Search in windows 10 folders does not work. Restore the search field in the start menu

A useful utility for instantly finding files in Windows, it's been 3.5 years, and " things are still there"- the regular search service still does not make users happy. The long-awaited release of the" dozens "with the personal assistant Cortana, which has learned to search for information not only locally, on the hard drive, but also on the Internet, has not changed the situation. in the "pictures" I will tell you about the principles of work and self-configuration of fast search by adding the requested directories to the indexed database (index).

How search works in Windows 10

As in previous versions of the OS, the top ten uses a similar search mechanism. Index Is a set of necessary information about files on the hard disk, in the form of a group of files stored in a folder C: \ ProgramData \ Microsoft... The index includes various properties of files (path, name, size, etc.), and indexing occurs with any of your manipulations - adding, changing or removing controlled objects. Default Windows indexes a limited number of folders (directories, locations), this list does not include incl. system files, program folders, network drives. Unfortunately, if you save downloaded movies or books not in specially designated directories, then they are also "deleted from the list". Thus, all non-system logical drives, on which personal files are generally stored: video, audio, photo, software distributions, documents, etc., are "deleted" from the index. For this reason, the regular search service is so slow, because the system first searches "its" list of indexed (index) files. Moreover, by default, search outside the index is performed only by file names, ignoring archives (ZIP, RAR, CAB).

How to speed up searches in Windows 10

I think you have already guessed what to do to speed up the search in the system: index the folders for daily use. The easiest way to do this is to add them in folders to libraries, by right-clicking → in the drop-down menu, click on the item of the same name → select the desired library or create a new one (screenshot). You can combine folders from different locations into one library (Videos, Documents, Pictures, etc.), and then view and organize files like in a directory. When you integrate a folder into a library, its contents will be automatically indexed.

However, there is a method to add a location to the index without using libraries. But first, let's make hidden folders and files visible, which will be useful to us in the future.

So open the Control Panel and find the applet (section) " Appearance and personalization"→ by clicking on the subsection" Explorer Options"(screenshot), switch to the" View"and activate the option" Show hidden files, folders and drives"(screenshot below).

Having finished with a minute of optimization, let's move on to the second method of adjusting the indexing and service parameters Windows Search"for yourself."

• Using the search in the Control Panel, we will find and open the subsection " Indexing options".

• All indexed locations appear in a new window. Click on the " Change"(screenshot) and check the boxes in the drop-down list of those areas in which you most often have to search. If the computer is powerful, and the decisive majority of folders on a non-system disk D: \ required, it is easier to add the entire disk to the index.

• Also make sure hidden directories are included in the list of indexed directories C: \ ProgramData \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Main Menu and C: \ Users \ [Your_Account_Name] \ AppData \ Roaming \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Main Menu .

Confirm all changes with the " OK"let's give Windows time to index new areas. Now you can be sure that the integrated Cortana will work very, very quickly.

Who liked and helped the voiced solution to the issue and who voted for it on social networks (not necessary, but desirable!) - read the review on how to replace the search field with a compact icon and how to disable search (Cortana) in Windows 10 ... By the way, disabling the personal assistant (web search) will speed up the search process even more.

Important!

In the case of K.-L. problems with the service Windows Search(search does not work in Windows 10), such as slowing down or displaying incomplete results, in the "Indexing Options" window, through the appropriate link, run the troubleshooter to diagnose (penultimate screenshot).

Important!

An attentive and experienced computer user will have noticed that the irrelevant "Internet Explorer Journal" has disappeared from the indexed locations.

Dmitriy dmitry_spb Evdokimov

When Windows 10 search doesn't work, the most obvious solution is to restart the explorer process. It reloads the Start menu, Quick Launch, and refreshes the entire control interface. This is the case when it comes to the fact that the search tool called by the Win + S combination has stopped working. A variety of applications and snap-ins present on the PC are displayed there. The Start menu has crashed several times over the evolution of dozens, but reports of such cases are becoming increasingly rare.

There is another kind of problem. The user calls the explorer through Win + E and finds that he can not weed out the necessary files by entering their names. This case rather indicates a system failure. And the only thing Microsoft can advise is to create a new account (via netplwiz) and try to follow the same steps from there. First of all, right-click on the Taskbar, and make sure that Search is present, enabled by the corresponding checkbox in the settings, and then move on ...

Restarting Explorer

The Start menu will be redrawn, it is possible that the search will also work.

Keyboard shortcuts

To quickly enter the search on the top ten, use Win + S (in previous versions - Win + F).

Finding files via the command line

If only part of the name is known, replace other letters with questions. An asterisk immediately fills up all the free space. In the example on the screenshot, 0 is replaced with a question mark.

You will see that this tool is faster than the regular Explorer.

Search for files via Run

For this purpose, the command search-ms (msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff684385.aspx) is used:

This technique is suitable in cases where the Search does not work, the button is pressed, and the result is not entered in the field. The opened list in Explorer will contain all the files you are looking for.

Via the system menu

As noted above, more than once users have seen that the Start menu does not want to open. Why it does not work, and how to turn it on, no one knows. Trying to open with keyboard shortcuts?

It has long been noticed that the system menu, invoked through Win + X, always works. There is a Find line, which will help many to solve their problem. This is the same as pressing Win + S.

It is not a fact that this method will work in cases when the search does not open in the usual way. It remains to advise you to install all the updates and wait patiently until Microsoft specialists solve the problem.

Search for text in files

Download the Folder FindText utility. Search for anything you want!

