Spotlight not working in SystemSettings.

Question

Spotlight not working in SystemSettings.

Setup: MacBook Pro 16", Tahoe 26.0.1

I spent an hour on the phone to Apple support, 1st level and 2nd level to try and resolve this. It still does not work. In the end they said they could not help any further and suggested I either live with it or create a new user and migrate all my apps/data! Really?

Thinks tried:

Added my HD to Spotlight exception list, rebooted, re-added my HD and let Spotlight reindex.

Removed com.apple.podcasts.SpotlightIndexExtension

Removed Caches

Removed group.com.apple.spotlight

Removed com.apple.preference.general.plist

Removed com.apple.preference.security.plist

Removed com.apple.preferences.extensions.CredentialProvider.plist

Removed com.apple.Preferences.plist

Removed com.apple.systempreferences.plist

Removed com.apple.systemsettings.extensions.plist

None of this helped so I plan to put them back as now even the new Apps search in the Dock doesn’t work either.

Anyone has similar experience and fixed it?

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 26.0

Posted on Oct 30, 2025 8:45 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

leroydouglas

Community+ 2025

Level 10

198,966 points

Oct 30, 2025 11:10 AM in response to jwdave.roberts

report back after the reinstall—

For issues associated with the upgrade process and no resolve, reinstall the macOS on top of the existing macOS:

How to reinstall macOS Recovery (both M1/M2/M3/M4 and Intel) — How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support

Uninstall all third party apps that are Cleaners/Optimizers/VPN/Anti-Virus

all known to cause issues on the macOS

You can trouble shoot further:

—Test issue in another user (or guest user) account Change Users & Groups settings on Mac - Apple Support

—A SafeBoot Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support will sort many anomalies

third party system modifications disabled temporarily, certain system caches get rebuilt...

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Answer 2

Oct 30, 2025 8:50 AM in response to jwdave.roberts

Courtesy of Barney-15E:

Copy/Paste this into Terminal. sudo will ask for your password. Just type the password and hit return. It won't show anything on screen. Those three commands essentially nuke all the Spotlight records then force a reindex.

sudo mdutil -X /; sudo mdutil -i on /; sudo mdutil -E /

Then, restart or log out and log back into your account.

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Answer 3

Oct 30, 2025 3:37 PM in response to jwdave.roberts

jwdave.roberts wrote:

I re-installed Tahoe tonight and the search bar in SystemSettings still does not work. Furthermore the new App search on the Tahoe Dock has stopped working, unless it is still re-indexing?! Any further thoughts appreciated.

From the Finder>Go>Go to Folder copy and paste:

 ~/Library/Metadata/CoreSpotlight/

and delete all files in that CoreSpotlight folder.

reboot and compare your results.

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Answer 4

Oct 30, 2025 11:09 AM in response to jwdave.roberts

Ok, yes that's definitely broken.

I you haven't already then first reboot your Mac and/or use Apple menu > Shut Down then wait a few seconds and boot back up.

If that doesn't, I suspect the next step is to reinstall macOS (which can be done without deleting your data).

How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support

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Answer 5

Oct 30, 2025 11:02 AM in response to jwdave.roberts

jwdave.roberts wrote:

I mean the the search bar in the System Settings app

Nothing, nada, zip?

Searching for what exactly...

For issues associated with the upgrade process and no resolve, reinstall the macOS on top of the existing macOS:

How to reinstall macOS Recovery (both M1/M2/M3/M4 and Intel) — How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support

The current stable release of Tahoe including bug fixes, security updates is macOS 26.0.1

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support

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Answer 6

Oct 30, 2025 11:05 AM in response to jwdave.roberts

Side note, that search bar is not Spotlight, it's just a regular domain search. Similar to the search function in Finder (at the top right of a Finder window), that typically works fine even if Spotlight is having problems.

So what happens when you try to use the search function in System Settings? How is it broken? Even if you enter an irrelevant term, it should explicitly return nothing:

Note that there is a graphical bug with the search field, where the first result is 'under' the search box. That's something that Apple must address.

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Answer 7

Oct 30, 2025 9:03 AM in response to neuroanatomist

Thanks, I have done this and no change so far in SystemSttings but App Search on the Dock is now working again, but I guess I have to wait for it to re-index. Really appreciated, so quick with your response!

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Answer 8

Oct 30, 2025 11:09 AM in response to neuroanatomist

So as in my screenshot above, I type into the SystemSettings search bar bluetooth and it says 'No reults for "BlueTooth"' In your screenshot you type 'login' and results appear. If I type 'login' into my search bar it says 'no results for "login"'

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Answer 9

Oct 30, 2025 3:02 PM in response to leroydouglas

I re-installed Tahoe tonight and the search bar in SystemSettings still does not work. Furthermore the new App search on the Tahoe Dock has stopped working, unless it is still re-indexing?! Any further thoughts appreciated.

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Answer 10

Oct 30, 2025 3:34 PM in response to neuroanatomist

I re-installed Tahoe tonight and the search bar in SystemSettings still does not work. Furthermore the new App search on the Tahoe Dock has stopped working, unless it is still re-indexing?! Any further thoughts appreciated.

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Answer 11

Oct 31, 2025 4:48 AM in response to leroydouglas

Thank you for this. You achieved something an hour of Apple tech support failed to do! My SystemSettings search bar now works! Thanks again.

However the App search in the Tahoe dock and the Spotlight glass in the menu bar still do not work. I tried the following sudo command that previously did work but after the Tahoe re-install these stopped working again, so I tried the sudo command again, this time it made no difference.

sudo mdutil -X /; sudo mdutil -i on /; sudo mdutil -E /

Thanks again, if you can help me get over the final hurdle i would really appreciate it.

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Answer 12

Oct 30, 2025 10:42 AM in response to neuroanatomist

This fixed the App Search in the Dock but the search in the SystemSettings still doesn’t work. Any ideas?

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Answer 13

Oct 30, 2025 10:47 AM in response to jwdave.roberts

What search in System Settings? Do you mean in Spotlight when you select the System Settings category?

Or do you mean the search bar in the System Settings app?

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Answer 14

Oct 30, 2025 10:54 AM in response to neuroanatomist

I mean the the search bar in the System Settings app

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Answer 15

Oct 30, 2025 11:03 AM in response to leroydouglas

If I type into the search bar in the system settings app for example 'bluetooth' it returns nothing.

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