Windows 7 Search Function Fails To Find Files?
Sep 3, 2012
When I type a search into either the start menu or a folder search or anywhere it fails to find files. I tried re-indexing, but it actually reduced my index from ~3500 to 279 files. I don't understand why it won't find anything.I transferred a lot of folders from my old computer (Vista) to this one via my external hard drive. It will not find any files from those folders. For example, I have MS Word documents from school and even if I open the exact folder its in and search the exact name it won't find any results.
I have an extensive library of public domain books in various folders but I used the search to find things. Now, even if I'm in the exact folder a file is in it won't find it. For example, if a file is named "JJ Blunt, Undesigned Coincidences" and I search that exact phrase while looking at the file in a folder, it will say no results found. If I search "Blunt" or "JJ" the same thing happens.The only thing that has done anything is if I right click an individual file, go to properties, go to details, tell it to remove all personal information, and then it will index and search for it. But I have literally 10s of 1000s of files I want to search, and to do this manually would take at least a full day. Is there any way to make this work?Even more startling, documents I've made with this computer and put into folders from my old computer to maintain my sorting system will not show up either. So the only files it will find are those in folders I've made on this computer and have files made on this computer. Not a single other file will be found.
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Jan 17, 2012
I recently changed the default location of my Users: user name: documents, pictures, videoand music folders to a storage hard disk.I partitioned the storage disk:F: Files anddocumentsI: iTunesP: Programs and windows foldersW: Windows backup I followed theinstructions in this link[URL] 7/552.html Both endeavors seemed to work correctly except for one thing. I can no longer type a file name into the Start/search box and find the file.I suspect this may be because Disabled drive indexing in the Optimization guide.
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Dec 22, 2012
when I click start button and enter any file/folder name for search in the space provided at 'Search Programs and files' , no results are displayed. The following error message appears:"Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file.You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item"My system configuration is as follows:Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.2OS Version: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, Service Pack 1, 64 bitProcessor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2450M CPU @ 2.50GHz, Intel64 Family 6 Model 42 Stepping 7Processor Count: 4RAM: 6038 MbGraphics Card: Intel(R) HD Graphics Family, -1268 MbHard Drives: C: Total - 368707 MB, Free - 287334 MB; G: Total - 174999 MB, Free -51405 MB; H: Total - 151588 MB, Free - 144960 MB;Motherboard: Dell Inc., 05TM8C
Antivirus: Microsoft Security Essentials, Updated and Enabled
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Nov 24, 2012
I found several instances of csrss.exe running. Looked up this file, and find it to be a legit file name for a necessary service. All fine so far.So I decide to search my C: drive for this file, just to see if I have multiple copies, and possibly one might be bogus. I pull up an explorer window, type csrss into the search box, and it finds NOTHING...Now, I can go find one instance of csrss.exe: it's in the windows/system32 folder... and when I search ONLY this folder, it shows up in the search. But when I try to search the whole C: drive, it can't find it, anywhere.
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Oct 24, 2010
the Start menu and explorer search bars will only return recently saved or modified files, dating back perhaps a month.
I've looked at the settings and they are default. Using the option to not use indexing makes no difference.
I've tried this hotfix Windows search is not working and search is slow or shuts down without success.
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Dec 10, 2012
I have observed a significant change in my Windows 7 computer. This is not a hardware issue. I have not downloaded any files or programs lately which could have caused this difficulty. I have run NIS program, anti-spyware. and malware-bytes, to no avail. I cannot seem to run backup using Ease Us Todo Backup; program fails to function. It worked before. Windows Backup fails to give any indication that it is actually working.
It takes longer to start up. I have run "Start Up Repair" to no avail. It also takes longer to shut down (no updates are in progress). Certain programs such as the one to enable process of my digital camera photos, fail to work. There was no such problem in the past. When I attempt to use this program, a screen from uTorrent appears, even after I have removed uTorrent, and re-downloaded the camera software. I have tried "System Restore" to no avail.
