Solved Windows Search yielding No Results after changing Users Location

[Rookie2]

Hello there.

I wanted to have my documents, music, pictures and all my personal stuff in a different partition, other than the system core partition (e.g. C:/), so I followed a tutorial on this site to achieve that.

I was happy with the results until some day I noticed that when using the top right search bar on windows explorer it would yield no results at all even though the files were there. I didn't work for any kind of file nor for folders. However, the search function always worked normally on the system partition (C:/)

I created another administrator user account and the same thing happened. Search function within user folders wasn't yielding results, except for the C:/ partition, where it worked normally.

I concluded the search function doesn't work if the user accounts are stored on a different partition, other than the C:/ (Local disk)

I used the indexing and search troubleshooter but it didn't find any problem, therefore it didn't solve anything.

I restarted the windows search service... didn't help.
I set it to Automatic... didn't help either.

I rebuilt the index for the Users folder in the partition... nothing.

I deleted and recreated the libraries... nothing.

I re-indexed them... still nothing.

Now I don't know what to do next and that's why I joined this forum (with the hope of finding an answer)

Please help me! Any help will be welcome!

 

[ydylan77]

Did you attempt your search again in "Libraries"? as was offered below the lack of search results?
I will dig more to try and help you out. Do you have a link to the Tutorial that you used?

 

[Rookie2]

Did you attempt your search again in "Libraries"? as was offered below the lack of search results?
I will dig more to try and help you out. Do you have a link to the Tutorial that you used?

Yes, of course I tried that, and again, no results were yielded!
This is the tutorial I followed to change the users location, OPTION TWO

Thanks for being interested on my problem!

 

[ydylan77]

hmmmm... Well since I haven't done this myself I don't have any way of doing some guess and check work, or to play with different options. It may be that you have successfully moved the default location for the User accounts but the search function is still looking in the default file path. So your user account is in [X]:\User Account.... and when you perform a query the explorer is looking in C:\default location. I will let you know if I come across any other ideas, but this seems like a reasonable assumption to me.

In the event that you don't want to deal with, or cannot correct this issue, do you have a system image to restore to?

 

[Sir George]

View attachment 253503 View attachment 253504

Hello there.

I wanted to have my documents, music, pictures and all my personal stuff in a different partition, other than the system core partition (e.g. C:/), so I followed a tutorial on this site to achieve that.

I was happy with the results until some day I noticed that when using the top right search bar on windows explorer it would yield no results at all even though the files were there. I didn't work for any kind of file nor for folders. However, the search function always worked normally on the system partition (C:/)

I created another administrator user account and the same thing happened. Search function within user folders wasn't yielding results, except for the C:/ partition, where it worked normally.

I concluded the search function doesn't work if the user accounts are stored on a different partition, other than the C:/ (Local disk)

I used the indexing and search troubleshooter but it didn't find any problem, therefore it didn't solve anything.

I restarted the windows search service... didn't help.
I set it to Automatic... didn't help either.

I rebuilt the index for the Users folder in the partition... nothing.

I deleted and recreated the libraries... nothing.

I re-indexed them... still nothing.

Now I don't know what to do next and that's why I joined this forum (with the hope of finding an answer)

Please help me! Any help will be welcome!

You state you wanted all your stuff in a different partition, what did you name the partition? Post an image of your Disk Management;

Start Orb
Type diskmgmt.msc in the caption box
Expand the resulting screen to include; Volume, Layout, Type, File System, Status (lengthen the column to dispaly all data) as shown below.

 

[Kari]

I have moved the Users folder complete with all user profiles, existing and future, with all their subfolders by changing the Windows internal environment variable ProfilesDirectory (ProfilesFolder) as told in this tutorial. My search finds everything I am looking for, no issues.

The tutorial you have used tells how to revert the changes made if needed, move user folders back to their original location. You could try this and see if the search now finds your files and folders.

However before you try this you could try a bit modified search. I noticed that the thing you used as an example is a folder. Try to search folders by typing this to Explorer search field:

type:="File folder" name:Axialis

If you still can't find it you could try to move user folders back to their original location.

Another thing that might work is to create junctions for each folder you have moved. Example below creates a junction between My Documents in its default location C:\Users\Your_Username\Documents and its new location in X:\MyStuff\Docs:

mklink /j C:\Users\Your_Username\Documents X:\MyStuff\Docs

If a path statement has spaces you need to put it in between quotation marks. Following example creates a junction between My Documents in its default location and its new location in X:\My Stuff\My Documents:

mklink /j C:\Users\Your_Username\Documents [B][COLOR="DarkRed"]"[/COLOR][/B]X:\My Stuff\My Documents[B][COLOR="DarkRed"]"[/COLOR][/B]

The target (new location) has spaces ergo the path must be in between quotation marks.

Syntax using Make Link command with a Junction switch: mklink /j link target, where link is the folder that should send all queries made to it to new actual location target.

Notice that the link folder can't exist when creating a junction so in order to create a link between C:\Users\Your_Username\Documents and X:\MyStuff\Docs, the link folder C:\Users\Your_Username\Documents must not exist. It has to be removed before the junction can be created. As we are talking about system folders here I recommend playing with this only for more experienced geeks. See screenshot here for more explanations:



Use elevated Command Prompt (Run as administrator) with mklink command.

