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Questions tagged [windows-search]

Windows Search is the functionality built into the Windows OS for finding files, folders and programs on a PC or in connected storage.

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dp:// search root for windows search indexer

The search indexer on my computer has recently been acting up. Looking into it, it seems there is a strange search root DP:// that contains several 100k items: It seems to contain a copy of my file ...
Lukas Lang's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
57 views

App icons not showing for microsoft store apps when searching

When I use Windows search to find programs installed through the Microsoft Store, their icons don't show up properly. Instead of their normal icons, their all replaced with the Paint3D icon. I did set ...
DataGraph's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
61 views

Prevent Windows Explorer to use "LocalizedResourceName" when renaming file or folder from Search result

Maybe this is only on localized version of Windows, I don't know. If you rename a folder while in a Windows Search result window, instead of renaming the file, it will create a desktop.ini file and ...
Akim Sissaoui's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
30 views

Random black background "overlay" blocks Windows 10 search popup background

As shown on the screenshot, I have issue within this Windows installation which is related to dark background appearing inside the search popup and blocking the view. It sometimes is as low as on the ...
Destroy666's user avatar
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0 votes
0 answers
15 views

Disable Bing Search on Windows Start Menu for Standard Users [duplicate]

I found that the How-to-Geek Guide - How to Disable Bing in the Windows 10 Start Menu works also for Windows 11 (or at least for versions prior to 22h2). I have more than one account on my machine, ...
GDIF's user avatar
  • 1
0 votes
0 answers
63 views

windows search bar background gets white even when is in dark mode

after disabling web search suggestions in windows search/start menu by regedit per that tutorial: edit explanation: windows is in dark mode, and this background is dark in dark mode, but it is not ...
joth's user avatar
  • 1
1 vote
1 answer
99 views

Windows 10, how to recover deleted files that were deleted from a search in the file explorer?

In Windows 10, I have searched a folder for files containing a certain name and deleted it. Afterwards, I reconsidered and wanted those files back; I then went looking into the recycle bin, but it was ...
plu's user avatar
  • 421
0 votes
0 answers
25 views

Win 10 search result pane changed, letting some infos gone missing: How to turn it back?

I had to download the Win 10 image from Microsoft, and use it to install anew from that iso. I'm now on Windows 10 Home, Version 10.0.19045. Sadly, with the settings I have now, when using the search ...
Bill2022's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
78 views

Alternatives to Windows Search using Advanced Query Syntax or similar

Windows Desktop Search in Windows 10 from within Explorer seems wonky. In recent Win 10 versions, Microsoft has chosen to no longer show the Search tab in an Explorer window until a search has ...
Dewey's user avatar
  • 21
0 votes
2 answers
57 views

Windows 11 search apps behaviour

I'm quite frustrated by the behaviour of Windows 11 search, and I wish to understand if this is expected: I have installed Libreoffice suite, which includes "LibreOffice Calc" app. It's ...
leonbloy's user avatar
  • 645
0 votes
1 answer
207 views

Many (or all) default Windows 10 icons and also some others have no icons in taskbar or search, but do in start menu when I look manually

So recently I've noticed that some default aka pre-installed Windows 10 apps have a placeholder file app icon that looks like white paper that is folded in the top right corner. I also made a list of ...
Tomato Noodles's user avatar
-1 votes
3 answers
52 views

Is it possible to prevent files on a usb drive from being searched on any computer?

I have searched, but all methods that I found need to be done on computers. I have a usb drive, and I may use it on different computers. It's impossible to set "Indexing Option" on every ...
Ryan's user avatar
  • 23
0 votes
0 answers
108 views

SearchHost service not found

A few weeks back my Windows search suddenly stopped working. It opens and slowly loads when I click on it but then crashes immediately. I did try making another account and search works fine in it but ...
Mihir's user avatar
  • 1
0 votes
0 answers
27 views

Perform Windows File Search from Terminal/cmd/PowerShell

How do I perform an indexed Windows File Search from Terminal (like cmd or Powershell)? I'm looking for an equivalent of mdfind of MacOS.
Thomas's user avatar
  • 191
0 votes
1 answer
92 views

Enabling GPU on Windows 10 X1 Carbon box results in frequent search index corruption

I've had problems with frequent Windows search index corruption over many years and four generations of X1 Carbon boxes. I'm currently on the highest end 10th gen (2022) carbon, Win10 22H2 (19045.2311)...
Adam J. Kessel's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
84 views

Which Locations (Drives or folders) Should Not be added in windows search indexing?