Contrary to the instructions, I cannot choose my own 'restore point', but only from a list created by Windows. The standard Windows 7 repair programs have failed me. I have nowhere else to turn. I have considered a registry cleaner, but the advice on this program is mixed; half of the people say it worked for them, the other half say never screw with my registry. If I cannot even backup my files, I am screwed.
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Nov 16, 2012
Win 7 homebuilt 7 PRO
E6550 Core 2 Duo
8 GB RAM
After doing a clean install but saving files in 'Windows.old' Wingdings 2 & Wingdings 3 fonts have disappeared. They aren't in the the fonts folder and I need them. PC started acting inappropriately during searches. Press Window Key, press W key to get Wordpad and it would show things like Calculator, VLC Player or Irfanview. Or press Window Key, press I for Internet Explorer and it shows Notepad, Paint or Word.
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Mar 11, 2012
how do I:
a) add search function to start menu in classic view
b) get out of classic view and revert to win7 view?
c) find restore to do b)?
Keep getting error message eve every time I click on 'protection'
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Apr 2, 2011
when i tried to search for something, I noticed my search bar was gone from my start menu.So I went to google, searching for an answer, and...No go.I looked in my "Windows Features", and it is completely gone.without doing a system restore, or re-installing?
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Mar 2, 2011
So I just did a fresh install of windows 7 and now all of the sudden the search function, as far as I can tell, does not work. At all. I tell it to search for a simple file I KNOW is there and it does not bring it up. It brings up nothing. Infact it wont find anything on my computer at all. Seems 100% useless. So whats up with that? I never had issues with Windows search before, not with Vista, XP, or any other. is there a 3rd party search engine I can use to find stuff on my computer? I have almost 3TB of stuff, I can rarely remember where I have stored every single thing I would use.
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Mar 24, 2011
some specifics and pinpoint the differences (or maybe a good website) that would pinpoint the differences between the Windows 7 search and the outlook 2007 search? I know the outlook search searches through email but are there other difference I am overlooking between the two?
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Dec 19, 2011
how i can search for torrent files with windows 7 search function?when i look for my downloaded files (downloaded via µtorrent),then i can i only find my downloaded files,but no torrent files(the torrent file still exists in my µtorrent program,so i am sure i still have the torrent file).
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Feb 18, 2012
I began having an issue with my laptops ATI Radeon graphics driver not working properly. It is fixed now, but the other issues I was having at the same time was not being able to view indexed files through the "search programs and files" and "windows explorer search" box. The screen goes blank or does not produce any results. Also, one of my downloaded software disk programs will not open--error. This particular program, Logos Bible software, index its files quite often. Even when I am not using the program. I also cannot change my desktop background to any picture except solid colors. I think my laptop has a corrupted file somewhere, or it is infected with malware.
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Nov 25, 2010
"windows cannot find 'search:query=XXX'" error I have been experiencing lately.
The problem is similar to the one I described previously (here: Windows could not start the Windows Search service on Local Computer)
...namely, I am running Windows 7 Pro 64-bit, and have experienced the same error message ( windows cannot find 'search:query=XXX', where XXX is my search query) when attempting to initiate a search via the Windows start menu search box. Unfortunately, my previously proposed solution (of removing a network search location from Windows Search Index list) does not resolve it.....and so finally I resorted to using Samhrutha's proposed solution of modifying the registry to reset Windows Search back to default (which DID work...but ended up removing all the search index customizations I had made).
However, when I then modify the search indexing options to include indexing of my C: drive, I get the "windows cannot find 'search:query=XXX'" error message.
If I then uncheck the C: drive box in the search in the search indexing options, the error message does not occur....so I then went thru a tedious process of trying to identify which folders on my C drive were causing the issue, and from what I am able to tell, the "windows cannot find 'search:query=XXX'" error message seems to always occur when the indexing options include at least one folder WHICH IS OWNED by TRUSTED INSTALLER (e.g., program files folder, program files (x86), c:, etc.). This wasn't a problem previously, so my guess is that MS Update recently (e.g., w/in the last few months) changed some security setting which now prevents Windows Search from being able to index/access folders owned by TRUSTED INSTALLER, resulting in the "windows cannot find 'search:query=XXX'" error message.
