"windows Cannot Find 'search:query=XXX'" Error Message Windows Search

"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.