How to Fix ‘Spotlight Not Working’ Issue on Windows 11 PC

139

This tip is about the how to Fix ‘Spotlight Not Working’ Issue on Windows 11 PC. So read this free guide, How to Fix ‘Spotlight Not Working’ Issue on Windows 11 PC step by step. If you have query related to same article you may contact us.

How to Fix ‘Spotlight Not Working’ Issue on Windows 11 PC – Guide

Recently updated to Windows 11? Lock screen spotlight not working? Well, you’re not alone. Most users have reported this issue where lock screen highlighting is not working as expected. It is quite a common problem caused by corrupted system files and settings. Another important reason that can trigger this issue on your Windows 11 device is bad network connection. If your device is not receiving stable internet bandwidth, you may not be able to view Spotlight lock screen wallpapers on your device.

Windows 11 brings together a number of new features and performance improvements, and the lock screen highlight is one of them. Every time you restart your device, lock screen highlight will show new wallpaper of beautiful landscape or place. So you can use Windows lock screen highlight feature to update this image or even choose a custom background as you wish.

Windows 11 displays these stunning locations from different parts of the world on the lock screen itself, and most of these images are taken from Bing. However, if you see the same image when restarting your device, it may indicate that you have encountered the Lock Screen Spotlight not working issue. Here are some workarounds you can try to keep your Windows 11 lock screen.

Fix ‘Spotlight is not working’ issue on Windows 11 PC

Running the System Maintenance Troubleshooter

Before moving on to more specific troubleshooting guides, you should start by checking if your current installation of Windows 11 is not able to fix the problem automatically. Windows 11 (like Windows 10) comes equipped with the System Maintenance Troubleshooter – this is a utility that allows you to apply a series of automated fixes related to common problems affecting the desktop, icons, login screen and other display-related inconsistencies.

If you have not already tried to fix this issue by running the System Maintenance Troubleshooter, follow the instructions below to run this tool and apply the recommended fix:

Press Windows key + R to open up a Run dialog box. Then type ‘control’ inside the text box and press Enter to open the classic Control Panel interface.

Once inside the classic control panel menu, use the search function at the top to search for ‘troubleshooting’ and press Enter.

In the list of results, click Troubleshooting.

Then, in the menu dedicated to troubleshooting, click on System and Security.

In the dedicated System and Security menu, click System Maintenance (under System).

Once you are on the first screen of the System Maintenance tab, click on the Advanced hyperlink first and check the box associated with Apply repairs automatically.

Click Next and follow the remaining prompts to run the troubleshooter and apply the recommended fix automatically.

Depending on the recommended fix, you may be prompted to perform a series of manual steps.

Clear cache and reinstall

Suppose the above automated fix was not effective in your case. In that case, the next thing you should do is troubleshoot a potential problem caused by corrupt data stored in one of the two Spotlight cache folders. Other users dealing with the issue have confirmed that they fixed the issue by deleting the two cache folders and registering the main Spotlight application (using a series of elevated CMD and Powershell commands). Follow the instructions below for specific steps to clear the Spotlight cache and reinstall the main app:

Press Windows key + R to open up a Run dialog box. Then type ‘wt’ inside the text box and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open up a Windows Terminal interface with administrator access.

When prompted by the User Account window, click Yes to grant administrator access.

Once inside the elevated Windows Terminal application, start by running these two CMD commands in quick succession (press Enter after each command) to clear the two problematic SpotLight cache folders:

DEL /F /S /Q /A

“%USERPROFILE%/AppDataLocalPackagesMicrosoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewyLocalStateAssets”

DEL /F /S /Q /A “%USERPROFILE%/AppDataLocalPackagesMicrosoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewySettings”

After running these two commands, run the following Powershell command in the same Windows Terminal window to register the Spotlight application again:

Get-AppxPackage -allusers *ContentDeliveryManager* | foreach {Add-AppxPackage “$($_.InstallLocation)appxmanifest.xml” -DisableDevelopmentMode -register }

Restart your PC to allow your operating system to recreate the two deleted cache folders and see if Spotlight starts working again.