I am face problem in windows search index. if I added whole drive "C:" in indexing, indexing not completed, & take long for get result of search. I am afraid & have doubt that all ...
Chirag Raval's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
394 views

How can I launch an application with PowerToys Run after changing the application file path?

I have an application in a folder on my Desktop. After changing the name of the folder, PowerToys Run cannot find it at the old address and is unable to run it from the most relevant search result. In ...
carbonguac's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
151 views

Searching for a file in specific folder, with specific extension containing specific word

I know I created a file in November / December 2021. I know it contained a specific word and I also know its extension. Also I know its folder. But the folder has many subdirectories. How can I narrow ...
Mahesha999's user avatar
17 votes
4 answers
15k views

How to remove "Trending searches" in Windows 10 search?

In Windows 10, this is how my search looks: How to remove the "Trending searches"? It is annoying. I'm using 22H2 version of Windows 10.
Random Person's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
19 views

Weird response when clicking the upper left corner of the Search Highlights button next to the Search box

When clicking on the upper left corner of the Search Highlights button next to the Search box, it behaves differently than when I click the rest of the button. When clicking the rest of the button, ...
ARGYROU MINAS's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
24 views

Add button on windows search result of start menu

Is there a way, maibe from regedit, to add a button in the section pointed by the arrow of the start menu: Because I saw that some programs do it. Eg: I want to add a button named Add link to desktop,...
VLN's user avatar
  • 3
0 votes
0 answers
15 views

Tag search for applications in Windows

The world has run out of unique names so apps often get fairly random ones. Joplin for notes, zint to generate QR codes, and so forth. How can I tag these applications to make searching for them when ...
user3241's user avatar
  • 305
0 votes
0 answers
6 views

Adding Windows search index locations

In the windows search (the search bar next to the start menu), is it possible to incorporate results from our online sharepoint? I'd guess somehow I'd need to add this as an indexing location, but ...
Brtrnd's user avatar
  • 195
1 vote
1 answer
12 views

Can I tell Windows search not to treat my request as a partial request?

Using Windows Search, I would like to find my DLL, called Application.dll. However, there are some files, called Application.dll.config, which are also shown. In order to find the dll files, I type ...
Dominique's user avatar
  • 1,921
-1 votes
1 answer
77 views

Windows 11 Search doesn't show settings anymore after User folder name change

I recently changed the name of my user folder in Windows 11 and edited the registry to correct all the filepaths I could edit to point to the new directory, as well as changing the ProfileImagePath. ...
Cheri's user avatar
  • 99
0 votes
0 answers
51 views

Make Windows search treat hyphen as a word separator

I have a bunch of images whose filenames contain "y-tho": But when I search for "y-tho" I get nothing: File Explorer already treats the hyphen as a word separator, because ...
gargoylebident's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
165 views

How much space Window Explorer Indexing takes up?

If I were to Index entire OS partition, how much space would Indexing take up? Indexing is only properties. Though I'm curious how much more space it will take with Properties and Content.
SparkShredder's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
690 views

Windows 11 Start button and search menus unresponsive

Earlier, my taskbar was blank with no icons, Start menu or search bar. I went into regedit, to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell\Update\Packages, created ...
Rebecca Haninger's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
154 views

Windows 10 Refresh Search Results Program Icon

I created my own executable with an icon file embedded into it and I put a shortcut to the program in the start menu folder C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\...
jippyjoe4's user avatar
  • 1,208
0 votes
1 answer
485 views

how to both enable Windows Search AND avoid System Volume Information folder being written to removable drives

This refers to Windows 10 Pro 64-bit 20H2 and probably all Windows 10 versions. I need to have Windows Media Player Service running on my machine so that media devices can access it to play videos. ...
Steve Sybesma's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
29 views

Windows Explorer Search for: Folder name BEGINS WITH [Search term] [duplicate]

How can you find folders in Windows Explorer whose name STARTS WITH the exact search term, WITHOUT at the same time finding folders that CONTAIN the search term somewhere in the name? Of course, this ...
David.P's user avatar
  • 384
1 vote
0 answers
106 views

Search for a file using the Windows Run Dialog Box

I am attempting to automate a Windows Search for a file name. My method work on several folders; however, it fails on a folder named "part #". My process was to Search for a file within the ...
E400Jack's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
44 views

How to hide an app or a software from windows search in Windows 8.1?

