How to turn on the search box on the lock screen on Windows 10

The lock screen is the screen you see when you lock your computer (or when it automatically locks after not using the computer for a while). The lock screen will also display at startup, when logged in and inactive for a minute. You need to skip the lock screen to see the login screen and login to Windows. Users can skip the lock screen by tapping the screen, typing on the keyboard or dragging it with the mouse.

Starting with Windows 10 build 18932, a new experimental feature allows adding a search box on the lock screen so users can search the web using Bing directly on the lock screen.

If this feature is enabled, the search box will only be on the lock screen when the user locks the computer ( Win + L ). The search box will not be available on the lock screen at startup.

When the user types in the search box, it displays web search results from Bing. If the user clicks or touches the link in the search results, it will only open Microsoft Edge after logging in.

This article will show you how to enable or disable the lock screen search box to search the web with Bing for all Windows 10 users.

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Note: Although you need to log in as an administrator to enable or disable the search box on the lock screen, all users can use the search box if enabled.

Warning: You should create a restore point before enabling this feature in the event of a problem.

Here is the image of the search box on the lock screen.

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How to enable or disable the search box on the lock screen

Step 1 . Close Task Manager if open.

Step 2 . Download the 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) version of Mach2 developed by Rafael Rivera for your system from the link below.

 https://github.com/riverar/mach2/releases 

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Step 3. Save the file mach2_0.3.0.0_x86.zip or mach2_0.3.0.0_x64.zip to the desktop.

Step 4. Unblock the downloaded Zip file.

Step 5 . Right-click the file mach2_0.3.0.0_x86.zip or mach2_0.3.0.0_x64.zip , select Extract all .

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On the dialog box that appears, select Extract .

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Step 6 . In the extracted mach2_0.3.0.0_x86 or mach2_0.3.0.0_x64 folder, click on the Home tab, select the mach2.exe file and click Copy path in the Ribbon.

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Step 7.

To turn on the search box on the lock screen, open Command Prompt as admin. Press Ctrl + V to paste the full path of the mach2.exe file from Step 6 to the Command Prompt. Then, add a space after the full path, type enable 17917466 and press Enter .

For example:

 "C:UsersBrinkDesktopmach2_0.3.0.0_x64mach2.exe" enable 17917466 

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To turn off the search box on the lock screen, paste the full path of the mach2.exe file from Step 6 into Command Promt, then add a space after the path and type disable 17917466 and press Enter .

For example:

 "C:UsersBrinkDesktopmach2_0.3.0.0_x64mach2.exe" disable 17917466 

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Step 8. Close Command Prompt.

Step 9 . Restart the computer to apply changes.

Step 10. If you wish, you can now delete mach2_0.3.0.0_x86.zip or mach2_0.3.0.0_x64.zip file and folder mach2_0.3.0.0_x86 or mach2_0.3.0.0_x64.

I wish you all success!