Modifying Windows 7 Search Behaviour

lifemare · 09 Jul 2013

I've been searching high and low for some tutorial or little pieces of registry editing that can help with this issue, but i've had no luck.

My main problem with Windows 7 search is that it displays all results in a virtual search folder.
Opening a folder in those results will navigate to "Search Results\Folder\" instead of the actual location.
Creating a shortcut to that file will likewise point to "Search Results\File".
It's very awkward to explore and interact with files and folders within the search results without being able to navigate the folder structure they belong to.
Using third-party search programs, however more powerful than the native Windows search, only adds to that awkwardness, and i'd rather not be cluttering the shell with redundant search options.
Secondly, if you click on a folder you searched for and then go back to the Search Results the search will refresh. If you're searching an entire drive or a very large volume of files this is pretty annoying.

So i end up having to CTRL+RC+Open File Location on everything i search for to open in a new window and on its actual location.

If possible, to speed up the process, i'd like to change the Windows search behaviour to open all clicked results in a new window and on its actual location, so i can explore the tree structure depending on the task at hand and keep the Search Results open to eventually repeat that process on similar files.

Is there some way to achieve this through Regedit?

pcunite · 11 Jul 2013

lifemare said:

Is there some way to achieve this through Regedit?

As far as I'm aware ... no. However, this might be what you're really looking for. I'm hesitate to tell you about it because you seem averse to 3rd party. But it has really helped me search in a similar way that you've described.

lifemare · 13 Jul 2013

Thanks for your reply.
I fear you're right and there's no way to hack windows 7 search to make it behave in every way i'd hope.
Another thing, for example, that i didn't even mention is the fact that consecutive search results don't get saved in a folder history, where navigating back would take you to the previous search you made (there's a drop-down search terms history list, but that's not quite what i'd want, since you have to clear what you typed to get the list to even show up, it only saves 3 search terms, and the search itself has to be repeated). Not even CTRL+Z works in the search bar - what the hell?!
I didn't mention it because there's no way a simple registry hack could solve this. That's one annoyance that makes me believe searching within Windows 7 the way i'd like to is very likely beyond the scope of what anyone in this forum or elsewhere could contribute, apart from installing a third-party search application.
Did have some hope for the two i did post about though. Sad to see not even that is possible... =(