Microsoft rolls out fix for broken Windows Start Menu search

Microsoft has pushed a server-side fix for a known issue that broke the Windows Start Menu search feature on some Windows 11 23H2 devices.

In a Windows release health update (WI1273488) seen by BleepingComputer, Microsoft said these problems have affected only a small number of users since April 6 and are caused by a server-side Bing update aimed at improving search performance.

While the company says these problems are recent, there have been reports of similar issues surfacing online for months, including claims that the Start Menu displays blank search results that are still clickable.

To address this known issue, Microsoft has pulled the buggy Bing update and expects the search issues to subside as the fix rolls out to affected customers.

“An investigation determined that the problem coincided with a server-side Bing update designed to improve search performance. To mitigate the issue, the server-side Bing update was rolled back, and reports of search failures are steadily decreasing,” Microsoft said.

“This issue will resolve automatically as the server-side fix is gradually rolled out to affected devices. To receive this fix, make sure the device is connected to the internet and that Web Search has not been disabled by Group Policy.”

More Windows Start Menu issues

This isn’t the first known Start Menu issue to impact Windows customers in recent years. In November, Microsoft shared a temporary workaround for another bug that was causing the Start Menu, File Explorer, and other key system components to crash when provisioning systems with cumulative updates released since July 2025, due to XAML packages not registering in time after installing the update.

On impacted systems, affected users experience a wide range of problems, including Start menu crashes and critical error messages, missing taskbars even when Explorer is running, crashes of the core ShellHost (Shell Infrastructure Host or Windows Shell Experience Host) system process, and Settings app silently failing to launch.

Microsoft is still working on developing a permanent fix, but hasn’t provided a timeline for when a solution will be available. Meanwhile, affected customers must manually register the missing XAML packages.

In May, Microsoft also silently fixed an issue that broke Start Menu jump lists for all apps on Windows 10 22H2 systems, and in June 2023, it addressed a bug that caused Windows Search and the Start Menu to become unresponsive.

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