windows 11 lost Windows Spotlight function and just blue screen

Question

windows 11 lost Windows Spotlight function and just blue screen

Linda Clark 25

My older windows 11 suddenly lost Windows Spotlight so I purchased a new product key. Have done Windows reinstall, cleared cache, scannow, restorehealth all to no avail.

Ivan B 122.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-09-30T09:38:48.8633333+00:00

Hi ,

Did you manage to solve the problem?

Thanks
Alex Went 40 Reputation points

2025-11-03T13:39:15.4133333+00:00

What is this path (mentioned in your penultimate sentence)? "Microsoft Store > Library > Get Updates". It's the only part of this workflow that I cannot identify.
Yuki_Mi 915 Reputation points Moderator

2025-11-04T16:17:44.9+00:00

Hi Alex Went,

I understand you’re facing the same issue. To make sure you get a clear and personalized solution, I recommend creating a new thread for your question. This helps the community focus on your specific scenario and provide the most accurate guidance.

3 answers

Your answer

Ivan B 122.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-09-30T09:38:48.8633333+00:00

Hi ,

Did you manage to solve the problem?

Thanks
Alex Went 40 Reputation points

2025-11-03T13:39:15.4133333+00:00

What is this path (mentioned in your penultimate sentence)? "Microsoft Store > Library > Get Updates". It's the only part of this workflow that I cannot identify.
Yuki_Mi 915 Reputation points Moderator

2025-11-04T16:17:44.9+00:00

Hi Alex Went,

I understand you’re facing the same issue. To make sure you get a clear and personalized solution, I recommend creating a new thread for your question. This helps the community focus on your specific scenario and provide the most accurate guidance.

Answer 1

Ivan B 122.3K Independent Advisor

Hi ,

Go to Start Menu > Settings > Personalization > Lock Screen or Background > Change Windows Spotlight to Photos.

Go to the folder: C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\Assets, delete everything in that folder, and also delete C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\Settings from that folder.

After deleting everything, open Windows PowerShell and enter the following commands: Get-AppxPackage -allusers ContentDeliveryManager | foreach {Add-AppxPackage -register "$($_. InstallLocation)\appxmanifest.xml" -DisableDevelopmentMode} , restart your computer.

Open the command prompt (admin) and run the commands: sfc /scannow and dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth, wait for the process to finish and restart the computer.

Open Microsoft Store > Library > Get Updates, wait for the entire process to finish and restart the PC. Then, go back to Settings and change the photo lock screen to Windows Spotlight. Without the Weather widget enabled.

Give feedback if the information was useful or not.

Thanks

Dr. Martin C 10 Reputation points

2025-10-01T20:46:24.07+00:00

I have the same problem and all the steps above didn't work either.
Chris Marchese 0 Reputation points

2025-10-03T15:48:21.69+00:00

Many thanks yours was the only solution that worked after 2 days searching. Brilliant.
Ivan B 122.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-10-03T15:53:21.18+00:00

Hi ,

I'm glad everything went well, you can always count on the Microsoft Q&A community, have a good week.

Give feedback if the information was useful or not.

Thanks
Linda Clark 25 Reputation points

2025-10-03T22:30:59.1666667+00:00

I tried all of the above steps and still unable to get Windows Spotlight back on my Windows 11 - spoke to 10 agents and still not fixed. I read the Microsoft has moved Spotlight to their education platform.
Ivan B 122.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-10-04T16:05:50.4433333+00:00

Hi ,

What version of Windows 11 are you using, 23h2 or 24h2?

Thanks
Linda Clark 25 Reputation points

2025-10-04T16:09:09.8+00:00

24H2 is my current windows 11 version
Ivan B 122.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-10-04T16:53:47.85+00:00

Hi ,

Just to be sure, do you have a work or school account set up on your Windows computer?

To check, go to Start > Settings > Accounts > Work or School Accounts.

If not, download Bing Wallpaper and see if it activates the highlight.

https://download.microsoft.com/download/2006758d-1370-4a87-8588-6018420cc717/W011/0x00005001/1.1.426.0/BingWallpaperInstaller.exe

Thanks
Dr. Martin C 10 Reputation points

2025-10-04T18:09:42.1733333+00:00

I have Windows 11 Pro version 24H2. My account is not a work or educative account.

My hardware is quite well optimized. Zero errors in Event Viewer, no WHEAs in HWinfo, ultra low latencies with latencymon and in idle C6 occupation maximum of 90% and only 16 watts at idle with a Ryzen 5700X. Power Reporting Deviation (Accuracy): 102%. Mobo Asus ROG chipset X370 with latest ROM update and Samsung DDR4 3200 ECC unbuffered. Solid as a rock since 2018.

Spotlight stopped working suddenly two weeks ago and there is no way to fix it.

I have tried everything even consulting Copilot and no results.
Linda Clark 25 Reputation points

2025-10-05T00:03:35.91+00:00

I purchased control panel for windows through window store for $1.09 and a free lockscreen synchronizing to get a lock screen picture back.
Dr. Martin C 10 Reputation points

2025-10-05T18:24:25.36+00:00

Fortunately, Windows Spotlight has been fixed without me doing anything. It happened spontaneously today.
Linda Clark 25 Reputation points

2025-10-05T18:25:43.1166667+00:00

not mine - it still does not work
Dr. Martin C 10 Reputation points

2025-10-06T00:05:26.5033333+00:00

The Problem is the last update : 24H2.

I have a laptop and a lot of weeks of not using it. Today i used it and after that update (24H2) Spotlight stopped working.

In my desktop it solved spontaneously. 🤔
Dr. Martin C 10 Reputation points

2025-10-06T19:11:27.33+00:00

It doesn't work again in my desktop.

Answer 2

Anonimous 30

Do you use a local account in Windows and do you also use OneDrive? In that case it's probably a bug. I'm also impacted. Several clean installs of Windows didn't help. Report it in the Feedback Hub, that's the best you can do.

0 comments

Answer 3

Since the July/August 2026 Windows 11 (Dutch) system update Spotlight (in Windows lock-screen) works again. Note: I did not test the Windows background.

So it wasn't the use of a local account, nor corruption of an account nor several other things and steps in these posts. In short: It wasn't us. It was indeed a bug in Microsoft's programming and they finally fixed it!

Thanks for non-acknowledging this @Microsoft and all the help and suggestions of everyone else here!