start menu search box doesn't display results from some folders


  1. Posts : 3
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
       #1

    start menu search box doesn't display results from some folders


    In Indexing Options, I've selected C:\Users\validusername and all its sub-folders (except appData) to be indexed. When I search in the validusername folder from Windows Explorer, everything works fine. But when I enter the exact same search terms in the start menu search box, I get results from some folders, but not others.

    The folders that are "working" include Contacts, Downloads, Favorites, Links, and Saved Games; the folders that are NOT working include Desktop, My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, and My Videos. I can't for the life of me see the pattern.

    Under Customize Start menu, under "Search other files and libraries", I've selected "Search with public folders". I can't think of any other relevant settings off the top of my head.

    I've already rebuilt the index, but that didn't solve the problem.

    Does anyone have any idea what's going on here? After Googling everything I could think of for n hours, I'm just about at the end of my rope. Please let me know if I can provide any other information or run any experiments that would help you investigate the problem.
    Last edited by Valid User Name; 03 Mar 2015 at 13:24. Reason: added background information
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 1,049
    Windows 7 Pro 32
       #2

    I almost always notice a "See more results" at the bottom of a Start menu search, so maybe it's because the result space is limited when you do a search from there. Clicking on the "See more results" brings up windows explorer.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 3
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Unfortunately, that's not the problem. If I search for a file that I know is in the "bad" folders, but not in the "good" folders, I just get "No items match your search." So I know that the results I'm looking for aren't just getting crowded out.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 35
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #4

    Valid User Name said:
    In Indexing Options, I've selected C:\Users\validusername and all its sub-folders (except appData) to be indexed. When I search in the validusername folder from Windows Explorer, everything works fine. But when I enter the exact same search terms in the start menu search box, I get results from some folders, but not others.

    The folders that are "working" include Contacts, Downloads, Favorites, Links, and Saved Games; the folders that are NOT working include Desktop, My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, and My Videos. I can't for the life of me see the pattern.

    Under Customize Start menu, under "Search other files and libraries", I've selected "Search with public folders". I can't think of any other relevant settings off the top of my head.

    Does anyone have any idea what's going on here? After Googling everything I could think of for n hours, I'm just about at the end of my rope. Please let me know if I can provide any other information or run any experiments that would help you investigate the problem.
    Take a look here. My Documents, "MY" anything, really is just a symbolic link to the real folder. My Documents points to Documents, etc.

    Take a look at this thread. Try an index rebuild, it may be corrupt.

    Confused Between The Difference - "My Documents" & "Documents"-Win7?
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 3
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       #5

    f14tomcat said:
    My Documents, "MY" anything, really is just a symbolic link to the real folder. My Documents points to Documents, etc.
    I can't believe I didn't notice before that all the "problem" folders are "My" folders. I think you may be onto something. EDIT: Never mind, I forgot about the Desktop folder. But could the Desktop folder use some sort of weird alias the way the "My _______" folders do? Then the pattern would still hold.

    f14tomcat said:
    Try an index rebuild, it may be corrupt.
    I forgot to mention in the original post that I've already rebuilt the index, and it didn't fix the problem.
    Last edited by Valid User Name; 03 Mar 2015 at 13:34. Reason: corrected a spurious ephiphany
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 2
    Windows 7 Professional x64
       #6

    Found a solution in another thread!
    Win 7 x64 Start Menu Search Is Not Searching Documents
      My Computer


 

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