How do you disable SearchApp.exe from running so that you can enable SLI in the Nvidia Control Panel?

Anonymous
2020-08-21T21:11:28+00:00

I'm unable to shut down SearchApp.exe in task manager so that I can enable SLI in the Nvidia control panel.  I've performed a clean boot and stopped the Windows Search service. 

However as soon as I end task on  SearchApp.exe, it automatically restarts.  Because of this I'm unable to enable SLI in the Nvidia control panel.

SearchApp.exe is located in C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy

I'm unable to enable SLI if I boot into safe mode.  I already tried that.

When I had a version of Windows 10 pre version 2004, I had no problems ending task on everything running that prevented SLI from begin enabled.  I did a clean install of Windows 10 last night to fix a problem and now that the problem is fixed, I have a new one.  I really hope I don't have to install an older version of Windows 10 and upgrade to get around this problem.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Cortana and search

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Anonymous
2020-09-06T13:11:25+00:00

The previous answer is unlikely to work because Cortana keeps searchapp.exe running all the time (causing cpus to get hot).

The following commands worked for me. You have to paste them into in Administrator-level Command Prompt again and again until the timing is right and the "move" works.

cd %windir%\SystemApps

taskkill /f /im SearchApp.exe

move Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy.old

Optional: to remove Cortana completely (in addition to stopping searchapp.exe), run the following command in Administrator-level Powershell:

Get-AppxPackage -allusers Microsoft.549981C3F5F10 | Remove-AppxPackage

David Spector

Springtime Software

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-03-18T19:41:30+00:00

    the OP question is how to stop search application from restarting / which happens even if he disable search from services/ I had same problem, and disabling windows defender Automatic sample submission function solve it for me. But if you say, its a waste of time, who am i to argue. Nice day  everyone.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-03-02T17:18:01+00:00

    By the way, if you find that you miss Microsoft whole-disk indexing and searching just because you have to disable it to get good cpu performance without overheating, I highly recommend a freeware product called Everything. This product takes about 3 seconds to index your entire disk when it first runs. It is so fast that when you run it and enter a character or two, it shows all the files that start with those characters, and it keeps up with your incremental typing! While it does not index file content, it is amazing for searching for files by name, with many advanced searching options.

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-03-02T15:49:12+00:00

    The previous answer is unlikely to work because Cortana keeps searchapp.exe running all the time (causing cpus to get hot).

    The following commands worked for me. You have to paste them into in Administrator-level Command Prompt again and again until the timing is right and the "move" works.

    cd %windir%\SystemApps
    taskkill /f /im SearchApp.exe
    move Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy.old

    Optional: to remove Cortana completely (in addition to stopping searchapp.exe), run the following command in Administrator-level Powershell:

    Get-AppxPackage -allusers Microsoft.549981C3F5F10 | Remove-AppxPackage

    David Spector

    Springtime Software

    Thanks David for taking the time to post this solution. Having tried other solutions I must admit I was skeptical but after about the tenth time of pasting into the Command Prompt it worked! Getting rid of searchapp.exe was all that was standing between me and trying out my triple screen setup and I was getting very frustrated so thanks again mate!

    Awesome String! Worked Great.

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-01-13T03:51:54+00:00

    easiest way for me:

    1. Open the Nvidia Control Panel
    2. Configure SLI
    3. Make a change and select "Apply" to see what programs need to be closed
    4. Open task manager to close programs. you should see the list go down.
    5. SearhApp.exe will keep restarting. use the task manager to close the NVIDIA control panel and reopen the control panel
    6. run the cmd prompt as admin
    7. reopen the NVIDIA control panel and make the changes. "DO NOT HIT APPLY YET!!!"
    8. in the cmd prompt > Taskkill /f /im SearchApp.exe 

      Then immediatly step 8 

    8.  hit "Apply" in the NVIDIA control panel

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