Spotlight on Windows 11 not working

Good day ErikL70! I am glad to be able to provide assistance to you today. I understand that Windows Spotlight is not working on your PC. Kindly check and try steps below and see how it goes and will include it on my next response which will not be translated.

Method 1:
- Press Windows key + R and this will open up the run box
- Type in cmd and press Enter or click OK
- Copy and paste the commands the command below
DEL /F /S /Q /A "%USERPROFILE%/AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\Assets"
DEL /F /S /Q /A "%USERPROFILE%/AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\Settings"
- Press Windows key + X and click on Windows Powershell (Admin)
- Copy and paste the command below
Get-AppxPackage -allusers *ContentDeliveryManager* | foreach {Add-AppxPackage "$($_.InstallLocation)\appxmanifest.xml" -DisableDevelopmentMode -register }
- Restart your PC after doing the above and check again Windows Spotlight

You can also check out the links below for reference.
https://www.lifewire.com/fix-windows-spotlight-...
https://www.wintips.org/fix-windows-spotlight-n...
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-fix-windows-...

Method 2:
- If it will still not work even after trying the above then there were similar issues like yours and maybe with others as well who has not yet reported but can you also try setting the lock screen using Dynamic theme app from Microsoft Store and see how it goes.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/subject/for...
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/subject/for...

I would suggest to send a feedback with regards to this matter and to do that press Windows key + F and this will launch the Feedback Hub and you can take it from there and hopefully this will be fixed soon.

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Regards,
Paul R.

Thanks for quick reply. I've tried everything but nothing worked (we'll see in a couple of days). I'll have a look at dynamic themes.

As many others wrote, Spotlight on windows 10 never worked and I thought Microsoft would have fixed it with Windows 11. The good thing is that the win10 mountain lake picture is gone forever (hopefully).

You are welcome and hopefully this will be fixed on the next update and do not forget to send a feedback to them via the Feedback Hub.

It's quite an interesting behaviour. I have installed Dynamic Themes and now the lock screen image is different from the default windows spotlight image (the blue one above). But the strange thing is that it does not update automatically, I have to manually update the picture everyday.

I don't know if my antivirus (Bitdefender) blocks traffic or if there is some special setting somewhere, a hidden registry key. I know that it's not my router's firewall since spotlight works on my son's PC.

I will uninstall bitdefender and see if that solves the problem.

Uninstalling Bitdefender Antivirus resolved the issues both with Windows Spotlight and Dynamic Themes.

I'll have a chat with Bitdefenders support as how to configure the product not to interfere with Windows services.

Hello. The problem still exists. I've got last updates, but still the windows spotlight doesn't work. I have another AV (not bitdefender), however the uninstalling didn't help.

Had this issue too and tried many things and eventually solved the problem. It was Powershell that did it for me.

Open powershell as administrator then paste the following command and hit enter:

Get-AppxPackage -Name Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml" -Verbose}

Hope it helps!

My issue was solved with OJACO

Get-AppxPackage -Name Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml" -Verbose}

Then this from par_0511

DEL /F /S /Q /A "%USERPROFILE%/AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\Assets"
DEL /F /S /Q /A "%USERPROFILE%/AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\Settings"

Then I repeated OJACO

Get-AppxPackage -Name Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml" -Verbose}

Not sure WHY it worked, but it did.

Thank you.

My issue was solved with OJACO

Get-AppxPackage -Name Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml" -Verbose}

Then this from par_0511

DEL /F /S /Q /A "%USERPROFILE%/AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\Assets"
DEL /F /S /Q /A "%USERPROFILE%/AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\Settings"

Then I repeated OJACO

Get-AppxPackage -Name Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml" -Verbose}

Not sure WHY it worked, but it did.

Thank you.

Thanks for the commands,

I am not sure what the del /f /s parts are about, just pasted onto the powershell, apparently something not found so errors.

But the emboldened parts with appxpackage certainly work. Immediately after quiting the powershell window, i go into the lockscreen and find the new spotlight wallpapers instead of the default blue waves. What a godsend! This issue has been bugging me since Windows 10!

For the DEL /F /S etc, see the instructions from par_0511 above. It is not Powershell, it is CMD window.