How to Change or Restore Default Search Options in Windows 7 and Windows 8
Information
This will show you how to change or restore the default Search Options for the What to search, How to search, and When searching non-indexed locations settings in Windows 7 and Windows 8.
OPTION ONE
To Change or Restore Default Search Options in Folder Options
2. To Restore the Default Search OptionsA) Click/tap on the Restore Defaults button, and click/tap on OK.
3. To Change the Search OptionsA) Select or unselect the options for how you want to have your searches done in Explorer, and click/tap on OK when finished.
OPTION TWO
To Manually Change Search Options in Registry Editor
2. If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes.
3. To Change the "What to search" OptionsA) In regedit, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)
Code:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Search\PrimaryProperties\UnindexedLocations
B) In the right pane of Preferences, double click/tap on the SearchOnly DWORD, then do step 3C or 3D below (see screenshot above)
C) Type 1 and click/tap on OK, if you wanted to select: In indexed locations, serach file names and contents. In non-indexed locations, search file names only. (see screenshot below step 3D)
D) Type 0 (zero) and click/tap on OK, if you wanted to select: Always search file names and contents. (see screenshot below)
4. To Change "How to search" and "When searching non-indexed locations" OptionsA) In regedit, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)
Code:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Search\Preferences
B) In the right pane of Preferences, double click on the name of the DWORD in the table below for what "How to search" option you would like to change. (see screenshot above)
| DWORD Name | Option |
| SearchSubFolders | Include subfolders in search results when searching in file folders |
| AutoWildCard | Find partial matches |
| EnableNaturalQuerySyntax | User Natural language search |
| WholeFileSystem | Don't use the index when searching in file folders for system files |
| SystemFolders | Include system directories |
| ArchivedFiles | Include compressed files |
C) To Uncheck (turn off) the option, type 0 (zero), and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below step 3D)
D) To Check (turn on) the option, type 1, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below step 3D)
5. When finished, close regedit.
That's it,
Shawn Brink
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