Click in the Search bar and you will prompted to enable Cortana. Click ‘Allow’ and wait for Cortana to connect. It will then ask you for your name, and set-up will be complete. That’s all takes but this works if set-up is successful in the first go which it was’t when we tried it out.
So, what do you do when Cortana consistently tells you it was unable to connect? Check if you’re signed in to your Microsoft account. The action center might alert you if you aren’t signed in or need to sign in again. The failure to connect stems from your credentials needing to be verified. After that, give it a few more goes and you should be able to connect.
Cortana has an always listening feature similar to ‘Hey Siri’ and ‘Okay Google’ on iOS and Android, respectively. Like these features, it consumes battery life and isn’t turned on by default. To enable it, click the hamburger icon at the top left of the Cortana pop-up. Select Settings and then scroll down until you see the ‘Let Cortana respond when you say “Hey Cortana” option and turn it on. Remember that if you’re running Windows 10 on the Surface tablet, this will effect battery life.
