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
    2020-11-06T02:04:09+00:00

    @JamesZhang4 I, too, sometimes miss the file searching and other valuable functions that Microsoft has strangely and recently combined into one executable file in this way. I think the best solution must come from Microsoft themselves, if they can ever pull themselves away from working on the latest technological toys innovations.

    Cortana doesn't even work properly on computers running in some languages other than English. Cortana needs a way to be completely disabled when the user wants to (such as when it makes the CPU run very hot).

    I don't know about Microsoft, but I always test the hell out of my programming, and offer the user lots of customizing preferences. Microsoft seems to just throw clever stuff over the wall and then ignore even those bugs that generate many years and many pages of annoyed threads on popular forums. I would love to be proved wrong about this perception.

    Was this answer helpful?

    5 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2020-11-06T01:16:14+00:00

    Hi David, thanks for the solution. I do have a question tho, after I had tried your method of killing search, I did notice an increase in my performance, but now I am kind of missing the search function. I was wondering how I can reverse the process and turn it back on again? In my services, search.exe still appear to be running which is confusing.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2020-10-24T10:13:46+00:00

    Thanks for the quick reply.

    Yes for me the difference was shocking. All the stuttering I've had for years with dual monitors magically disappeared!

    Almost like they are getting paid by the processing companies in order to get people to buy faster processors......

    Was this answer helpful?

    4 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2020-10-23T18:12:56+00:00

    My solution (which is the standard solution published elsewhere) always breaks the file searching functionality of Windows. So either give up fast file searching or shorten the life of your cpu by running it hot. All credit goes to Microsoft, whose policy is not to fix bugs in their products, in my experience.

    Was this answer helpful?

    10 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments