom) but the welcome screen was set to English (United States). I changed it to English (United Kingdom) as follows:

Went to Control Panel -> Clock, Language and Region -> Language

Clicked "Change date, time or number formats" on the left hand side

Went to the Administrative Tab

Clicked "Copy Settings"

Selected both the checkboxes and clicked OK to copy the display language settings to both the welcome screen and new user accounts.

After a reboot and a 5 minute wait, I could search for "Check for Updates" from the start menu.

I'm sure it is one of those things that reset the indexer, not the real fix.

All of mine were already correctly English United Kingdom :/
It's so frustrating, I wish I could get any kind of response from MS about my problem with the Indexer not even adding the correct drive when selected, the feedback tool is so one sided.

pakjebakmeel said:

I have fixed the issue on my machine. I first booted into recovery mode and used the cmdline to delete the following folder:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_<randomtext>

Then after rebooting cortana wasn't working at all (duh). I reinstalled the package using the following procedure:

1. Open and elevated CMD window (rightclick --> run as admin)
2. Start powershell (type 'powershell' without quotes and press enter)
3. Run the command:

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

Within 10 seconds my search was back to normal and I could finally put this problem to rest. It might not be required to delete the folder in safe mode first but I don't know yet because I am yet to test this procedure without deleting the folder on another machine. I'd be very interested to see if running the command above in powershell also fixes the issue without having to delete the folder first.

I had rebuilt the search index many times and rebooted and left it to rest but nothing seemed to fix the issue which is when I started digging for a solution.

Lemme know if this works for any of you guys

thank you very much pakjebakmeel you saved me this fixed the problem for me

pakjebakmeel said:

I have fixed the issue on my machine. I first booted into recovery mode and used the cmdline to delete the following folder:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_<randomtext>

Then after rebooting cortana wasn't working at all (duh). I reinstalled the package using the following procedure:

1. Open and elevated CMD window (rightclick --> run as admin)
2. Start powershell (type 'powershell' without quotes and press enter)
3. Run the command:

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

Within 10 seconds my search was back to normal and I could finally put this problem to rest. It might not be required to delete the folder in safe mode first but I don't know yet because I am yet to test this procedure without deleting the folder on another machine. I'd be very interested to see if running the command above in powershell also fixes the issue without having to delete the folder first.

I had rebuilt the search index many times and rebooted and left it to rest but nothing seemed to fix the issue which is when I started digging for a solution.

Lemme know if this works for any of you guys

Thank you pakjebakmeel.

This was the solution for me:

1. Open and elevated CMD window (rightclick --> run as admin)
2. Start powershell (type 'powershell' without quotes and press enter)
3. Run the command:

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

I did not need to delete the folder first. It worked instantly. After more than a week of the annoying "We're getting search ready" error, and no search hits on already installed apps - I finally got everything working.

Thank You!

I think we're getting there! I've managed to quash my "We're getting search ready" problem as well. However it can't find any of the files I've indexed on Dropbox on a different drive location. This is really annoying because my C: (SSD for windows) only contains programs, whereas my E (HDD for dropbox) contains all the stuff I wanna search for.

It's added to the index options and I've rebuilt it umpteen times! Stuff on the C: it indexes, stuff on the E: never appears in the results.

No, scratch my last post. I stuck a single PDF in a new folder on the C: SSD drive, and indexed it. I still have to press enter for it to search "My Stuff" ie any files (not apps/programs/settings). Sigh.

I know it should work because it does in the office!

ianjoneill said:

I found that I had this problem because my Windows Display Language was set to English (United Kingdom) but the welcome screen was set to English (United States). I changed it to English (United Kingdom) as follows:

Went to Control Panel -> Clock, Language and Region -> Language

Clicked "Change date, time or number formats" on the left hand side

Went to the Administrative Tab

Clicked "Copy Settings"

Selected both the checkboxes and clicked OK to copy the display language settings to both the welcome screen and new user accounts.

After a reboot and a 5 minute wait, I could search for "Check for Updates" from the start menu.

This didn't fix the problem for me, but it helped me reproduce the problem. I've tried everything in this thread and nothing worked.

Once you add a second language and press "Set as primary", this bug occurs.

As a workaround, I had to completely reset my Windows, deleting all files, and avoid clicking "Set as primary".

Ole said:

Thank you pakjebakmeel.

This was the solution for me:

1. Open and elevated CMD window (rightclick --> run as admin)
2. Start powershell (type 'powershell' without quotes and press enter)
3. Run the command:

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

I did not need to delete the folder first. It worked instantly. After more than a week of the annoying "We're getting search ready" error, and no search hits on already installed apps - I finally got everything working.

Thank You!

Genius! This worked perfectly straightaway. Thank you!

mostyello said:

Genius! This worked perfectly straightaway. Thank you!

Should of tried this, but already went back to Windows 7