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Why My Windows Search Bars Missing
I'm using W11 Pro. Tried Taskbar settings > Search > Enable/Show, but its greyed out.
If the search option in the taskbar settings on Windows 11 Pro is grayed out, it might be due to a group policy or registry setting that's restricting changes.
If you have access to the Group Policy Editor, you can check if there's a policy set that disables the taskbar search. Here’s how:
- Press Win + R, type gpedit.msc, and press Enter to open the Group Policy Editor.
- Navigate to User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Start Menu and Taskbar.
- Look for a policy named "Remove Search link from Start Menu" or similar. If it's enabled, double-click it and set it to Not Configured or Disabled.
- After applying the changes, restart your computer.
6 Replies
- Check if the Search bar is enabled in the Explorer settings. Press the Windows key + E to open File Explorer. Click on the "View" tab and select "Show search box" or toggle the switch next to "Search" to the "On" position.
- thanks, it wokrs for me!
If the search option in the taskbar settings on Windows 11 Pro is grayed out, it might be due to a group policy or registry setting that's restricting changes.
If you have access to the Group Policy Editor, you can check if there's a policy set that disables the taskbar search. Here’s how:
- Press Win + R, type gpedit.msc, and press Enter to open the Group Policy Editor.
- Navigate to User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Start Menu and Taskbar.
- Look for a policy named "Remove Search link from Start Menu" or similar. If it's enabled, double-click it and set it to Not Configured or Disabled.
- After applying the changes, restart your computer.
- Thanks. This worked for me.
- Anybody can help me?
- Open Registry Editor.
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search.
Set SearchboxTaskbarMode to either 1 or 2. Make sure it is not set to 0.
Hope this helps!
PS. Create System Restore point before changing registry values, if you're new to registry editing.
