How To Fix Windows 11 Spotlight not Working

Recently upgraded to Windows 11? Lock Screen spotlight not working? Well, you’re not alone. A majority of users have reported this issue where the lock screen spotlight is not functioning as expected. It’s a pretty common issue that is caused due to corrupt system files and settings. Another major reason that may trigger this issue on your Windows 11 device is poor network connectivity. If your device is not receiving a stable Internet bandwidth, you may not be able to view the lock screen spotlight wallpapers on your device.

Wondering how to fix this issue? You’ve come to the right place. In this post, we have listed a bunch of troubleshooting solutions that you can use for resolving this issue.

Let’s get started.

Also read: How To Fix Windows 10 Spotlight Images Not Working?

What is Windows 11’s Lock Screen Spotlight?

Windows 11 brings together a wide array of new features and performance improvements, and the lock screen spotlight is one of them. Each time you restart your device, the lock screen spotlight displays a new background image of a pretty landscape or location. So, you can use the “Windows Lock Screen Spotlight” feature to refresh this image or even choose a custom background as per your preference.

Windows 11 displays these breathtaking locations from different parts of the world on the lockscreen itself and most of these images are fetched from Bing.

Although, if you’re seeing the same image while you restart your device, it may indicate you’ve encountered the “Lock Screen spotlight not working” issue. Here are a few workarounds that you can try for retaining your Windows 11’s lock screen.

Also read: How To Personalize Windows 10 Spotlight Lock Screen

How to Fix Lock Screen Spotlight not Working Issue on Windows 11?

#1 Check Your Internet Connection

The lock screen spotlight may not function on your device if there’s no Internet connection. So, the first thing that you can try is to check whether your PC or laptop is connected to a WiFi network.

Microsoft fetches the background images from Bing and hence if the Internet is not working, your device may get stuck on a monotonous lock screen background.

Connect your device to a stable network connection and then reboot your device to check whether it fixed the issue.

#2 Turn OFF Metered Connection

A metered connection sets a data limit on your connection. Windows 11 also allows you to set up a metered connection on your WiFi or ethernet network as it allows you to effectively manage your data consumption. To make sure that your device hasn’t hit the maximum limit, we will try to temporarily turn off this feature to check whether it helps in resolving the lock screen spotlight not working issue. Here’s what you need to do.

Open Settings> Network and Internet. Tap on “WiFi.

Now select your WiFi network’s name.

In the advanced settings window, turn off the “Metered Connection” feature.

Also read: Everything You Should Know About Spotlight Search

#3 Adjust Date and Time Settings

Incorrect or misconfigured date and time settings can also mess with lock screen preview on Windows 11. To adjust the date and time settings on Windows, follow these quick steps:

On the bottom-right corner of the Taskbar, right-click where the date and time are displayed. Select “Adjust date and time”.

Enable the “Select time automatically” option. Also, make sure you select the precise time zone using the drop-down menu.

And that’s it!

Once you’re done, reboot your device and check whether the issue persists.

Also read: How To Check For Software Updates on Windows PC?

#4 Manually Enable Spotlight via Settings

Open Windows 11’s Settings, select “Personalization”. Tap on “Lock Screen”.

Select the “Personalize your Lock screen” option and then tap on “Windows Spotlight”.

#5 Enable Lock Screen Spotlight via PowerShell

Tap on the search icon placed on the Taskbar, type “PowerShell”, right-click on it, and select “Run as Administrator”.

Copy and paste the following command in the Terminal window and then hit Enter to execute it:

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

After executing this command, exit PowerShell, reboot your Windows 11 PC and see whether it fixed the issue.

Conclusion

Here were a few solutions that you can give a shot upon for fixing the “Lock Screen spotlight not working” issue on Windows 11. You can use any of the above-mentioned resolutions to retain the lock screen on Windows 11. So, are you a fan of Windows 11’s lock screen spotlight feature?

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