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Oct 21, 2011
I have Windows 7 Ultimate x64, the drives are indexed and I have all folder search options set to "Always search file names and contents" and "Include system directories" and "include compressed files" but search is not finding content I know to be present.
For example text in Word Docs and content in Zip files are often not found, usually not. How do I set up Search so it actually searches "within contents" like it does in XP, which may be slower but at least it works.
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Jan 22, 2011
My xbox has been connected as a media center extender to this computer and router combination for several months now. The router is a Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH. Earlier this week the media center extender was having trouble playing back video. After a restart of the computer the extender was no longer connected.When I try to add a new extender I get the message "Cannot add extender". Microsoft says to enable upnp and multicast. Check. Reflashed firmware to dd-wrt. No luck. Flash back to buffalo firmware. No luck. Try an old Linksys WRT54GL I have lying around. No Luck.The event logger has this error: "Media Center Extender Setup failed as the Extender was detected on the network but the UPnP search for the Extender failed (timed out after 20000ms)." Event ID: 538 Now I've done everything I could find about enabling network discovery, allowing anything to access media and such. Network and sharing is set pretty much wide open. I've also tried switching between home and work networks.With that said, I decided to check and see what updates have been installed. It turns out that an update was applied on the day I started having problems. It says it cannot be uninstalled. Description of the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 installation software feature update Note: I do not have system restore points. Small SSD and didn't take the time to figure out how to save them elsewhere.
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Jan 30, 2013
My Windows 7 laptop works Fine at home on my broadband with a wired connection, When I take my laptop downtown and try to connect to a company network, via a wire, windows 7 fails to find the connection.
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Jan 9, 2012
I have two dictionary files on my hard drive, both in Cuserskathyapplication data oamingmicrosoftproof folder. Custom.dic and kathy.dic. I can only get search to find these by doing a custom search. Even then it finds these files everywhere BUT my C drive first, finally finding them on my C drive last. It goes through several mapped network drives and my external drive first and then finally shows these files last. How can I get these indexed so they just show up on a normal search where I press the windows key and type "custom.dic"? Second question is why aren't they found in the first place? Are dictionary files something special like system files that aren't normally searched for?
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Oct 22, 2012
I'll start out by saying that I don't like Windows 7 search. I liked "Search for files named . . ." or "Search for files containing text .but as usual no one asked me.My problem is one that I've had since I upgraded to Win 7. I have my user folders on E: and I set a junction to point C:UsersBarnabas to E:UsersBarnabas. Pretty simple. If I reference C:UsersBarnabasxyx.doc the file E:UsersBarnabasxyx.doc opens. Way cool.The problem is that for some reason this confused Windows search.Let's say I open up my desktop user folder and select Documents. I know that I have a file called Dogs.doc but I don't remember which folder it is in. So I put Dogs.doc into "Search" and hit go. No files found. However, if I open "My Computer" and navigate to E:SystemUsersBaranbas and do the same search, the file is found.Does anyone know of a fix for this problem. I know that I can use another search tool like FileSearchEX but MS was nice enough to put that Search box on nearly every window, I feel like I should take advantage of it.
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Mar 28, 2012
when you click the Microsoft Windows flag/symbol/orb.
I search for a word: episodic. The results are only 1 word document which has a question: What is episodic.
The Windows 7 search does not find my 2nd word document which has the answer: Episodic is... nor does Windows 7 search find other powerpoint lectures and presentations including the definition of the word episodic?
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May 5, 2012
how do i find my DNS search domains
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Apr 5, 2011
It fails on "Expanding Windows Files" (Or something like that) with a clean install.The error I'm getting is:Windows cannot copy files required for installation. The files may be corrupt or missing. Make sure all files required for installation are available, and restart the installation. Error code: 0x0070017.
