slate_leeper wrote:
On Mon, 09 Dec 2019 14:29:43 -0500, Paul
wrote:

slate_leeper wrote:
Windows search has always been problematic on this computer. Through
various updates the problem remained the same: after a reboot
sometimes the search box (Windows key) would simply turn white if any
character was entered. Other times after a reboot it worked just fine.
When it didn't work, it would most often start working again, on it's
own, a few hours or days later.

Now, version 1909: When first installed and after each of two reboots,
the Winkey search worked fine. After rebooting again, now pressing any
character produces a larger black box with what looks like an icon of
a magnifying glass in the center. Any further key presses are simply
ignored. The same non-functioning box is produced by Winkey+S.

Any ideas?


-dan z-
The Windows search service has to start, before some
of that stuff will work. Normally, the "box to type into"
wouldn't even appear, if not enough of the OS is up.

It's hard to say from your symptoms, seeing as you
"got further than you were supposed to", what that is indicating.
(I.e. Lots of your graphics came up, and then it decides
it is broken.)

Would EventViewer have any info ? eventvwr.msc

I have had an event with Win10, where just about everything
was blocked at startup, and it was something really stupid
which was blocking it. But now I've completely forgotten
what that was :-/

OK, one symptom from that episode, was clicking the
Cortana circle, helped "initialize" Search. So if the
search box isn't working, click Cortana and then look
for additional activity on the TaskBar.

Paul


Hi Paul,

As with Win-1803 before I updated, the search function did begin to
work hours later. First it showed the letters I typed in a white box
at the bottom of the black box. It still ignored them. More hours and
it functioned completely.

After a system reboot it does one of three things, apparently
randomly:
1) Works just fine.
2) Starts working after a few hours.
3) Doesn't work for days, but eventually does.

If something is being delayed on startup, it is a little schizoid on
the delay time grin.

-dan z-

The time constant ("a few hours") sounds like the Search database
"Windows.edb" is being rebuilt from scratch. If you back up the OS
with Macrium and restore it, I think there is no copy of Windows.edb
in the backup image, and the Search Indexer then needs three hours
to rebuild it. The file is somewhere between 1GB and 10GB in size
(depending on file count on C: ).

If you want to find that file, use Agent Ransack or Everything.exe,
as the Windows search is not allowed to show you where that
file is located. So the first part of any adventure, is
dealing with the handcuffs.

Rebuilding the inverted index, should not stop the Search from
working, and should make it slow (brute force search).

Besides backup/restore interacting with it, the Index file is
also rebuilt every three months, to "flush out corruption".
Items in the OS that run constantly, add and subtract stuff,
they need to be blown away at some interval, and the process
started from a clean sheet. This covers for software bugs
(who knew ???).

There is also a tool for dumping the Windows.edb . There
are two tables in it, which store file paths as a series
of numbers. A form of compression. This allows a home user
to see what areas of a disk are being indexed, and what
parts are not indexed.

If you type "control.exe" in the Run box, that brings up
the legacy control panels. In there is the Indexing Options.
And that is the interface to programming the file system
search and indicating what parts should be indexed. On
some OS installs here, I have that set very close to
zero files. I have been unable to make it "exactly zero".

Paul