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
    2020-10-23T17:44:02+00:00

    I did another method where you rename Searchapp.exe to stop it. 

    But when I did I could no longer use search in Windows.

    Does your solution solve that or does it break search function too?

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-10-23T16:12:14+00:00

    IanWoods3, You're welcome, mate! The great thing is when we can help each other using a forum by Microsoft, who ironically almost never provide real help or bug fixes for their customers. Yay for knowledge!

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-10-23T14:19:29+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!

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-10-18T21:36:55+00:00

    You have to rename it. You can easily find it if you go to "Information" under activity manger. Then right click and "Find path". Then rename it. If you have trouble follow my guide above. 

    Be careful though. I had to restore it because when you rename it in 2004 version of W10 I could no longer search for files.

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