Peenie Wallie: Windows Explorer Search Bug

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April 29, 2009

Windows Explorer Search Bug

I never could figure out why Windows Explorer Search worked intermittently. All I knew was that sometimes it would work and sometimes it wouldn't. I quit using it years ago because I knew it was unreliable, and it bugged me, but not enough to ever figure out what was wrong with it. I used the UltraEdit search instead. Or, in a pinch, I'd use MS Word to search for files (File - File Search). But today, the client had me painted into a corner. I couldn't install UltraEdit on my desktop and I couldn't find a file that I needed on their server. The bug had already bit me once last week and I decided I'd had enough. The time had come to solve the problem once and for all.

I found this post which explains that Windows Explorer doesn't search in files with "unregistered" file types. Here's the fix to the problem:

Open your registry and find or create the key below.

Create a new DWORD value, or modify the existing value:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ContentIndex\FilterFilesWithUnknownExtensions

and set it to 1.

FilterFilesWithUnknownExtensions
Value Data: (0 = default, 1 = all file types)

Exit your registry. The change will take effect immediately.

I did this and it fixed my problem immediately. The post I found is from 5 years ago. Microsoft sucks.

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