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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
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

Was this answer helpful?

300+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

67 additional answers

Sort by: Newest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2021-03-18T14:55:09+00:00

    Windows defender - disable Automatic sample submission. Done.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2021-03-04T18:35:11+00:00

    Sure, it's easy. If you did the renaming part, just rename it back the way it was. Then restart your computer. Restarting should run Cortana and overload your CPU again.. Of course, if you actually uninstalled Cortana, then you will have to ask Microsoft how to reinstall Cortana again. The new tiles interface (Metro, Modern) is a complete puzzle to me. There's probably plenty of documentation on it, though, if you do a little searching to find it. The unremitting complexity that Microsoft loves to implement does have its drawbacks.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2021-03-04T18:21:10+00:00

    Hi,

    As part of troubleshooting a network problem i ran the kill command for searchapp.exe but i really need it back. Do you know any way of undoing it/re-enabling?

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2021-03-02T18:02:09+00:00

    I think this answers my previous comment

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments