How to Enable the New Windows 11 Search Without Copilot
The August optional update introduced some of the most requested changes ever shipped for Windows 11. Of these, the new Search experience without Bing and Copilot results is my favorite.
However, it will not be enabled immediately for most users. MS is rolling it out gradually, and because this is an optional update, many users will not install it at all.
I have been testing this version of Search in Insider builds for two months and could not wait to enable it on my main PC. If you cannot wait either, here is how to get the MSN-free Search experience on your PC.
How to Force-Enable the Cleaner and Faster Search in Windows 11
Go to Settings > Windows Update and install KB5120998, the August 2026 optional update. It updates your PC to build 26200.9278 on version 25H2 or build 26100.9278 on version 24H2. Restart your PC after the installation finishes.
After rebooting, open Search and check whether the new layout is already available. Most PCs will not see it yet because MS distributes this type of change through a Controlled Feature Rollout, enabling it on devices in stages. If you installed the update, your PC already has the required code; MS simply has not activated it remotely for your device.
Download ViVeTool.
Credit: Windows Latest
Extract the ViVeTool ZIP file to the C drive.
Credit: Windows Latest
Open Command Prompt as an administrator and access ViVeTool.
Credit: Windows Latest
With Command Prompt still open as an administrator, enter the following command and press Enter:
vivetool /enable /id:62353331,62762248
Restart your PC. After it starts again, open Search, and the new layout should appear. Select the gear icon in the upper-right corner of Search to open Settings, where you should see a new Show suggested search results section.
Enable the Full Feature Bundle
If nothing changes, or if the new layout appears without the web and Store toggles, run the full feature bundle to ensure that you have everything included in the update, including the movable taskbar and customizable Start menu:
vivetool /enable /id:61161244,61754985,62353331,62762248
Restart your PC again. To disable the new Search experience, use the same commands but replace enable with disable. Feature IDs correspond to specific builds and may stop working after MS permanently integrates a feature into Windows.
What the New Windows 11 Search Looks and Feels Like
A Cleaner Home Screen
Open Search without entering anything, and you will see a home screen stripped down to almost nothing. The image of the day, daily trivia question, trending searches, and row of suggested apps that previously filled the panel are gone. Search now displays only your recent searches.
The previous Search content was not native to Windows. It was web-based material delivered through Bing, which also consumed RAM.
Separate Controls for Web and Store Results
Before the update:
Go to Settings > Privacy & security > Search. You will find a new section named Show suggested search results, with separate toggles for Web Searches and the MS Store.
After the update:
You can disable Bing while retaining Store suggestions, turn off both options for a fully local Search experience, or leave both enabled. Disabling Web Searches provides the speed improvement because Search no longer waits for a web request to complete before displaying results.
With both toggles disabled, a search that has no local match returns no results.
Clearer Result Labels and File Previews
Search results now include labels identifying their sources, such as an app, setting, local file, web result, or Store suggestion. When you search for a document, the preview pane on the right displays a proper thumbnail, the file path, the last modified date, and quick actions such as Open and Copy path.
Improved Typo and Partial-Word Matching
Building on improvements from previous updates, typos are no longer a problem. Entering utlook displays the Outlook app as the best match instead of launching a Bing search for the misspelled term. The feature also works with omitted letters and partial words, so pwerp finds PowerPoint and tskm still finds Task Manager.
Windows settings receive the same improvements. Searching for installed now takes you directly to the Installed apps page instead of displaying a generic support article.
Better File and Cloud Search
File search continues to build on changes that reached stable Windows 11 earlier this year. Search now displays file results after only two characters instead of three. Substring matching also means that a compound filename such as StartMenuComparisonMay appears whether you enter menu or may.
Cloud and connected files now appear alongside local files when they are stronger matches, which is useful if your files are divided between OneDrive and your PC.
MS also says Search reliability has improved, with fewer crashes and loading issues. On my primary PC, the animation speed alone feels noticeably faster than before.
Cursor and Wallpaper Bugs to Consider Before Installing
KB5120998 has some known problems. Windows Latest first reported broken cursor styling and wallpapers resetting to solid black shortly after the update was released, based on a rapidly growing number of reports. MS has since confirmed the cursor issue on its release health dashboard, stating that “mouse cursor personalization settings are being changed or reverted to certain standard settings” after installing KB5120998.
Custom cursor schemes may revert to a default appearance, a white cursor may become a larger black cursor and vice versa, and cursor animations may stop working correctly. MS has not yet acknowledged the wallpaper bug, which resets the desktop background to solid black after every restart.
The only confirmed fix for either issue is currently to uninstall KB5120998 through Settings > Windows Update > Update history > Uninstall updates.
If you have already installed the update without encountering either bug, you are almost certainly safe to proceed with the ViVeTool steps above. If you have not installed it yet, waiting may be worthwhile. The mandatory Patch Tuesday update arrives on September 8, 2026, and includes everything from this optional release, hopefully with fixes for the cursor and wallpaper bugs.
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