I want to be able to hide a software/app, specifically 'Google Chrome' on my Windows 8.1 PC. Upon searching for the app/software, I don't want chrome to show up in the search results. Is there a way ...
Dhruv Singhania's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
347 views

If a windows folder has a dot/period in the name, file explorer search does not return results from that folder

Common in development environment, some of my folders contain dots in the name. like c:\src\project1.ui.help. I have set up the c:\src folder as indexed (with sub folders). When I try to search in c:...
MarkD's user avatar
  • 101
2 votes
0 answers
524 views

Windows 10 - Way to change default search mode in Windows Explorer to 'Current folder'

Has anyone found a way / hack to set the default search mode in Windows Explorer to 'Current folder'? I probably need to search for a folder, by partial name, in the current directory (no recursion) ...
Grallen's user avatar
  • 121
0 votes
1 answer
38 views

Windows Search issues

I have this weird issue with one of our Windows 10 PC... Search is no longer working. Here is what I have done: Stopped and restated Windows Search service. Rebuilt Indexing Options. Obviously ...
George's user avatar
  • 88
1 vote
0 answers
15 views

search for a substring in file name with built in windows search on Windows 11 [duplicate]

am using windows 11 and I find that the built in search facility is not working as expected. I have a folder like this and when I search it like this, I get no result. I would like the search tool ...
CSEE's user avatar
  • 41
4 votes
1 answer
3k views

How to turn off search highlights in Windows 10?

After a recent Windows update, my search bar looks ugly: The "Yellowstone National Park" text and that image is annoying. How do I disable them? This is how it previously looked:
Random Person's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
786 views

Windows Search bar fills background with black color

Today I launched my laptop, and when I hit the 3-finger gesture to open the search box, it blacked out the whole screen and then popped in the left part of my screen, taking more space than usual. It ...
Yuriy Kirel's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
828 views

Display folders first in File Explorer search

Whenever I search for something (in this case "*") in File Explorer, folders appear mixed in with files: Is there a way to make it display all folders at the top like it does outside of ...
gargoylebident's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
1k views

How to disable Windows 10 Pro Edition searching the web when typing in the start menu [duplicate]

I want to disable that windows 10 pro gives me web search results when typing something into the start menu bar: but i could not figure out how to do that. The only working method i knew and could ...
User1986's user avatar
  • 133
0 votes
0 answers
673 views

Icons in windows Start Menu / Search are gone and replaced with another app

When I open Start Menu, I can scroll through the apps and the icons are fine. However, when I start typing (searching), many of the icons get replaced with IrfanView. Uninstalling IrfanView did not ...
Qwerty's user avatar
  • 418
0 votes
1 answer
1k views

Find files by contents (Windows 11)

I'm trying to search through 15 years of bank statements (PDF) for a specific payment amount, $42.69. I used Windows explorer file search (bar in upper right corner of file explorer) in the folder ...
bigjoec's user avatar
  • 33
0 votes
1 answer
129 views

Windows 10 Search to list every instance of search text

I've gotten the Windows search tool to work to find when various files contain a certain text (in this case, a server name). The list of results shows me each file. However, I know there are multiple ...
Jason P Sallinger's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
832 views

Get Thunderbird email contents to show up in Windows 10/11 search

Has anyone successfully gotten the content of Thunderbird emails to show up in Windows 10/11 search? I have Enable Global Search and Indexer checked in Thunderbird settings and I have the Manage Store ...
mseifert's user avatar
  • 175
0 votes
1 answer
89 views

Win10 - Files associations in search results are broken

The last change I made to my PC was to install Node.js, although, this probably was not the cause, it is probably worth to mention. I haven't found any other person that reports this exact issue so I'...
Neoz Memphisto's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
48 views

Most of the apps are not working after I did something on registry

I searched for how to change the name of the user in the directory and it told me to go to the registry and Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList. I went ...
talha yaser's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
986 views

Search menu zoomed in

I have recently adjusted my setup (can't have enough monitors, right?). I changed my primary display to one of my external monitors, but now I have one small, but very challenging issue. My search ...
Iisrael's user avatar
  • 111
1 vote
0 answers
218 views

Ghost icons in taskbar and icons not showing in windows search

All of a sudden my icons for apps in my taskbar has disappeared but the apps are still there and when I go to search for some of the apps which have a ghost icon in taskbar it shows what appears to be ...
Bentheminernz's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
642 views

How to search for underscore character in Windows Search?

I have Windows 10. I want to use Explorer Search to find file containing Arr__ It is important to have the 2 underscore. however, it returns Arr_SOMETHING So even those with one underscore are ...
Cherry's user avatar
  • 23

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