Cortana not on my account.

[Lazarus]

Hello, everyone.

I was a pretty big fan of the inclusion of Cortana on Windows 10. I used her for most things, and because Search was integrated directly through her, it was hard NOT using her for things.

Some events occurred that were unrelated, and I ended up having to do a clean install of Windows 10. Everything installed properly, except for Cortana. There's no mention of her at all on this account other than in the Getting Started app.

I've spent days trying different searches and it seems to be a rare issue, because all of the search results I get are related to other issues, like Cortana not being available outside the US. Cortana isn't just unavailable for me, she doesn't exist. I've tried making another user account, and switching to that, and surprisingly it worked. For that account only. Cortana loaded just fine.

So my question is, why is Cortana not present on my user account? Is there some way to force install the Cortana app? I noticed she's not on the store at all, and I can't figure out any way to do it otherwise. Is there a way to copy the app from a different user account and paste it on this one and get it that way?

 

[davidhk129]

I've tried making another user account, and switching to that, and surprisingly it worked. For that account only

Most likely reason is..... your own user account is corrupted.
Create a new one for yourself with exactly the same privileges > login and test it for a few days.
If it works out fine, backup what you want to keep from the corrupt account and delete it.

 

[Lazarus]

Most likely reason is..... your own user account is corrupted.
Create a new one for yourself with exactly the same privileges > login and test it for a few days.
If it works out fine, backup what you want to keep from the corrupt account and delete it.

I was afraid you'd say that. Every other app is working fine and I can't justify switching to a different account and deleting this one just to get Cortana to work.

There's no way to do it in reverse, to transfer the app from that account to this one?

 

[davidhk129]

I am sure someone else will have a different opinion.
Please wait a bit for some one to come along.
Thank you.

Meanwhile, go to All apps > scroll to alphabet C, is Cortana listed there ?

 

[Lazarus]

Unfortunately, no. And many of the shortcuts like Windows+S, Windows+C etc don't have any function either.

Additionally, when I right click the taskbar and go to the Search option, I can choose to Show Search Icon or hide it, but then clicking the icon does nothing.

 

[davidhk129]

And many of the shortcuts like Windows+S, Windows+C etc don't have any function either.

And you do have other problems besides Cortana.

when I right click the taskbar and go to the Search option, I can choose to Show Search Icon or hide it, but then clicking the icon does nothing.

What Win 10 version do you have ?

On right clicking at taskbar > click Cortana > do you see the same as the screenshot below ?

 

[davidhk129]

OK. Bottom line, you have a few problems.

Try the following and see if that will fix it........................

Run a system file check to look for corrupt files. It will try to do repair if any found.

Right click at Start button > select Command Prompt (Admin) > at the flashing prompt, copy/paste this.....

sfc /scannow
> press Enter.

It will take quite sometime. When finished, it will give you one of the 3 reports : (paraphrasing )

1. No integrity violation.
2. Found corrupt files and repair successfully.
3. Found corrupt files but unable to repair.

If report is #1. Your solution lies elsewhere.
IF report is #2, go see if everything is now working ok.
If report is #3, please do the following........

Right click at Start button > select Command Prompt (Admin) > at the flashing prompt, copy/paste this.....

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

> press Enter.

Again, it will take some time. When finished it will give you a report.
If it says operation successful, go see if everything is now working ok.

 

[Lazarus]

All of my Windows key shortcuts work except for the ones directly related to Cortana.

And this is what my taskbar says. Doesn't even mention Cortana, just says Search.

Edit: Running the scan now.

 

[Lazarus]

Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

Seems like it's fine. Or at least the computer thinks it's fine.

It may well be best to just transfer to a new account.

 

[davidhk129]

I am out of ideas.

 

[Lazarus]

I am out of ideas.

Thank you for your help regardless. It's nice to get an outside perspective on error it feels like only I seem to have.

I'll leave this open for now in case someone else can help, but probably later tonight I'll mark as solved and create a second account as you first suggested.