According to news released by WindowsLatest, when Microsoft released the Windows 10 update in November 2019, it integrated a cloud search function into the Windows 10 Explorer. That is, when entering keywords, the Explorer will also search OneDrive for relevant files.
This feature may not be a bad thing for users who use OneDrive, but it is not a good thing for most users, because after integrating cloud search, the actual search performance decreases and the search takes longer to complete.
In the cumulative update KB5033372 released in December 2023, Microsoft suddenly deleted this feature. Microsoft did not provide any instructions in the update log. Some changes will only be discovered when users actually use it.
In other words, after users install the December update, they should get better performance when using the search function of Windows 10 Explorer. After all, only local files will be searched now. With the index established in advance by the Windows indexer, the speed will be much faster.
So why did Microsoft delete cloud search?
Windows Latest sources say this is not a bug and that the change may be related to the EU's Digital Markets Act. This may involve some privacy and monopoly issues, and Microsoft has to delete cloud search.
For Microsoft, integrating cloud search gradually cultivates user habits, allowing users to increase the frequency of OneDrive usage and eventually use OneDrive for a long time. So considering these benefits, Microsoft may not be voluntary, and these EU legal provisions can allow Microsoft to make changes.
This change currently applies to all markets around the world. I don’t know if Microsoft will change it to only users in the European Economic Area in the future.
In addition, if the user still wants to continue searching for cloud files, they can use ViveTool to turn on this option for recovery: vivetool/enable/id:18755234. Restart the system after executing the command to take effect.