Sometimes it happens that the search in windows 10 refuses to work or does not work correctly. If anyone has Cortana, then it may also not work with search or work in an incomprehensible way. Obviously, search in windows 10 is very necessary for comfortable work, because with the help of it we find many settings, of which there are a lot in windows 10, files, folders. We will analyze many ways, or rather step-by-step points, when Windows 10 search does not work.

Windows 10 search not working

Step 1. Restart your computer

Sometimes it is very easy to solve this problem by restarting the computer, or rather the system as a whole. If the problem remains after restarting the computer, then read below and follow the steps in order until the problem is resolved.

Step 2. Delete the old indexed database

To solve these problems, we have to open Windows 10 Indexing Options and delete the old search database.

• Open a command prompt and issue the command control / name Microsoft.IndexingOptions to open indexing options.

• In the window that appears, click on " Additionally", then in a new window click on the button" Rebuild"This way Windows 10 will delete the current indexed database and generate a new one. To be sure, restart your PC.

Step 3. End the Cortana process

This item is not useful to many, but I know many users who specifically install English-language windows 10 and use Cortana. Remember, there is no cortana in Russian versions of Windows, in order to reduce your time, proceed to the next step. And we will continue if anyone has this function-cortana. Just end the cortana process in the task manager.

• Open the task manager Ctrl + Alt + Del.
• Find the name Cortana.
• Right-click on the process and select End task from the menu.

Step 4. Windows 10 search not working? Restart File Explorer

Sometimes it is very useful to restart windows explorer, especially when, for example, shortcuts from the desktop have disappeared. In this case, restarting Explorer will help us start using working search.

• Open the task manager Ctrl + Shift + Esc.
• Find Conductor in the list and click restart.

Step 5: Using the Windows Troubleshooter to Repair Indexing Services

Windows 10 has features to troubleshoot any known issues. We will use this parameter.

• Open up control Panel.

• Type in the search bar of the control panel Elimination.
• Choose from the suggested Troubleshooting Windows Search Service Issues.

• Click the bottom line Additionally to run as admin.

• Poke on Run as administrator.

• Select the problem that you are having with the search in windows 10, usually this Files does not appear in the search results.

Step 6. Set the startup parameters of the windows search service and restart it

Sometimes the system forgets to load the necessary services at startup, this is due to the large number of processes being started. Let's check and restart the search service in windows 10.

• Press the button combination Windows + R and enter in the line services.msc.

• Find a service Windows Search and right-click on it by selecting Properties.

• Select the startup type. Automatic (delayed start) or auto... Depending on your preference and press to apply.

• Go back to services, find windows search.
• Right-click on it and Restart.

Step 7. Resize the paging file

Oddly enough, but one user under the nickname GTR24V increased the paging file on the system disk, which led to the correct operation of the "search" in Windows 10. The obvious thing is that according to the recommendations on the Internet on many sites they say that if there is more than 8 GB of RAM, then you need to disable the paging file. This is not at all the case, a paging file is needed in any case, even a minimal one, see.

• Press the key combination win + R and write in the line sysdm.cpl.

• Go to the tab Additionally and press parameters.
• In the window that appears, click the tab Additionally and Change.
• Uncheck Automatically choose put a point Specify size and specify any size for checking. Minimum 16 MB.

Step 8. Disable the option to encrypt button clicks in Zemana AntiLogger Free

There is also an interesting situation with the encryption protection program Zemana AntiLogger Free. If the encrypt button presses feature is enabled, the search in windows 10 may not work. If there are similar programs, then see the settings, and I will analyze an example with Zemana AntiLogger.

• Open the program and disconnect item with encryption buttons.

It would seem that after the November update of Windows 10, problems with standard services will run out, but they appear one after another. As well as after the first update in Windows 10, search does not work. After the introduction of a partial or complete request, nothing happens and the system does not react in any way to the user's actions. How do you fix this problem?

We fix the problem

If the file search does not work for you in Windows 10, you need to make changes to the Registry Editor. To do this, click "Win + R" and enter "regedit".

Go to the registry branch "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE", "SOFTWARE", "Microsoft", "Windows Search". Find the "SetupCompletedSuccesfuly" parameter.

Its value must be "1". If it is "0", right-click on the parameter and select "Change". We put 1 and save the result.

If, after renaming the files, the search began to work, but after a while the "FileChangeClientConfigs" section appears in the registry again, perform the following actions:

• Click "Start", "Settings" and select "Update and Security".

• Here in the left menu you need to open the "Recovery" section and select "Reset the computer to its original state".

• After restarting your PC, you need to check if the search is working.

If restoring doesn't work, you need to enable indexing. To do this, do the following:

• Click "Start", select "Control Panel", "Indexing Options". Or we enter this query into the search bar.

• In the new window, click on the "Advanced" button.

• Then we press "Rebuild".

• Reboot your PC. If this method did not help to solve the problem, in the "Advanced" tab of the indexing parameters, click "Select new".

• The button will be active only after selecting the "Rebuild" item and restarting the PC.

Also on the Microsoft website, as a solution to the problem, they suggest doing the following:

• In the "Control Panel" in the "Indexing Options" you need to click on the link "Troubleshoot Search and Indexing".

• A search for problems will start.

• There are two things to note here: "Files do not appear in search results" and "Email messages do not appear in search results." We press "Next".

• Troubleshooting starts.

• The results will vary, but the search service will be activated.

• We reboot the PC and check if the file search is working in Windows 10.