Can't Click on Cortana (Windows 10)

Mr Khan

Is what it sounds like. I can see the bar that says "Ask me anything," but it's completely unresponsive when i try to click it, which is annoying because it's very convenient for finding the more obscure apps i like to use like the snipping tool or stickynotes. An unexpected glitch when work switched my laptop with somebody else's (harddrive swap), but i can't figure out how to make it work.

Reddit told me to do this:

Try these from an Administrator cmd prompt

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

sfc /scannow

Tried the first one, but it spat me back a different error that I don't recall.

Anybody run into this before?

Shadowfire

If you can, try and run Dism from Powershell instead of the command prompt. I've found it tends to work a little better that way. Edit: Admin powershell.

Also, go to the control panel (right click on the Start menu to find it easily), click on Troubleshooting, then System and Security, and finally Search and Indexing. You might have to run it as an administrator, which it will suggest if it fails.

Mr Khan

Worth a shot. Seems to be just an issue of debugging.

Silly thing about the timing of this thread, i won't get a chance until Thursday. We're doing a summit offsite, and since it's the opposite direction from where i live, vis-a-vis work, they're letting me work from home when i'm not needed at the summit.

mts

Can't you just hit windows then start typing the name of the app. I have never used cortana for that

Mr Khan

mts wrote: »

Can't you just hit windows then start typing the name of the app. I have never used cortana for that

The two seem to be one in the same. On my functioning copy of Windows 10 at home, hitting Windows also puts the cursor in Cortana, much as hitting Cortana opens a field the same size as the start menu. I think at work the cursor doesn't appear.

Amaryl

Where are you from? or on what language is your windows set.

Cortana isn't available everywhere.

Burtletoy

It's a pretty common error.

Windows has released a windows taskbar troubleshooter you can download to try and fix it.

It didn't work for me, but you might get better luck and/or more info.

I'll try to find the fix that actually did work for me when I get home from work.


Start Menu Troubleshooter: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12385/windows-10-troubleshoot-problems-opening-start-menu-cortana

Click the 'Try the troubleshooter' link to download it.

Mr Khan

Ooh, that's extra helpful, since my start menu on the home computer has the problem that "recently used" stopped updating sometime in September.

Xaviar

Also try this in administrative powershell:

Get-AppXPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”}

and then restart.
It re-registers all of the metro apps (of which cortana and the taskbar are)

Bendery It Like Beckham

I've got one!

go to C:\Windows\SystemApps and check that \Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy\ doesn't have DISABLED_ at the start of the name. If it does, just remove it.

Mr Khan

Hey, @Xavier 's solution worked for my computer at home, reset the most-used list. Now we'll see if it continues updating in the future.

Tomorrow i'll try everyone's advice on my work computer.

Bendery It Like Beckham

Mr Khan wrote: »

Hey, @Xavier 's solution worked for my computer at home, reset the most-used list. Now we'll see if it continues updating in the future.

Tomorrow i'll try everyone's advice on my work computer.

If you're in an enterprise environment the GPO to disable Cortana normally does the DISABLED_ thing.

Mr Khan

Windows needs a clean install, apparently. I tried working the powershell stuff and the recommendations from the troubleshooter, but nothing worked. Those files (microsoft.windows.cortana and microsoft.windows.shellexperience) got messed up good somehow.

Solved!

Shadowfire

Xaviar wrote: »

Also try this in administrative powershell:

Get-AppXPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”}

and then restart.
It re-registers all of the metro apps (of which cortana and the taskbar are)

This worked on the original release, but it breaks apps even more as of 1511, and still does not work right in 1607.

You can try to create a new user profile and see if Cortana is working there. If so, copy your data over from the old user account.

Installing 1607 overtop of your current install is also easy. Download the Media Creation Tool and creates an ISO. Once you do, mount the ISO and open an administrator command prompt. Switch to that drive and type
setup.exe /dynamicupdate disable /showoobe none /telemetry disable

It will go through the process it did with the anniversary update, and hopefully restore anything broken.

Mr Khan

"Try a new profile" was definitely something i saw, but i wasn't sure how well that would relate to our printer. Could be worth a shot just to see how it works, though.

That_Guy

Make sure you don't have any more windows updates to install. That was a pretty common issue a few builds ago.