Windows 7: Incomplete search results - driving me crazy

Many of my files, most in fact, do not show up in the search results. Which ones do seems to be quite random. When I search for something that I KNOW is there, it immediately says no items match your search. In addition, search results that appear in the start menu search do not appear when searching in a window. I have rebuilt the index several times and nothing has changed.



Its essentially useless and google desktop has the same issue.

Can anyone help me?

Hello Bluestrip, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Did you set your search settings to include the areas that you are searching in as well?

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Yes, I've done this.

The weird thing is, some similarly named files in the same folder show up and others not. For example, I have 2 files named "Aoi Hana 1" and "Aoi Hana 2". When I search for "aoi" only one will show up.

edit: I just disabled the search service and now i can search just fine. does that mean its a problem with indexing?

What folders have you marked for indexing?

Ken

Theres 365GB worth of stuff on "Stuff"

Disabling the Index will have Windows 7 default to searching everything (non-index search). It is accurate, but could be a bit slower to run. The only thing I can think of is that the folder location is not included to be Indexed as Ken suggested.

I am having this EXACT same problem! I was searching for some JPGs. I manually found the item I was searching for and opened it. It was indeed there, so I typed it's name into the search bar and it didn't show up in the results. Funny enough, it did return it being listed in a text file in the same folder.

I use this feature on a daily basis, and it hasn't been a problem. The only thing I can think that I changed recently is that I accidentally "Recycled" the folder that is having problems and then I restored it. It's possible that deleting it messed up the index. I'm going to try rebuilding the index and see if it fixes the problem

Bluestripe;
"stuff" is drive B: ?

I've never used drive B: as a HD drive designator but, between Windows and your pc's BIOS, just seems like potential trouble. I'm an old fart tho....could be senile too.

B is reserved from a 2nd floppy. this may be your problem. It may be an indexing blackhole because MS doesn't want the indexer scanning floppies. Seems like a security risk and slow! (If it were in fact a floppy)Change the drive to E, F, G, etc.... then change the indexing to look at it.