Clean up the Active folder

Another potential scenario that could leave you stuck with a broken Spotlight component is a corrupted assets folder. This is often reported when Spotlight is overly customized or you’ve just upgraded to Windows 11 from an older Windows 11 where Spotlight was configured. Fortunately, fixing a corrupted assets folder is quite simple. All you have to do is disable Spotlight first, then navigate to the assets folder manually and delete the content inside (not the folder) before restarting your PC.

This method has been confirmed to be effective by many affected Windows 11 users. Follow the instructions below for step-by-step instructions on how to clean the Assets folder and fix Spotlight functionality in Windows 11:

First of all, we need to temporarily disable Spotlight. To do this, press Windows key + I to open up the Settings app in Windows 11.

Then click on Personalization in the vertical menu on the left.

Once inside the Personalization tab, click Lock Screen from the options at the bottom.

Within the Lock Screen tab, change the drop-down menu associated with Customize Your Windows Spotlight Lock Screen to Picture or Slideshow.

After ensuring that Spotlight is turned off, close the Settings screen and open File Explorer.

Using File Explorer, navigate to the following location:

C:UsersAppDataLocalPackagesMicrosoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_LocalStateAssets

Once you get to the correct location, start by clicking the View tab at the top and make sure the Hidden Items box is enabled.

After making sure the hidden items are visible, click inside the Assets folder and press Ctrl + A to select everything inside.

Then press the Del key or right-click on a selected item; after each item is selected, choose Delete from the context menu.

Once the assets folder is cleared, return to the lock screen tab (under Personalization) in the Settings tab and re-enable Spotlight by setting the Customize your lock screen drop-down to Spotlight.

Restart your PC to allow the changes to take effect and check if Spotlight is working again the next time your Windows 11 PC boots up.

Re-register the Windows Spotlight application

Assume that none of the above methods has proved to be effective in your case. In that case, you should also start thinking about a potential inconsistency caused by some corruption affecting the main Spotlight application. For example, it is a well-known fact that upgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 11 using a generic key can end up up breaking Spotlight functionality.

If you find yourself in this scenario, you can fix the problem by using an elevated Powershell window to re-register the main Windows Spotlight application. Follow the instructions below for specific instructions on how to do this in Windows 11:

Press Windows key + R to open up a Run dialog box. Then type ‘powershell’ inside the text box and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open an elevated Powershell window.

When you see the User Account Control window, click Yes to grant administrator access.

When you’re finally inside the elevated Powershell window, type or paste the following command to re-register Windows Spotlight:

Get-AppxPackage -allusers *ContentDeliveryManager* | foreach {Add-AppxPackage “$($_.InstallLocation)appxmanifest.xml” -DisableDevelopmentMode -register }

After the command is successfully processed, close the elevated command prompt and restart your PC.

After your Windows 11 PC boots up, pay attention to the login screen to see if the Windows Spotlight functionality has been fixed.

Deploy DISM and SFC scans

Suppose you got this far without a tangible result. In this case, you can also assume that you might be dealing with some system file corruption that directly affects Spotlight or some associated dependencies. As there are many different components involved, the best course of action is to use one of the two built-in system file corruption tools that Windows 11 has. features – DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Deployment) and SFC (System File Checker). Follow the instructions below to deploy SFC and DISM checks on your Windows 11 computer (from the same elevated CMD prompt):

Press Windows key + R to open up a Run dialog box. Then type ‘cmd’ inside the Run box and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open up an elevated CMD prompt.

When prompted by User Account Control (UAC), click Yes to grant administrator access.

Once inside the elevated command prompt window, type the following command and press Enter to start an SFC scan:

When the SFC scan is complete, restart your PC and open up another elevated CMD prompt (using step 1) when Windows 11 computer boots again up.

Then, when back at the CMD prompt, run the following command to deploy a DISM check:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

When the DISM scan is also complete, restart your PC one final time and see if the Spotlight component starts working again.

Final note

I hope you like the guide How to Fix ‘Spotlight Not Working’ Issue on Windows 11 PC. In case if you have any query regards this article you may ask us. Also, please share your love by sharing this article with your friends.