Recently, Microsoft has been experimenting with the Task Manager on Windows 11 22H2. It now has a redesigned user interface with a sleek and simplistic layout. Microsoft had also recently added the Task Manager option to the taskbar’s context menu.
With these improvements, Microsoft has also responded to years-long user feedback and added a search bar to the Task Manager, which you can now use to search for tasks and processes using their name, PID, or publisher.
Since this is still an experimental feature, it is disabled by default. The search results and filters still need some work. An example is that you cannot look up a process by its readable name. Instead, you must use the exact name of the process. If you are searching for File Explorer, then you must type in “explorer.exe” instead, or use its PID. Even entering incomplete names of the processes would be of no use.
Furthermore, at the time of writing this post, the ability to enable the search bar in the Task Manager is only available in Windows 11 Build 25231, or newer. This is an Insider release, and even so, the feature needs to be enabled through a tweak.
To check your OS build, type in winver in the Run Command box.
Let us now continue to see how to enable the search bar in the Task Manager and how to use it.
Enable Task Manager Search Bar
To enable this hidden feature, we will need to use ViveTool. ViveTool is a small utility designed to enable hidden features in the Windows operating system that have not been activated by Microsoft by default.
To enable this feature, follow these steps:
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Open GitHub and download the ViveTool Zip file by clicking on it.
Download ViveTool -
Now extract the contents of the compressed, downloaded ZIP file.
Extract ViveTool -
Now run Command Prompt with elevated privileges and change the directory to the extracted ViveTool folder using the “CD /d” cmdlet followed by the complete path.
CD /d [PathToExtractedViveToolFolder]
Change directory -
Now run the following command to enable the Task Manager option in the taskbar’s context menu.
ViveTool.exe /enable /id:39420424
Enable search in Task Manager using ViveTool -
Now restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
When it reboots, you will now find the search bar at the top of the Task Manager’s window, from which you can filter out any process and perform the required action.
The search bar will be available on all tabs inside the Task Manager. However, it will be grayed out on the Performance tab. Moreover, the search bar’s only functionality is on the Processes and Details tab, hence, on the remaining tabs, it won’t do anything.
How to Disable Search Bar in Task Manager
If you have no need for the search bar in the Task Manager and want to disable it in the future, you can do so by following these steps:
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Open an elevated Command Prompt and change the directory to the ViveTool extracted folder.
Change directory -
Now, run the following cmdlet:
ViveTool.exe /disable /id:39420424
Disable search bar in Task Manager -
Now restart the computer for the changes to take effect.
The search bar will now be disabled.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Why is there no search in Task Manager?
People have been asking for a search bar in the Task Manager for quite some time now, and Microsoft has finally responded. You can now enable the search bar in the Task Manager in Windows 11 22H2 with the help of ViveTool. The feature is still in its experimental phase and needs further improvement.
How to use search in Task Manager in Windows 11?
Once you have enabled the search bar in the Task Manager on a Windows 11 PC, you can now search for a process by using the complete file name responsible for the process, its Process ID (PID), or by entering the name of the publisher.
