Search field in System Settings app not working after update to 15.1

[Boneslasher]

Hello,
Two days ago I have updated my M3 Max MBP from 14.7 to 15.1.
Everything seems to be working smoothly except for one thing: the search field in the System Settings app returns no result, whatever I type.
At least this was what I saw yesterday morning.
Today, typing the first letter of my surname brings up the Apple Account page in the list to the left; typing F brings up Family. Typing anything else brings up nothing (actually there is a “No result for “<character>”” message in the empty list).
Turning on a Logitech G603 mouse connects it via bluetooth and anything I type in the search field returns something related to the Mouse page. Turning it off restores the non-result behaviour.

I have already tried the following: boot in Safe Mode, where the problem reproduces, and moved to desktop two the com.apple.systempreferences.plist and the com.apple.systemsettings.usercache files, restarting between each of them, and putting them back once no improvement was achieved. In System Settings, Spotlight, I have unchecked the System Settings, waited a few minutes, and checked it again. No improvement.

Is it something anyone else is experiencing? If so, or if you know of a solution, what would you suggest me to do?
Thank you so much!

 

[drshery]

Hello,
Two days ago I have updated my M3 Max MBP from 14.7 to 15.1.
Everything seems to be working smoothly except for one thing: the search field in the System Settings app returns no result, whatever I type.
At least this was what I saw yesterday morning.
Today, typing the first letter of my surname brings up the Apple Account page in the list to the left; typing F brings up Family. Typing anything else brings up nothing (actually there is a “No result for “<character>”” message in the empty list).
Turning on a Logitech G603 mouse connects it via bluetooth and anything I type in the search field returns something related to the Mouse page. Turning it off restores the non-result behaviour.

I have already tried the following: boot in Safe Mode, where the problem reproduces, and moved to desktop two the com.apple.systempreferences.plist and the com.apple.systemsettings.usercache files, restarting between each of them, and putting them back once no improvement was achieved. In System Settings, Spotlight, I have unchecked the System Settings, waited a few minutes, and checked it again. No improvement.

Is it something anyone else is experiencing? If so, or if you know of a solution, what would you suggest me to do?
Thank you so much!

Happened the same exact issue with my macbook after 15.1 update.

Seems to be an issue with user account profiles.

What worked for me:

1) Create a new user account : Settings > Users & Groups > Add user
Logout of current user profile and login to the new one. (Switch user)
Follow through the setup and login your Apple Account into the new user profile.
Confirm the settings search filed works again.
Turn on icloud sync in settings.
Restart.
Login back into the old profile. Issue will be resolved hopefully in the old profile as well.
If issue is resolved, Delete new profile.

2) if it does not, u can try copy paste the "com.apple.systempreferences.plist and the com.apple.systemsettings.usercache files" from new profile to the old profile. (I haven't tried this because my issue resolved in the first method)

Hope that helps.

 

[Boneslasher]

Happened the same exact issue with my macbook after 15.1 update.

Seems to be an issue with user account profiles.

What worked for me:

1) Create a new user account : Settings > Users & Groups > Add user
Logout of current user profile and login to the new one. (Switch user)
Follow through the setup and login your Apple Account into the new user profile.
Confirm the settings search filed works again.
Turn on icloud sync in settings.
Restart.
Login back into the old profile. Issue will be resolved hopefully in the old profile as well.
If issue is resolved, Delete new profile.

2) if it does not, u can try copy paste the "com.apple.systempreferences.plist and the com.apple.systemsettings.usercache files" from new profile to the old profile. (I haven't tried this because my issue resolved in the first method)

Hope that helps.

Thank you for your feedback.
I will try this ASAP.
Are the login to Apple Account and iCloud sync necessary?
The first is not a problem per se, but the second could be, since I have 200 GB of data in there.

Lastly, does it need to be an administrator profile?

 

[drshery]

Thank you for your feedback.
I will try this ASAP.
Are the login to Apple Account and iCloud sync necessary?
The first is not a problem per se, but the second could be, since I have 200 GB of data in there.

Lastly, does it need to be an administrator profile?

You can sync selectively from account options. You can leave the sync of bulk of the data (i am guessing photos/backup will be taking majority of the space)

You might need administrator account to match the user settings file since your main account also has admin privileges. Also u can delete the user profile when u are done, so dont think so it is going to be an issue.

Do let know if this resolves the issue.

 

[Boneslasher]

You can sync selectively from account options. You can leave the sync of bulk of the data (i am guessing photos/backup will be taking majority of the space)

You might need administrator account to match the user settings file since your main account also has admin privileges. Also u can delete the user profile when u are done, so dont think so it is going to be an issue.

Do let know if this resolves the issue.

This worked! Great! Amazing!
So, I created the account, an Administrator, logged in to Apple ID but didn't activate any iCloud settings outside of the stock ones. Launched System Settings and, surprisingly, things were not smooth in the new user either, just the search didn't return the "no result" message, rather it either found something or did nothing.
This was quite random in that the same search query (say, "General") sometimes returned something and sometimes just didn't. I played with it a bit until everything was returning a consistent result, then logged out.
Logged back into the main account and checked that, now, everything in Settings works!

Few extra notes:
1. in System Settings, my account, this Mac: clicking on it returned a blank page with the message "this device is no longer associated with your account". Restarting System Settings fixed it.
2. also after the update, Mail thinks that every single contact is worth of a "Siri found a new contact". Including myself ahah! Going into the Contacts app everything looks fine. Should I do something about this?

Thank you once again for your help!

 

[drshery]

P

This worked! Great! Amazing!
So, I created the account, an Administrator, logged in to Apple ID but didn't activate any iCloud settings outside of the stock ones. Launched System Settings and, surprisingly, things were not smooth in the new user either, just the search didn't return the "no result" message, rather it either found something or did nothing.
This was quite random in that the same search query (say, "General") sometimes returned something and sometimes just didn't. I played with it a bit until everything was returning a consistent result, then logged out.
Logged back into the main account and checked that, now, everything in Settings works!

Few extra notes:
1. in System Settings, my account, this Mac: clicking on it returned a blank page with the message "this device is no longer associated with your account". Restarting System Settings fixed it.
2. also after the update, Mail thinks that every single contact is worth of a "Siri found a new contact". Including myself ahah! Going into the Contacts app everything looks fine. Should I do something about this?

Thank you once again for your help!

Great 👍🏼
I suppose there might be some things needed to be polished in the apple intelligence & siri (currently as in beta) if this is not a nuance, i think you should wait for the next update that might resolve the issue.