Windows 10 V1903: Microsoft confirms, that update KB4515384 breaks Start menu and search

[German]Another addendum: Microsoft has confirmed problems with the update KB4515384 of September 10, 2019 in a support article. Specifically, a broken start menu and a not working search are addressed.


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Update KB4515384 intended to fix SearchUI issues

On September 10, 2019, Microsoft released the KB4515384 cumulative update. The 'High CPU load caused by SarchUI.exe' item is also explicitly listed in the list of fixed issues. I had pointed this out in the blog post Patchday: Windows 10 Updates (September 10, 2019).

The support article for update KB4515384, still states that no issues are known. I had checked explicitly an hour ago when I wrote the German blog post Windows 10 V1903: Fix für kaputte Suche nach Update KB4515384.

Users report problems

Comments from my German blog readers indicates, that Microsoft's update KB4515384,  'didn't fix the bug with Cortana and the empty search window'. The high CPU load was gone, but the desktop search didn't work. There was also feedback on the blog post that the search still didn't work.

I proposed within my German blog post Windows 10 V1903: Fix für kaputte Suche nach Update KB4515384 to launch an administrative command prompt windows via Run as administrator and execute a system file check with sfc /scannow. That helped in a few cases, but not for all affected users. Some users could run a desktop search with Bing search disabled, whilst others need to activate Bing websearch for desktop. My impression is, that the issue and the success of a repair depends from the system's history.

But there has been a 2nd issue reported from a blog reader. In his comment the reader reports that they have a broken start menu on many systems:


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We also have problems with this update again with many PCs that after the installation of KB4515384 display the message that the start menu doesn't work anymore. This seems to happen only on PCs where Powershell apps have been removed. Is anyone still struggling with this behavior? In the beginning we tried to uninstall all pre-installed apps with Powershell until we gave up.

I had mentioned in the past, that repairing apps with removing entries with powershell may result in issues. But that was related to old Windows 10 builds. The blog reader above left a link to this thread at reddit.com, where other users are describing Startmenu issues after installing KB4515384

KB4515384 – Anyone else having Start Menu issues?

Thought I would give KB4515384 a shot on a spare test computer (released today, yeah I'm brave). Now, when I type in something to the start menu to bring up a program, it does absolutely nothing.

Anyone else having the same?

Edit: I uninstalled it and the problem went away.

Uninstalling cumulative update KB4515384 fixed that broken Startmenu issue.

Microsoft confirms the issues

Well, it depends, which Microsoft article you read. As mentioned, the support article for update KB4515384 says 'Microsoft is not currently aware of any issues with this update.' – Sept. 12, 2019, 01:18 p.m. CET.  So, if someone is negating any issue with Windows 10 and update KB4515384, use the support article as 'proof' your right.

But hey, you can also use the idea of simply asking another oracle. And the status page for Windows 10 version 1903 lists the following findings from Microsoft.

Some users report issues related to the Start menu and Windows Desktop Search

Microsoft has received reports that some users are having issues related to the Start menu and Windows Desktop Search.

Affected platforms:

  • Client: Windows 10, version 1903

Next steps: We are presently investigating and will provide an update when more information is available.

The colleagues here became aware of this entry. Microsoft confirms that the KB4515384 update has caused problems with the Start menu and desktop search for some users. It is being investigated and more information will be provided in in future.

Addendum: Microsoft has published on September 12, 2019 a support article Fix problems in Windows Search (KB4520146). But it's (imho) too general for me and I'm not sure how goal-oriented the whole thing really is (I've mentioned my experiences with some proposals made by Microsoft within my German blog post Windows 10 V1903: Fix für kaputte Suche nach Update KB4515384.

Similar articles
Windows 10 V1903: Updates KB4512941 and KB4515530
indows 10 V1903: Update KB4512941, KB4515530 (08/30/2019)
Windows 10 V1903 Update KB4512941: Workaround for the Cortana high CPU load issue
Windows 10 V1903: Review of update KB4512941
Windows 10 V1903: Search and Cortana bug in Update KB4512941 confirmed (09/05/2019)
Patchday: Windows 10 Updates (September 10, 2019)


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6 Responses to Windows 10 V1903: Microsoft confirms, that update KB4515384 breaks Start menu and search

  1. Pingback: computerworld.com

  2. EP says:

    recent article posted on ZDNet by Liam Tung about the recent issues with KB4515384:
    https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-1903-microsofts-cpu-spike-fix-breaks-search-on-start-menu-desktop/

  3. EP says:

    also, are these 1903 users who are having problems with the KB4515384 or KB4512941 updates running certain privacy tools such as O&OShutUp10? using older versions of O&OShutUp10 can cause these recent 1903 updates to go ballistic and O&O has just posted a newer version of O&OShutUp10 to deal with the search problems in 1903.

    https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10/changelog#details

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  5. Andy says:

    I did the update now my laptop which was on windows 10 and now it wont boot up no nore

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