Kari

 

[Rookie2]

In the event that you don't want to deal with, or cannot correct this issue, do you have a system image to restore to?

No, I don't have such an image.

You state you wanted all your stuff in a different partition, what did you name the partition? Post an image of your Disk Management

Here's my disk management, the partition in which the user accounts are located is (A: ) Data

 

[Rookie2]

However before you try this you could try a bit modified search. I noticed that the thing you used as an example is a folder.

The modified search didn't work

Another thing that might work is to create junctions for each folder you have moved.

I'm trying to do this but I'm doing something wrong. CMD returns that the system cannot find the path specified.
My user name is "Edwar Cifuentes" so I typed in this:

I have moved the Users folder complete with all user profiles, existing and future, with all their subfolders by changing the Windows internal environment variable ProfilesDirectory (ProfilesFolder) as told in this tutorial. My search finds everything I am looking for, no issues.

After I try this I'll follow the tutorial you mentioned. Thanks for the info!

 

[Kari]

Your screenshot reveals two issues.

First, My Documents on Seven is just a link, not a real folder. If you check the dir listing of your user folder using command prompt, you will notice that although Windows Explorer shows folders like My Documents, My Music, My Pictures and My Videos, the real folders are stored without the prefix My.

Screenshot below shows what I mean:


(Click to enlarge.)

So if you try the mklink workaround, your link folder should be C:\Users\Your_username\Documents, not ...\My Documents.

Second issue is more like a personal recommendation than a fact: Drive letters A and B should not be used for hard disk partitions. In DOS and earlier Windows versions they were reserved for floppy drives and although most computers today do not have floppy drives thus releasing those drive letters for other use they should only be used for removable media (CD/DVD or USB Flash drives).

I have had enough unexplainable issues when experiencing with A or B as a drive letter for HD partition. Of course I am first to admit that this might have been just a coincidence, something else went wrong and I misjudged it to be due wrong drive letters but as an old school geek those letters always remain reserved in my mind .

Shortly: Use drive letters A and B only for removable media, not for HD partitions.

Kari

 

[Layback Bear]

Thanks Kari. I will remember this. Makes sense.
Use drive letters A and B only for removable media, not for HD partitions.

 

[Rookie2]

So if you try the mklink workaround, your link folder should be C:\Users\Your_username\Documents, not ...\My Documents.

I removed the prefix "My" and still the command didn't work. It returned that the system could not find the specified path:



What did I do wrong this time?

 

[Kari]

You are trying to create a junction in a folder that does not exist.

As I mentioned before the junction link can be done only if there's no folder with the same name already in location where you want to create your junction. However, if you think logically the folder where you want create your junction must exist.

The syntax of a junction path: X:\Stuff\MoreStuff\DosForDummies
Explanation: Drive:\Root Level Folder\Subfolder(s)\Junction

In other words if you need a junction X:\Stuff\MoreStuff\DosForDummies, the root level folder X:\Stuff must exist and it must contain a subfolder MoreStuff, which may not have a folder called DosForDummies in it.

The target folder must exist. For example creating the above mentioned junction to target Y:\Main\Second\MyFolder, thefolder MyFolder must exist.

Short: A folder with the same name than link may not exist, target folder must exist.

A picture is worth 1,000 words:



Kari

 

[Rookie2]

You are right: A picture is worth 1000 words!:



But search still yields no results (for documents in this case)

I'll revert the changes I made to the users folder (btw, how do I revert or remove that symlink you thaught me to do?) and then I'll change the users location as you told me you did, with that tutorial, and then I'll post what happens.

Again, thanks for your patience!

 

[Kari]

Did you notice my warning about using drive letters A and B for HD partitions?

 

[Rookie2]

Yes. I did. But we are not sure that is the cause of this problem!
Anyway, I'll avoid to use those drive letters again.

 

[Kari]

Did you try searching as I asked you to do in my first post:

However before you try this you could try a bit modified search. I noticed that the thing you used as an example is a folder. Try to search folders by typing this to Explorer search field:

type:="File folder" name:Axialis

 

[Rookie2]

The modified search didn't work

I've already said it didn't work!

 

[Rookie2]

I've changed the user profile location to its original folder but search is still not working.
What should I do now?

 

[Sir George]

I've changed the user profile location to its original folder but search is still not working.
What should I do now?

I have used Agent Ransack, also known as FileLocator Lite, for a long time as a replacement for the built-in Windows Search. I like it better and it works very well for me. There are some who post in this forum who will not agree and say that Windows Search is a great tool and you don't need anything else; I am not here to invalidate their choice, but simply to offer an alternative.

If you are interested in trying it visit the following site;

Agent Ransack - Free File Searching Utility

PS: The program is free and if it doesn't solve your problem or you don't like it, simply remove it.

 

[Rookie2]

Thanks Sir George for your suggestion. I'll have a look at what you say (it could be an alternative solution), but I need to restore the windows explorer search, that's the issue here.