This week a Microsoft senior official confirmed that the company is working to fix some of the most crucial UX/UI components on Windows 11, like the Settings app, File Explorer, and the Start menu. The ones for Settings are rolling out this month and the rest will follow later.
Speaking of the Start menu, Microsoft today has confirmed that a recent server-side update it had pushed is what led to the breakdown of perhaps one of the most vital components on Start as the Search function there was no longer functioning as intended. This server-side update was made for Bing and was ironically supposed to upgrade and improve the search performance. Hence it seems Microsoft did not properly test the feature before releasing it.
What is funny is that disabling Bing from the Start menu Search has actually been shown to yield a better and snappier experience. You can check how to do so by using a Registry hack in this dedicated piece here.
The problem affects Windows 11 23H2 devices which is no longer supported by the company, although many users probably still use the version as they may not have upgraded to 24H2 or 25H2. As such, this issue has been documented internally in the admin portal and IT admins and sysadmins who have access to it will be able to view it.
It says that after the Bing update was rolled back there has been a definite improvement. The company writes: "An investigation determined that the problem coincided with a server-side Bing update designed to improve search performance. To mitigate the issue, the server-side Bing update was rolled back, and reports of search failures are steadily decreasing. .. This issue will resolve automatically as the server-side fix is gradually rolled out to affected devices. To receive this fix, make sure the device is connected to the internet and that Web Search has not been disabled by Group Policy." Those who have access to the admin portal can view the message here under ID WI1273488.