Comments on: SOLVED: Video: How To Hard Reset or Remove Cortana In Windows 10

By: Christopher James Francis Rodgers

Christopher James Francis Rodgers — Sat, 28 Aug 2021 14:38:10 +0000

Corrected Post
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2021.08.28 [Solved for me]
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(Credit due) Article: https://www.urtech.ca/2016/08/solved-video-how-to-hard-reset-or-remove-cortana-in-windows-10/
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[Problem defined]
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Search (on the Taskbar) was not working on a new installation of Windows 10, updated to version 21H1 (OS Build 19043.1165).
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The search box would not accept any characters that I tried to type into it, and the pop-up search window would close within seconds of my trying to use it.
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[Solution]
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Create a NEW USER, and set the NEW USER from ‘Standard’ to ‘Administrator’.
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‘Sign out’ of PROBLEM USER. (Do not just ‘Switch user’– ‘Sign out’.)
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Sign into NEW USER account.
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(Note aside: Search is working for the NEW USER account)
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Navigate to:
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“C:\Users\PROBLEM USER\AppData\Local\Packages\
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The folder
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“Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy”
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does not exist at
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“C:\Users\PROBLEM USER\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy”
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but the folder
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“Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy”
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exists at
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“C:\Users\PROBLEM USER\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy”
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I renamed the folder
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“Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy”
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…to…
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“Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy—-null”
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I used a revised version of the command recommended in the article in a command-prompt terminal (a terminal window that I opened as ‘Run as Administrator’.)
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The recommended command from the article is:
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Add-AppxPackage -Path “C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy\Appxmanifest.xml” -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register
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I substituted…
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Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy
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into the command in place of…
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Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy
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I also replaced the two double-quotation-marks that come from copying the command from the article (the “ and the ”), and substitute using the double-quotation-mark keyboard key (“) for both of them.
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I ran this edited command in the command-prompt terminal:
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Add-AppxPackage -Path “C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy\Appxmanifest.xml” -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register
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Sign into PROBLEM USER.
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Search is now working for PROBLEM USER.
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Note aside: I notice that within the folder…
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“C:\Users\PROBLEM USER\AppData\Local\Packages\”
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its sub-folder…
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“Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy”
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has been restored (just above the folder)…
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“Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy—-null”
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===
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(Credit due) Article: https://www.urtech.ca/2016/08/solved-video-how-to-hard-reset-or-remove-cortana-in-windows-10/
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The URLs for webpages at which I have posted this information:
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https://www.urtech.ca/2016/08/solved-video-how-to-hard-reset-or-remove-cortana-in-windows-10/
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The URL for this page is: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/windows-10-search-not-working-after-update-version/4a2a2e90-c35f-4817-8492-5f629b42adfd
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### 2021.08.28 u1433 ~ Rodgers, Christopher James Francis

Ignore the post of mine below. …I did use the command line as detailed above.

By: Christopher James Francis Rodgers

Christopher James Francis Rodgers — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 16:34:57 +0000

2021.08.25
.
Search was not working on a new installation of Windows 10, updated to
version 21H1 (OS Build 19043.1165).
.
The search box would not accept characters I tried to type into it, and the pop-up search window would close within seconds of my trying to use it.
.
.
.
[Solution]
.
Create a NEW USER, and set the NEW USER from ‘Standard’ to ‘Administrator’.
.
‘Sign out’ of PROBLEM USER. (Do not just ‘Switch user’– ‘Sign out’.)
.
.
.
Sign into NEW USER account.
.
(Note aside: Search is working for the NEW USER account)
.
.
.
The folder
.
“Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy”
.
does not exist at
.
“C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy”
.
but the folder
.
“Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy”
.
exists at
.
“C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy”
.
.
.
I renamed the folder
.
“Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy”
.
…to…
.
“Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy—-null”
.
.
.
Sign into PROBLEM USER.
.
.
.
Search is now working for PROBLEM USER.
.
.
.
I notice that in the folder
.
“C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Packages\”
.
its sub-folder
.
“Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy”
.
has been restored, above the folder
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“Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy—-null”
.
===
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Note aside: (Not used)
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I did not need to use the recommended command for a command-prompt terminal, which I would have opened as ‘Run as Administrator’.
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The recommended command from the article is:
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Add-AppxPackage -Path “C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy\Appxmanifest.xml” -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register
.
.
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If I were to use the command above, I would substitute
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“Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy”
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into the command in place of
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“Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy”.
.
.
.
I would also replace the two double-quotation-marks that come from copying the command from the article (the “ and the ”), and substitute using the double-quotation-mark keyboard key (“) for both of them.
.
.
.
My edited command (that I did not use because Search is working):
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Add-AppxPackage -Path “C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy\Appxmanifest.xml” -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register
.
.
.
(Credit due) Article: https://www.urtech.ca/2016/08/solved-video-how-to-hard-reset-or-remove-cortana-in-windows-10/
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### 2021.08.25 ~ Rodgers, Christopher James Francis

By: Ian Matthews

Ian Matthews — Tue, 10 Aug 2021 02:43:31 +0000

In reply to Justin.

Hi Justin;

Someone from Microsoft suggested the path is now %LOCALAPPDATA%\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy (i.e. C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy )

I have not tried this but if you can confirm it worked for you, we will update this article.

I hope that helps.

By: Ian Matthews

Ian Matthews — Tue, 27 Jul 2021 22:50:02 +0000

In reply to Justin.

Hi Justin;

It seems that somewhere between Windows 10 1909 and 20H2 that C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana has been removed. I have asked Microsoft to clarify and if I get a decent response I will let you know.

I wonder if this process still works, obviously omitting Step 2.

Thanks,

By: Justin

Justin — Sat, 24 Jul 2021 09:45:31 +0000

i cant find Microsoft.Windows.Cortana file, what should i do help me pls 🙂

By: existence1010

existence1010 — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 16:48:45 +0000

Thank you so much. After trying many many things this solution worked perfectly and immediately.

By: Ian Matthews

Ian Matthews — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 01:56:33 +0000

In reply to Gavin Farrington.

Hi Gavin;

On my Windows 10 2004 (April 2020) build that path does not exist. After some poking around I found that MS has moved Cortana management into Apps and made it much easier to repair. I just wrote up https://www.urtech.ca/2020/06/solved-how-to-reset-cortana/ which should help.

By: Gavin Farrington

Gavin Farrington — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 23:46:10 +0000

Got an error message on the powershell step

Add-AppxPackage : Cannot find path ‘C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy\Appxmanifest.xml’
because it does not exist.
At line:1 char:1
+ Add-AppxPackage -Path “C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Cortan …
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (C:\Windows\Syst…ppxmanifest.xml:String) [Add-AppxPackage], ItemNotFou
ndException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.Windows.Appx.PackageManager.Commands.AddAppxPackageCommand

By: CAS

CAS — Thu, 06 Dec 2018 07:24:08 +0000

Wonderfull!!
Giga-Thx!!!

By: Gearsawe

Gearsawe — Sat, 30 Sep 2017 03:42:48 +0000

OMG! wish I found this long ago. I stopped at step 7.
finally windows is somewhat useful again.