Anniversary Update: Search not working properly

Yes, I was right. No shortcut in start menu = you can't search for it.

And no, you can't add them using the Win 10 start menu itself unlike start menus Win 7 and earlier. Instead you have to find the appropriate folder in explorer and manipulate that.

Either
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
or
%appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
I can't recall which.. easiest is just try it.

Note that the Win 10 start menu does not express subfolders. The shortcuts in them appear, in alphabetical order so I see a mess like this: - a mix from different programs.

In Classic shell, everything is neat and orderly.

But this may confuse you if you have many programs installed in manipulating the folder.

A clean install won't solve this problem.

If you are determined to use Win 10's start menu, that's what you're dealing with. Bad design.

It depends how foobar was installed- for current user or for all users. Hence where the shortcuts ended up- one or other of those folders.

Phendan said:

A clean install did the trick. Windows Search is working as expected.

Nope, not for me. I clean installed using a Win 10 Pro Spanish 64-bit ISO & one of the first install options choosing time & money US. The OS booted in Spanish, I updated & rebooted a couple of times & tested Cortana & Windows search: all OK. With ENG on the taskbar & English set as default in language Settings but everything was in Spanish because the English packages are not included in the ISO. Needed to download Settings > Time & Language > English language & speech & rebooted now with OS in English (at least the display portion).

Now Windows search & Cortana are broken, it can't even find Windows update of device manager lol! Getting the dreaded "These results may be incomplete ..." error even after indexing was complete, rebooting, rebuilding the index, rebooting, applying all dalchina's suggestions in post 7.

Before this clean install, I had Win 10 Pro upgraded on Spanish OS 32-bit from Win 7 Pro and when for an other User's account I selected English for display including speech pack his Cortana & Windows search was broken while it was working fine for Spanish Admin user. When display language & speech & location was changed to English US for Admin, same broken Cortana, Windows search, Settings search. Only File explorer & Control Panel search were working just like in the clean install. With Cortana disabled, Windows search is still broken.

Considering Win 10's poor Start menu this is a HUGE usability problem as I speak 4 different languages & have users who need different display languages.

Edit: changing Control panel > Language > Spanish for Display fixes Windows search for that language only.

As I want the OS & Admin in English I can always download Win 10 64-bit in English in the Media creation tool & redo a clean install but I am willing to bet my car that if display language is changed or new user is with different display language the Cortana & Windows search problem will still be there.

I agree, this is and can be frustrating, and I struggled with it first time.

If you change the display language you also have to make other things consistent with that display language such as installing the speech pack for Settings search to work again.

In all cases under Settings, Time & Language, I have everything set to the UK.
Note that the keyboard settings don't affect Settings search or Cortana.

One way to give yourself a chance to try again to set the language settings if you feel you need to, and can't revert them any other way by removing options, is to do an in-place upgrade repair install.

I've had to do that once before. It can be very frustrating, and that it is so hard, is a serious oversight on MS's part. It should be wizard based so you end up with a valid outcome.

You might want to check for consistency here:


Also see 9 here:
15 Windows 10 problems - and how to fix them | IT PRO

For further advice, I suggest you post a set of screenshots showing your settings and the problem.

dalchina said:

...Also see 9 here:
15 Windows 10 problems - and how to fix them | IT PRO
...

Tried your suggestion & the #9 link: everything set to UK including Region except keyboard and still the "These results may be incomplete ..." error.

Maybe it worked for you because you installed some flavor of English, had the problem & solved with all UK. In my case it's a mix Spanish & English and maybe it's related to the way Windows search builds it's database via indexing.

Edit: added screen capture of Region > Administrative > Copy settings (Latin American is the keyboard):