Windows search not working - file explorer hangs

[StuartR]

I had a problem on two different Windows 10 PCs. When I try to search for a file in Windows explorer, the search bar goes blank, and I can no longer click in it. No search results appear.

Since this was happening on two different PCs, I assumed it must be a general issue and searched on the internet for a solution, but the best advice I could find was to run the Search and Indexing troubleshooter from windows settings.

Much to my amazement this fixed the issue, independently on both PCs

So I am posting this here in case some recent Windows 10 update caused this to start happening, and my experience can help someone else.

[stuck]

I can't recreate this on my Win 10 Pro desktop PC, which should be up to date. The last three updates applied to it were:

• August cumulative update for Win 10 22H2 KB5029244

• August cumulative for .NET 3.5, 4.8 & 4.81 KB5029649

• August .NET 6.0.21 security update KB5029688

Ken

[StuartR]

I have another Windows10 PC which didn't suffer from this too

[stuck]

So Windows weirdness #lostcount.