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Oct 31, 2010
I am hoping that someone can make a suggestion. Our school is running windows 7 and I have noticed that quite often our group policies are not applying all the time. I have also noticed this seems to happen most when the CPU is busy. Why is the CPU busy you ask? Well it appears theat the windows search feature is eating between 80 - 100% CPU. I have tuned the search service off and GP seems to behave a lot more reliably but then users can't search or find anything / including Emails.
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Jan 17, 2012
How can I search and find all the fonts on my system? In the passed I would simply enter; *.ttf .....and all my TrueType fonts would be displayed.
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Dec 9, 2010
The notorious (or at least I think it is,) "Copying-files-phase-instantly-cuts-to-100%-then-gets-stuck-at-expanding-files-0%-and-fails-after-some-time" bug.I'm almost to the point of challenging my computer fist to a fist-fight.The story: I ordered my Gateway M285-E Monday, and I just got it today. I was so happy to see that it already had Windows XP Tablet Edition installed. Of course, I'm one of those "f*** that noise" kind of people. I formatted the hard-drive from the Windows 7 installer, and upon starting the actual installation process, "Copying Files" jumped to 100%, and went directly to Expanding Files......which hung at 0%, until it gave me the usual error telling me that the needed installation files couldn't be found / located etc.
So I thought, why not install Windows XP? Didn't work either. The installer wouldn't recognize the hard-drive. Wonderful. So I sat in angst, staring at the beautiful machine that had just ruined my day....I installed Ubuntu 10.10; worked fine. Absolutely flawless.I CANNOT install ANY version of Windows. It just seems impossible. Windows 7: Failed.Windows XP: Failed.Windows ME (I was desperate):Failed.And after formatting again, Ubuntu 10.10:Worked.System specs:Core Duo @1.86ghz1gb RAM (soon to be 2gb)60gb HDDATi Radeon x1400 graphics
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Jan 14, 2011
My laptop was running windows 7 and then crashed. It was getting slower and slower, then crashed during a virus scan in safe mode. After that, it wouldn't boot up windows. It said something like disk error, press ctrl alt delete to restart. Safe mode doesn't work either. So now I'm trying to reinstall windows 7, and the installation fails when at expanding files. It says the files are corrupted and can't be installed. I've tried 3 diff windows 7 cds. It gives errors at different points during the expanding every time. Now its just hanging at expanding windows files (0%). Its been here for 20 mins so far.
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Nov 5, 2012
When using the search function from the start menu in Win 7 only apps from my C drive show up. Any programs installed on my other drives I can only find manually. Is there any way to force Windows to search all drives with the built in options?
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Feb 5, 2013
If I create a file called simon.txt in say C:ew docs and hit windows key and 'F' why when I type the file name into the search does it not come up. surely searching is a basic function?It worked fine on XP. I don't understand why it changed - speed I suppose.I have tried reindexing and rebuild and all that but still is this not basic?
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Feb 7, 2011
The initial Win7 install to now (about 9 mo), search worked fine and I love it, but I may have done something that broke it. Searches appear to only find stuff on C and then only system related stuff. None of my files/folders and nothing on any of my 3 drives. For example, it finds my Desktop folder but no contents. I went into the Indexing tool and enabled all drives and did a re-index with no improvement. I can't find any settings that control where it searches.
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Feb 5, 2013
My windows search is not showing up .rar files as its results (I think I remember them showing up before), I checked the folder options and index options but both search for compressed files and indexing .rar is checked
Is this a registry problem or something else?
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Nov 25, 2009
In WinXP, using the standard Windows search, I could search for a filename, and if it was found in a Zip file, that would be shown in the search results. In Win 7 (even after changing search options to search ZIP files) it usually does not find the filename in a Zip file. Occasionally it finds it in one Zip file, but I know it is in several and need to see all of them to find the one I want. I have indexed the drive being searched.
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