Cortana

Go to Settings/Privacy/Location/Choose apps that can use your precise location and turn Cortana on. Cortana - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Apps Features Tutorials

In which way does it not work?
a. Does it no longer respond to 'Hey Cortana'?
b. Does it not respond to e.g. Windows key + S?
c. Does nothing happen if you type something in the search box?
d. Does the search box no longer appear?
e. Something else?

Various possibilities:

a. Try a system restore point if you have one, and if it works(!)
b. See
Enable or Disable Cortana in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Apps Features Tutorials
c. See
Hide or Show Search Box or Cortana Icon on Taskbar in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Customization Tutorials
d. See
Reinstall and Re-register Apps in Windows 8 and 10 - Windows 10 Performance Maintenance Tutorials
and find Cortana, observing the instructions at the top of the section.

Clint said:

The search box no longer appears.

So the problem is, that the search box is not there?

Cortana search can be enabled with the first 2 keys (the rest was mentioned before):

Code:

reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search" /v "BingSearchEnabled" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f
reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search" /v "CortanaEnabled" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f
reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search" /v "SearchboxTaskbarMode" /t REG_DWORD /d "2" /f
reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search" /v "AllowCortana" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f
reg add "HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search" /v "AllowCortana" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f
taskkill /im explorer.exe /f & explorer.exe

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/cortan...-in-windows-10

But if you can not enable search box, you might want to check Windows Search's group policies.

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search

Your most straightforward approach is an in-place upgrade repair install.
You could spend time trying to fix this, or just go for it.

Precede it with this in case sthg has happened to your file system:

From an admin command prompt
[Windows key + X, click command prompt (admin)]
chkdsk C: /F
Your PC will need to restart.
Make sure the result is clear or fixed- else do not proceed.
Post back the result, which you can get after a restart as follows:
How do I see the results of a CHKDSK that ran on boot? - Ask Leo!

An In-place upgrade repair install will fix many things, but not those where the settings are not changed by the procedure.

For this you need an installation medium with the same base build as you have installed, and x64 if you have a 64 bits OS, else x86 (32 bits).

You should also make sure there's at least 500Mb of unallocated space on your system disk.

Recommendation:
Before you perform the following major repair procedure, do create a disk image (see below).

Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade - Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials
- this includes a link from which you can obtain a Windows 10 iso file (" download a Windows 10 ISO"), or create a Win 10 bootable medium.

I would recommend creating the bootable medium, as this can be used
- for any future in-place upgrade repair install
- to boot from and use its recovery options should Windows become unbootable.
- to clean install Windows

This will refresh Windows, after the manner of a Windows installation.
- all/most associations will be unchanged
- all your programs will be left installed
- However: if you have installed some on a 2nd drive, these must be uninstalled or reinstalled on C: - else you will get an error message that you can not keep my apps because they arein an unsupported directory.
- no personal data should be affected
- you will lose any custom fonts
- you will lose any customised system icons
- you may need to re-establish your Wi-Fi connection
- you will need to redo Windows updates subsequent to the build you have used for the repair install
- Windows.old will be created
- system restore will be turned off- you should turn it on again and I recommend you manually schedule a daily restore point.
- you will need to redo any language downloads including the display language if you changed that)
- inactive title bar colouring (if used) will be reset to default
- if Qttabbar is installed, you need to re-enable it in explorer (Options, check Qttabbar)
This is one of the better features of Win10: as each major build comes out, that's your updated reference build, and as updates are mostly cumulative, there will be few to do.


Please consider using disk imaging regularly. It's a brilliant way to
- preserve your system (and your sanity)
- back up your data
- restore your system to a previously working state in a relatively short time

Recommended: Macrium Reflect (free/commercial) + boot disk/device + large enough external storage medium.

Hi, ok, didn't read back through the whole thing, sorry.
Yes, you can run that on an SSD- it's a check on the integrity of the file system, whatever technology is used to store the data. References within a file system can be corrupted one way or another whatever the underlying technology, although some causes may differ.

Now you add that information, it's clearer what may be going on.

Sounds more like a registry corruption or permissions issue then, or a corrupt user account.
That could explain why an in-place upgrade repair install does not correct it.

So if you create a new standard user account, do Cortana and the Store work then?
I.e. is it perhaps that your user account is corrupt?

And do both the Store and Cortana work when logged in as admin?