Unable to search in Windows 8.1

[Hirkani]

I am using this 8.1 Preview about past 10 days. Everything was working great until yesterday morning. Suddenly my system started slowing down and started freezing. I checked the task manager to see if any of the process is eating my resources. It was Microsoft windows search indexer eating up upto 60% of the CPU and i guess hence the pc was slowing down. I simply killed the process assuming it will restart again automatically but it didn't.

Worst part is i am now no more able to search anything in the charms bar. Tried restarting the system several times but it still wont work. I have no idea what to do. Can anyone of you please help me out with this?

[Mr Alfa]

That is bit strange because as far as i know, no matter which process you kill, once the PC is restarted, those process starts automatically. As you said the search indexer is not starting up again, you should trying running the automatic troubleshooter. Hopefully it will find and fix whatever the problem is.

[Dingbang]

The very first thing you should check out is whether the Indexing paused. If it is paused then search will not work. To make sure it is not paused checkout the indexing option. Alternatively press Win + R key to bring up the RUN Box and type services.msc. In the services applet, locate Windows Search and make sure it is started or set to Automatic.

[Hirkani]

Thank you very much for the help Dingbang, but that didn?t helped in any way. Windows search was already set to Automatic, I tried changing to start but yet the search wont work. As far as Indexing option is concerned, I am not able to find out how to do the same. Any other help please?

[Gimelstob]

If none of those steps are working for you, then better you should try running System File Checker by running sfc /scannow command in Command Prompt. If this doesn?t fixes the problem, then go through last option, System Refresh. This is the best option introduced with Windows 8 which will restore your system complete to its factory state without removing your personal settings and data. However you will required to install your apps again. I best this will fix all system problems.